How Do We Really Know If a Doctor Has His Patient’s Best Interest In Mind?
Doctor Rassman.
How are you. I love the website. My question surrounds the importance of finding an ethical doctor who is not just about the money. As a layman (like myself) I am not that experienced in hair transplants and what to do, I rely solely on the doctor. The only experience or knowledge I have is by coming on your website and reading things about hair loss on the internet.
So, How would I know who is a good doctor, what is the proper number of grafts I should receive, and if the doctor places grafts into my head is he placing them in the right spot so I won’t have shock loss etc etc.
I would mostly go with what the doctor says because I am putting my trust in him, unless he says something totally absurd then I know to back off.
I can read all day on the internet about hair loss and what to do, but how do we truly know whatever the doctor says is in a patients best interest and isn’t about the money, because every patient and situation is different.
Thanks
I put together a guide for patients, where I detailed the approach I would take if I selected any doctor for any reason. If you go for a consultation and end up meeting a salesman, then I would generally suggest that selling is the doctor’s priority. If you come to my open house events, you can meet many patients face-to-face and look at the quality you will get (as what you see is what you get). Photographs can be misleading and show what the photographer wants the viewer to see. Photos of a doctor’s work should be augmented by meeting real patients in person.
We all have instincts which we must rely on, so use your instincts to know if you met the greatest bullsh*tter of all time. Some of the worst doctors in this business have a style like a con man and the looks of Brad Pitt. Can you tell a con man when you meet one? The recommendation of the doctor, with regard to the work you will need, should match other opinions you should get from other doctors. If they do not match up, then you need to challenge both recommendations and see if they make sense.
Fortunately, I have written many books and articles which cover most everything that you need to know (see our Medical Publications, where everything is documented). Lastly, ask yourself if you like the doctor personally, and if you trust him/her to be there when you need him/her. I carry my cell phone 24/7 and every patient has 24/7 access to me. That is my way of telling the patient that I will always be there if he needs me at any time. Over the years, I have helped men who had heart problems, having nothing to do with the hair business, so that is my way of saying “trust me”.
I would like to add something here. There is actually a well known HT doc where I live. He is even part of the ISHRS and has been for a while. Funny thing is, the male model in his TV commercial that he uses to show the general public what his work looks like, that model has not even gotten a hair transplant. So much for an ethical doctor who is even part of the ISHRS. Who can we really trust?
How would you actually know that the male model in question never had a hair transplant?
Please don’t tell me that you read it on a forum somewhere. If you did, then it’s probably B.S.
Daniel = No, I didn’t read it on a forum, I don’t frequent to many forums other then this one because most of the other ones are crap and give false info. Anyways, A family friend of mine used to work with this model and I remember our friend told our whole family, the guy in the commercial has not even had one. And he knew this because the model had told our family friend because he had also seen the commercial and wanted to know and asked the guy directly (they were good friends at work so I don’t think the guy did mind at all that our family friend asked him).
I have seen so many websites when you look at the before and after picture it is not the same person, so I don’t really blame the doctor in my home town for doing the same thing and getting a fraudster to post as his transplant model. Ya gotta go with the hair flow….