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  1. #1
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    Default Complications 2 years later? Help needed

    Hi everyone,

    In July of 2009, I had a hair restoration procedure done at NuHart in Pittsburgh, PA by Dr. Boles.

    Anyways, they said they put 1,000 hairs in the hairline, and 500 in the crown. Well, almost 2 yrs later, I would say MAYBE 200 hairs at the most regrew, and that would be pretty generous, that's honestly all the difference that I can see. I went back to see him last August and he even said himself that he could see the surgery didn't really work, and he had no answers for why, and that he would fix it for me, which turned out to be a big lie. 2 days later, his secretary who was sitting in his office with me when he told me this, told me via email that they would give me 200 grafts for free, but wanted $2,000 to re-do the surgery, and when I was there, dollars were never mentioned, he just said he'd take care of it for me.

    When I was there, I also told him of numbness that I had in certain areas of my head, at which time he told me was extremely rare to still have so long later, well almost 2 yrs later after the surgery, I still have that numbness. Not as much as then even, but it's still there.

    The biggest problem that I have is headaches. I talked to him about this when I was there, and he told me that he did not think that the headaches were connected to the surgery. I explained to him that I hardly ever got headaches before, they were so rare for me that I could count how many I would get a year on both hands, and now I get them every single day, and they last pretty much from the time I wake up, until the time I go to sleep. However, he told me that he's very confident that the two are not connected. I emailed his secretary or whatever she is a few days ago and she told me that the headaches are not connected to the surgery and that she's been dealing with customers for 14 yrs and she's never seen that happen before. I keep trying to set up a time to talk to him on the phone about this with her, but all she'll do is give me his email address, which he never replies to his emails.

    About 3 weeks ago, I went to a Neurologist because I just can't handle the constant headaches anymore, and he had me get a CAT scan, just to make sure that everything is ok inside my head, to rule out any tumors, etc, and luckily everything came back normal. So, that leads me back to the surgery. Headaches do run in my family. My Mom gets them frequently, and so does my sister, they both get migraines, however, I've never gotten headaches until after this surgery, and I'll be 31 in a few weeks, so even if they were hereditary, I wouldn't think that I would start getting them at 29 and 30 yrs old? So I keep coming back to this surgery. I called my neurologist yesterday and he told me it's not migraines and he doubled the dose of the medication that he had me on for the headaches and I just started that last week, so hopefully that starts to help soon.

    I would like at some point to get another surgery since this one failed, and I'm going to go someplace that will actually give me the proper results, however I'm very scared about that because of these problems I'm having. Would another surgery even work? Like, would another doctor be able to put hairs in the same places that didn't regrow before, but they would regrow this time?

    Has anyone else ever experienced these kind of issues, especially 2 yrs after their surgery? My surgery was pretty small compared to some of the other ones, I only had 1,500 grafts done, or so they said. I even question that since so few regrew.

    The last week especially, my head has been killing me. It's so sensitive even to the touch and like, my whole head just feels numb. I talked to my neurologist today and I asked him if headaches can make the head feel sensitive to the touch and he said they can, but I just don't know what's wrong with me and I'm starting to lose my mind over this

    Is there a way I can have tests done or something to find out if nerves were permanately damaged? What kinda doctor would I go to for that?


    Any help and/or advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!

  2. #2
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    103 reads and not 1 reply? Someone has to have a similiar experience or something?

  3. #3
    Senior Member gillenator's Avatar
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    Superstar,

    Listen my friend, yes I will respond to you. I have been following this industry for 31 years now and let me offer you my opinion. But please keep in mind that my opinion will obviously be subjective because I do not have your chart from your procedure, nor any other hard facts supported by clinical evidence. At the same time, I do believe your account and numbers and results vbecause I have heard your story endless times from other patients just as dissapointed as you, and even more.

    What you have in common is that you all went to what I refer to as a big chain clinic like the former MHR who was acquired by Bosley, another HT chain and no doubt now the world's largest chain clinic. NuHart was another larger chain from back in that period of time which I believe was predominantly in the 90's although I see your experience was more recent. Still no surprise because old habits die hard! I apologize that I do not have the freedom of time to write you an extensive reply in the history of the HT industry but you are welcome to phone me as I can talk faster over the phone.

    The bottom line is that whenever someone would tell me that their grafts did not grow, it was because the techs who dissected the grafts did so with an extremely high rate of transection damaging the grafts in the process. Then these damaged grafts were placed in the patients scalp with little to no chance of surviving. Back then, virtually NO ONE cut grafts by microscopic dissection, and I mean if there were, you could count them on one hand with plenty of fingers left. I'm serious. Most techs and clinics dissected under a magnifying glass that was affixed to a pedal stand. Some had illumination, some were not. Grafts were often cut with a simple one sided RAZOR BLADE.

    From my observations, the aggressive hair mills tended to hire techs without experience. Its still common today. Always new surgical techs in the ORs. No one ever set the bar to any standard, no training or certification required of the techs. I have heard of clinics back then having their admin staffs cut grafts and place them because they were much cheaper to pay. Most people have no idea of what took place on the inside back then, and still takes place today believe it or not. Just ask Spencer.

    That would be my guess as to why your outcome was the way it was. Did your NuHart clinic have multiple surgeries and patients going on at the same time with the techs playing musical chairs? Surprise, surprise.

    As far as your headaches, that's very hard to say and very diffiuclt if not impossible for us lay folks to guess. And that's all it would be is a guess. I recommend that you initially see a Nuerologist and Vascular Specialist. It's always possible that your recipient incisions were too deep. The incisions back then were also much more invasive than they are today by the best docs. That's because many of the instruments used to create the recipient incisions back then were large and potentially caused alot of collateral damage like extensive severance of nerves and blood vessels. I used to hear about it all of the time back then and also why I waited to do my first HT.

    These physicians may also be able to refer you to other specialists based on their evaluations/testing of you. And I would be very careful about jumping into another hair transplant right now. You want to first make sure there are nothing else causing your results and present symptoms. If everything else comes back negative, than at least you know you can safely start your research in present day HT procedures and reputable independent HT doctors.

    I guess I did write you a pretty extensive reply after all!

    I wish you the very best in your quest in getting some resolve.
    "Gillenator"
    Independent Patient Advocate
    more.hair@verizon.net

    NOTE: I am not a physician and not employed by any doctor/clinic. My opinions are not medical advice nor are they the opinions of the following endorsing physicians: Dr. Bob True & Dr. Bob Dorin

  4. #4
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    Thanks for your reply. Yeah, I greatly regret going to this guy. They offered me a $3,000 discount on the surgery and charged me $3,00 for it, so that's basically what got me....and they told me that Dr. Boles, the guy who did the surgery on me has done over 25,000 procedures and that they fly him all over the world to do training for them, so I felt like I was in great hands, and they also never informed me of these risks, so I guess this was my fault for being nieve about all of this and now I'm paying the price unfortunately.

    I did go to a Neurologist about 3 weeks ago and he had me get a Cat scan, to see if there's any problems inside of my head, but everything came back negative, so that rules that problem out. He put me on 25mg of Topiramate for my headaches (1 a night before bed) I took that about a month and it didn't do anything, so he doubled the dose and I've been taking that for a few days now, so hopefully that helps the headaches at least. If it doesn't, he told me he wants me to come back and see him.

    I emailed NuHart last week, and they assured me that the headaches aren't related to the surgery. I can never get ahold of the Dr. that did the surgery, I always have to talk to his secretary or whatever she is, and she told me that in 14 yrs of dealing with patients, she's never seen that happen.

    The numbness however, is related to the surgery. I've had the same numbness in certain spots in the back of my head for 2 yrs now ever since the surgery and I'm guessing that won't ever go away? It's weird because it's not totally numb because I can feel myself touching the spots, but it is numb, if that makes any sense. Do you think that means that there could be hope that one day it might repair itself, even though it's been 2 yrs since the surgery?

    Lately though, to go along with the bad headaches, I've been feeling like my whole scalp feels sensitive/numb....that can't be related to the surgery, could it be?

    That numbness is just really bothering me and scaring me. Being 30 yrs old and fearing I might have to deal with that forever just depresses me so much...

    Is it possible that the scar from the strip surgery could be causing the headaches and the numbness? If I touch it, it causes a lot of pain in my head, immediately. Is there anyway that I can get that removed, and if so, could that possibly solve my problems?

  5. #5
    Senior Member gillenator's Avatar
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    I sincerely wish that I could provide you specific precise replies but I cannot. In most cases where there is lingering numbness, that in itself is not abnormal however having said that, most cases involving post-op numbness resolves itself in 12-18 months for most. Still having it and the headaches are not normal to be going on this long. And also considering that you did not have the headaches prior to the procedure.
    "Gillenator"
    Independent Patient Advocate
    more.hair@verizon.net

    NOTE: I am not a physician and not employed by any doctor/clinic. My opinions are not medical advice nor are they the opinions of the following endorsing physicians: Dr. Bob True & Dr. Bob Dorin

  6. #6
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    Superstar,

    I completely agree with Gillenator as to the propbable reasons your previous HT did not work well. I have been working in the hair industry as a tech for the past 15 years, and the procedure has really come a long way in that time. I am quite certain that if you had another HT the results would be far superior.

    However, I also agree that you should figure out what is causing your headaches before you go ahead with another HT. Headaches can be caused by a number of things and can be aggravated by stress. So I feel that before you put yourself through the stress of a surgery you should make sure that you have your pain under control.

    I wish you the very best of luck in resolving your headaches, and restoring your hair.
    Jen Hoffman
    Head Technician and Surgical Manager for Haber Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery

  7. #7
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    I think I'm slowly making progress on my issues. I was able to speak with the Doctor who did my surgery and he thinks the problem could be scar tissue and he recommends getting steroid injections and he thinks that will help, what comforts me in his diagnosis is that before he told me that, I spoke to Dr. Ziering and he told me I should try that, and also, Dr. Wong told me he thinks it could be scar tissue as well, they all told me this on their own, without me suggesting it to them, so I guess I'll start with that and hope it helps.
    I've noticed recently a troubling thing however. I used to have a smooth and circular skull, however now my skull is bumpy and has like, indentations in some spots in the back where I get pains in the back of my head and if i touch it, it hurts..., I know this has to be from the surgery...has anyone ever heard of someone's skull changing after a hair surgery?
    I had a CAT scan about 2 months ago, and nothing was found inside that was bad...so I know it has to be from the surgery, could it be because of this scar tissue that they're talking about? I emailed my doctor that did the surgery and the other 2 doctors about this but just awaiting a reply but wanted to hear if anyone else has heard of this. Thanks

  8. #8
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    I had a reputable doc work on me. I did research and read everything I could to make sure I wouldn't get screwed.

    I had 2 concerns. I want to stay in the US, and I wanted to go to a doctor that wouldn't have to shave my head for obvious reasons.

    Both back fired on me.

    I have an extremely tight scalp, I have headaches but not the type for inside. Just from times when my head is very tight. This happens everyday and I had the same problem as you.

    I could never get a hold of my doc. He was always busy and couldn't careless to try and help. He is on this board and post frequently. I understand your case, because I am living it.

    My HT has been a nightmare

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