There is no shortage of clinics and medical practices that offer hair restoration. And it’s no wonder. Considering that hair transplants constitute a $53 billion dollar global market, the incentive to do so is great. However, if you’re considering a hair transplant, be careful about who you choose, and avoid practices that don’t specialize in hair restoration.
You may wonder why this would matter. After all, aren’t hair transplants a standardized surgical procedure? If a medical practice is offering them, shouldn’t the doctor be qualified to perform them safely and achieve the desired result? The answers may surprise you—and not in a pleasant way!
Not All Hair Transplants are Created Equal
As a consumer, all you know about hair transplant clinics and medical practices that offer them is likely through their advertising. Be it online or in print, of course, ads present these services in the best light—and always beneficial to the consumer. But if you’re looking for a bargain and/or are impressed by the use of high-tech robotic devices that claim to deliver a perfect outcome with a minimum of human intervention, there is much that you’re not being told.
The caution “consumer beware” should be your attitude in your response to advertising claims. If an ad for a clinic or practice that doesn’t specialize in hair transplantation gets your interest because of what seems to be a good price for a follicular unit extraction (FUE) procedure, you should ask yourself why this practice is now performing hair transplants, how long it’s been doing so, and who is doing the actual planning, harvesting and implantation of hair grafts—and what their qualifications are.
Dr. Marco Barusco – Founder and Chief Medical Officer at Tempus Hair Restoration—is a vocal advocate for consumer education. In his three-part YouTube podcast series—“The Current State of Hair Transplant Surgery”—Dr. Barusco provides his personal perspective on this situation. In part three of the series—“Do It Right or Don’t Do It At All”—Dr. Barusco talks with podcast host Peter Roman about how such cosmetic surgery practices came to add hair transplantation to their services.
Dr. Barusco reveals that while you might assume a physician or cosmetic surgeon reached this decision after a good deal of thought and additional training, such typically isn’t the case. Instead, the purchase of a robotic device prompted this new service. Get ready to have your eyes opened!
Says Dr. Barusco:
“What they [the robotic device manufacturer] do is go to a plastic surgery conference and buy an exhibitor’s space and set up with the machines and some sales people. They tell the surgeons, ‘Look, you can add hair transplant surgery to your practice. It’s a 50 billion dollar industry you can get a piece of. Just buy my machine. You don’t have to do anything. I will send the staff to do the procedure for you, and do the advertising.’ So it became very popular.”
Let this sink in. A manufacturer’s sales representative pitches doctors a turnkey solution that requires no knowledge or skill on their part to operate so they can enjoy a new revenue stream. Other personnel who are hired by the device’s manufacturer will be sent out to perform the FUE procedure. The extent of their training does not qualify them to harvest and implant hair grafts – which is, by definition, surgery, as both require cutting into the skin.
Hair Restoration Surgeons Sound the Alarm About Unethical and Illegal Practices
Dr. Barusco is not alone in sounding the alarm. As Modern Aesthetics reports, hair transplant surgery is surgery.
“Unfortunately, some FUE medical device companies deceive some doctors into believing that after they buy this FUE motorized surgical drill that they can delegate these steps of hair transplant surgery to hair transplant technicians. Hair transplant technicians are medical assistants (MAs). MAs do not have to graduate from any school (even high school), do not have to pass any test, and are not licensed/certified by any medical governing body. A medical device company has no authority to provide MAs medical licenses to practice medicine. However, some FUE medical device companies are deceiving the public and doctors by giving these MAs certificates stating that they are certified and can be delegated to do these critical aspects of the surgery. This is illegal and probably criminal since it is aiding and abetting the unlicensed practice of medicine.”
Florida and other states in the U.S. have passed legislation which deems that harvesting hair and making incisions on a patient are functions that only a physician, a Physician’s Assistant (not the same as a technician or nurse) or a Nurse Practitioner are allowed to perform.
“If you don’t see any of them in the room, the surgery is being done illegally,” says Dr. Barusco. “Technicians and any other such individuals are practicing medicine without a license, and the doctor who allows them to do it in their practice is also aiding and abetting the illegal practice of medicine and may lose his or her medical license and/or face felony charges.”
In a highly publicized case, the owner of a surgical center in Virginia Beach, VA, was arrested in 2023 for performing hair transplants without a license. The investigation began after a patient filed a complaint, claiming long-lasting medical issues as a result of his procedure.
The Potential for a Botched Hair Transplant is Real
You don’t need to try hard to imagine the potential for a botched outcome or even a risk to your health if you get a procedure from someone whose shingle lists “hair transplants” under other specialties. Also, consider the professional ethics of a doctor who sees you as just a quick buck, rather than a patient who deserves respect and the utmost care. Dr. Barusco has consulted with far too many such people who suffered poor outcomes as the result—including those whose transplant can’t be corrected because too much hair was harvested from the donor area of the scalp.
“I meet with patients almost every day who have trusted doctors and practices because they had these devices, only to find out later that they would need me to fix what’s been done to them. And what is even worse, is that these patients are coming to me not only with poor results on their hairline, but also scarring and thinning of their donor hair caused by taking too many hairs with incisions that are too close together and/or larger than they should be.”
It’s Important to Choose Your Surgeon Wisely
One big tip-off as to whether a practice has literally bought into using a robotic device as its sole means of performing hair transplants is if it only offers the FUE. A practice that does not also offer follicular unit transplantation (FUT) and/or the No-Shave FUE—which Dr. Barusco developed to completely conceal harvested donor sites immediately—does not have an experienced hair transplant specialist on staff, and should be avoided.
Also known as the “strip” method, the FUT involves harvesting a very small strip of hair and skin from the donor area, then placing it under a microscope to be prepared for implantation as hair grafts. The FUT has undergone refinements over the years so that the only evidence is a pencil-line linear scar easily concealed by hair—even at a shorter length. As this procedure cannot be performed by a robotic device, look for a practice that offers the FUT and other procedures besides the FUE. Tempus Hair Restoration offers the procedures mentioned in the previous paragraph, as well as the groundbreaking combination FUE and FUT, which covers large areas of baldness in a single surgery without having to wait one or two years between procedures.
Avoiding practices that don’t specialize in hair transplants is just the initial step in ensuring your procedure will be performed by a qualified, experienced, skilled surgeon who puts the well-being and hair restoration goals of the patient first.
Dr. Barusco’s long list of accomplishments, his notable artistic ability and his successful surgical team make Tempus Hair Restoration a renowned practice. We understand that the main concern you may have is cost, which is why we offer financing options that can place this important goal within reach.
Contact us to schedule your free virtual consultation. Dr. Barusco conducts every consultation himself, giving you the opportunity to learn your options in the comfort of your home – or any location, on any internet-enabled device.
Dr. Barusco conducts consultations in English, Spanish and Portuguese. For your greater convenience, Tempus Hair Restoration offers a two-night complimentary hotel stay to out-of-town clients who travel 100 miles or more to our Port Orange, Florida, surgical center. No matter how far the distance, we welcome the opportunity to help you on your hair restoration journey!