Balding Blog

These are comments taken from a group of doctors who are concerned about patients who are sucked into ‘Black Market’ clinics or Black Market treatment.

“Black Market Hair Transplant” is companies making deceiving marketing such that the customer is offered a service/product that does not offer the benefits that are claimed.

Examples are: technicians doing surgery when it is marketed as the doctor doing it, artificial hair fibres that may have devastating complications which the patient is not made aware of, an FUE robot that claims to not have the disadvantage of human error while doing a much worse job than the average surgeon, LLT that claims to treat male pattern hair loss, PRP that claims to treat male pattern hair loss, PRP that claims to improve surgical results, the manual FUE punch marketed as less damaging to the tissue, FUE marketed as a scarless procedure, an FUE punch marketed as offering zero transections, an FUE machine marketed as the best option while the patient not being aware that the technicians are going to do the job etc.

Since regulations and even ethical standards vary significantly across the globe, it is okay to market anything that is legal within its region, provided that the customer knows what they are getting. If the patient knows for the price he is paying, he can only have technicians doing the surgery and this is what he wants then it is fine. On the other hand, if the patient is told the doctor will do the procedure and the patient is sedated during the surgery so he doesn’t see that the work is done by techs, then this is not okay.

If the patient is told that PRP is not an alternative to the traditional treatment of androgenic alopecia and that there may be some temporary benefits, then it is okay. However, if he is told that he doesn’t need to take medication and he can get his problem treated in a natural way, then this is not okay.

If the clinic says that the doctor prefers the manual punch then this is okay. On the contrary, if they tell the patient that they use a manual punch to prevent the damage that occurs with the micromotor, then this is not okay.

Birth control pills are high on the list as a cause for female hair loss. When one pill doesn’t work, switching to another brand under control of your OB/GYN doctor who will address the hair loss issue is the route you should take

I had a horrible experience with biofiber hair transplants since 2 years and since that say I didn’t have one day without pimples and small abscess , I had traveled 2 times and lost too much money with no benefits. I searched everywhere to find someone Can remove it and even the part inside the scalp. It was a big mistake that I totally regret it, Please assess my condition if there’s any hope.

An experienced doctor may be able to remove each of the fibers as they are either (1) identified on the scalp with an FUE punch, (2) become infected. The general problem is that many times, buried biofibers remain even after individual surgical attempts to find them all is completed. You have to have a good relationship with the doctor who is removing them and realize that this problem may go on for a long time if any of the fibers are not found at the initial time the surgeon attempts to remove them.

This procedure, the use of artificial hair fibers implanted into the scalp, has been banned by most countries. Any doctor trying to do this in the United States could expect to be in trouble with their medical license. I know how good they look for the first few weeks as I have met a few patients that had them many years ago, but then hell pays a visit. You have been there, it seems, and you are still there until these fibers eventually work their way out. The good news is that they will eventually be pushed out by your body but multiple infectious periods may have to be managed, experience after experience by an easily accessible doctor.

A year ago, I got my synthetic hair implant in another country clinic, since they really persuaded me to try out their biofiber synthetic hair implant made from Italy. Now I started having inflammation and redness and itching, I visited a dermatologists who recommended that I get these removed immediately.

I have seen such patients and their entire scalp becomes very infected and scarred, even after the removal of the synthetic implants. This takes a long time and many visits as some of the implants get burried in the scalp. Fortunately, these have been outlawed in the US and many countries, but a few clinics remain in Europe and elsewhere offering it and some people think it is a great idea and may pay heavily for the decision to get them.

Biofibers, a type of artificial hair that is inserted deep into the scalp, causes long term infections that are common. These have been banned in most countries in the world. I hope that this reaches people who are considering this type of treatment and learn from this post not to do it.

I have found that many of the rich and famous don’t do their research when it comes to getting a hair transplant, as I have had to fix many of them. Donald Trump is a good example of a botched job (scalp reductions, and now he is stuck with a terrible scar down the middle of his head with balding around it). This man that you referenced should have had his donor supply quantified and a proper plan built. Maybe he was a bad candidate for a hair transplant, but now that he has it, he can do something about it, like possibly another transplant to thicken the frontal leading edge, and getting scalp micropigmentation for the rest of his head, and he might look much better (see https://scalpmicropigmentation.com/bold-shaved-look/). After a bad transplant, he either will learn to live with what he has, or he will find a doctor like myself who specializes in repairs.

A billionaire diamond businessman’s hair transplant from tressless