Even Today, The Quality of Hair Transplant Work Can Be Less Than Marginal (with Photos)

I am not against capitalism, but last week I met with a young man who took advantage of “special pricing” for hair transplants at just $0.99 cents a graft by a clinic here in Southern California. Yes, you read that price correctly. This is the same facility where a man had died during his transplant procedure a couple of years ago (the only death I know of in the history of this business). This is unlike a 99 cent store that might sell some quality products. This was, of course, a cosmetic procedure that is presented front and center right there on your scalp… and he went with the lowest price he could find.

The patient I met just had a surgery at this clinic and was thrilled at the bargain price he got, but when I saw him (just a day out from his surgery) I was shocked by what I saw! He looked like a victim of a shotgun blast, with blood all over his head and wounds big enough to drive a truck through. Well, maybe not a truck, but you get the idea. This is absolutely NOT the normal look for a person the day after surgery (this is an example of what you should look like a day after surgery). Many of the grafts were hanging out of his head, either partially or fully, and they were embedded in the clots that lay on top of the skin. The patient also reported that the facility was not clean and it was crawling with ants. A real bargain, indeed!

This is one of the more shocking cases I’ve seen in a while and he agreed to let me share his story. I washed off most of the caked clots from his recipient area before these photos were taken. Once again, these photos were taken the day after his surgery at another clinic and I only saw this patient after he came into my office for help. Click to enlarge.

A “bargain” hair transplant