Your Rights as a Patient

I thought I purchased a hair transplant session and paid for 3000 grafts. I counted the hairs on my head (now one year later) and I do not believe that there is 500 new hairs there, and that is a generous quess. What might have happened? Could I have gotten 3000 grafts and they failed to grow, or was I cheated, sold one thing and received something else? How do I tell the difference and what are my options if I were cheated? Are their ethical standards amongst the doctors?

Since I can’t see you to tell for myself (email and digital photos are no substitute for real life in a case like this), there are several things which you might consider;

1. Check the photos: The first thing you should do is to follow up with the surgeon who did your transplant. These are good questions to ask your surgeon and he should respond with a sincere concern and answers that appear targeted to your questions. Visiting with your doctor to compare your pre-operative photographs with your current hair growth can sometimes be an eye-opening experience. If your doctor’s office is equipped with a 50 power video microscope, you can often use that to help see the grafts next to the native hair (although if follicular units were transplanted it can be difficult to tell the difference in certain cases).
2. Be patient: Realize that sometimes growth can take up to 18 months. Most hair docs quote a year as the time period to have the final results (90% of the growth in) but it can take longer. I would want to know more about your post-operative course. Did you have difficulty healing? Are there other medical problems or skin conditions which you have that might delay growth?
3. Inquire at the source: When you speak with your surgeon, ask how the surgery went! If there is a problem with growth, most ethical doctors will not only back up their work but also want to know about it so they can pinpoint potential problems and make things right.

Lastly, there ARE ethical standards in the industry, such as those set by the ISHRS, in addition to those which encompass all of medicine. If you suspect a problem with your results, your first option for recourse is to deal directly with the doctor who did the work. Before you jump in to a legal battle, be sure to know where your previous doctor is coming from, then write back to us here and we can write the next chapter for you.