Avoid the Scam – Gangrene After Cheap Hair Transplant

I just saw a man that had two hair transplant procedures done a decade ago and then a third procedure done at a clinic just south of Los Angeles, which caused major surgical complications like gangrene of the scalp. This was probably from the use of lasers during the surgery to make the holes, which produced burns all over his head. The patient now has a deformity in the frontal area of his scalp which is incredibly difficult to cover with styling alone. His options to hide this include using Toppik and/or DermMatch, but he doesn’t like using these camouflaging agents. There may be some value with using FUE into the immediate areas, but then he would have to use use beard and body hair to get the value to this patient as his donor supply is markedly depleted. This is one of those rare cases where using body hair transplantation is acceptable.

This is a prime example of a patient who tried to save a few dollars on a hair transplant, but it ended up costing him more in the end. He told me that he even knew that someone died at that clinic, but their low pricing was enough to get him to go anyway! I can’t stress this enough — researching both the doctor and the clinic is critical. If he’d met with patients from that clinic and saw the type of results they had, he might’ve stopped right there. The Medical Board of California has allowed that place to continue to operate even though it is owned by a non-physician (which is against the law). So if the authorities can not really protect you from these criminals, you must protect yourself by doing the right type of research to avoid this type of problem. This applies to all types of doctors, not just hair transplant docs… but all types of surgeons and really, doctors of all specialists.