My HT consultation

[Thinning@30]

I recently had a consult with an IAHRS approved doctor. It was very disappointing. I had wanted to do a consult with this doctor because his practice is close to where I live and because his website said he offered FUE with several pictures of FUE patients with what looked like decent results.

During the consult, the doctor tried to sell me a strip procedure, and when I asked about FUE he told that FUE was only for doing very small procedures to hide strip transplant scars. I was shocked. If he had told me that he didn't do FUE or that he thought I was not a good candidate I could understand, but I know FUE is a valid HT method that plenty of surgeons have used with good results. The doctor also tried to convince me that I could get a 2000 graft strip procedure done on a Friday, drive myself home from the clinic, and then return to work the next Monday and no one would be able to tell that I'd had a procedure. This flies in the face of everything I've been told about HTs from HT patients. Every other patient and HT doctor I've spoken said to take the maximum amount of time off from work for the recovery and that I would need to take it easy for at a least a few weeks. The doctor also tried to pressure me to get the procedure done right away. HT and any other cosmetic surgery is something to think long and hard about, not something to do on a whim. I realize these doctors have to make money, and maybe I'm naive, but the whole thing felt disgustingly like a sales pitch rather than an honest consultation with someone who would put my interests as a patient first.

I guess I expected more from an IAHRS approved surgeon. I feel like this doctor took me for an unsophisticated patient and tried to take advantage of that by trying to pressure me into getting a procedure right away, getting the type of procedure I didn't want, and by misleading me about the recovery time. I don't want to say which doctor this was, but I hope anyone considering a HT will choose their surgeon very carefully, and talk to lots of doctors to get plenty of second opinions. After this consult, I can see how some HT doctors give people false expectations about what to expect from the surgery, and how so many HT patients are set up for disappointment.