Don’t Be a Victim of Follicular Homicide

Link to blog: https://medium.com/hair-loss-dossier/dont-be-a-victim-of-follicular-homicide-1c49f76089e9

By John Vincent - Follow on Medium & John Vincent's Hair Loss Dossier Facebook Page

A commercial for an internet provider running at the moment makes the perfect analogy to what I preach about my field of expertise: hair restoration surgery.

It goes like this:

A couple is in a hospital room, apparently preparing for a surgery with a female nurse at bedside.

Patient to nurse: “Have you worked with Dr. X before.”

Nurse: “Oh yes”.

Patient: “Is he a great surgeon?”

Nurse: “He’s Okay.”

Patient: “Just Okay?” (As he looks at his wife in mutual concern).

At this point, the surgeon in question walks into the room. His exchange with the patient doesn’t give he or his wife the reassurance about the potential outcome of the procedure!

After revealing he is in the process of getting his license re-instated!, he speaks to the patient.

Doctor to Patient: “Are you nervous?”

Patient: “Yes.”

Doctor: “Yeah, me too!”

At that, he turns to walk our room, saying to the stunned couple: “Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out!”

The sad thing is, although it is rarely stated, hair restoration surgery is performed all over the world by un-qualified, un-trained doctors.

Worse, some of the robotic machines sold to doctors with no training in the intricacies of hair transplantation, can be operated by technicians.

The trend of teaching unlicensed personnel to make incision in the skin is putting unwitting patients at risk of, not only a disastrous cosmetic result, but of a serious health risk.

Horror stories are regularly reported on the internet and to my colleagues about a disastrous transplant experience.

My work with experienced, board-certified, hair surgeons, has alerted me to what has become a worldwide problem.

Countries without medical regulations that would protect a patient are now advertising cheap hair restoration surgery at bargain rates. The problems are legion, not only for health risks, but for the potential for disfigurement of one’s scalp; the first, most conspicuous representation of his or her appearance!

While hair surgery is rarely life-threatening, bad results can be a crushing disappointment to patients who paid significant amounts of money, only to unknowingly put their appearance in the hands of untrained doctors or techs.

Poor outcomes often cannot be satisfactorily corrected. This is because the scalp hair needed to be moved from one place to another is a limited resource.

Because hair transplantation surgery can be a lucrative cosmetic “cash” business for foreign clinics, the opportunity to take advantage of uneducated patients plays into the hands of unscrupulous practices.

The moral of my message is hair surgery is truly a “buyer-beware” purchase.

If you need help sorting through who is qualified to perform these procedures, check with the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgeons (ISHRS.org) or contact me for recommendations.

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