Specialized Surgeon v A "Chain"

Dr. Anil Shah and Dr. Benjamin Paul discuss common questions that are asked regarding hair restoration treatments and procedures. They dive deep into the topic of seeing a specialized surgeon versus a large brand surgery center. Click on the video below to hear the discussion.

Dr. Shah

So you're choosing between a plastic surgeon versus maybe someone who has, you know, like an ER physician or something like that. Do you notice a difference between, in your area, we don't have to mention names chains like the big hair providers, the ones who advertise a lot. What's the difference? If you're a hair customer coming in and say, “I'm going to go to someone who is super well-qualified like yourself, who has all this training.” What's the difference? What kind of difference are they going to see in results?

Dr. Ben Paul

I think every single step is going to be different. I think you interface with the practice. You're going to meet me. I'm going to sit down and talk to you about what your goals are. In a big chain, you're going to meet a practice consultant. You barely get to interface with the doctor. I think when it comes to design and artistry, you're giving, you're giving us as surgeons, paint and canvas and asking for us to do something beautiful with it. And to go and just have a, you know, sort of mill type experience, you're probably not going to get as beautiful or artistic result, because as you were saying, I like to look at the pattern, the design, the angle of exit of the hair, how the hair likes to flop it and match that. And then I think the training as a facial plastic surgeon is critical for design purposes. And then I think that the accessibility to the practice is different when you're in a big practice instead of a boutique practice.

Dr. Shah

Yeah. And all the things you've eliminated as well as quality control. You know, I think if you're, you're there and you're intimately involved with, you know, many of the steps here, the design, you know, the site making you know, the harvesting, you're going to get a much different experience than you know, we all hear stories of what happens at these different places where people with without even a high school education are injecting local anesthesia. They're making sites. They're giving a lot of this procedure and the patients ask why things didn't turn out the way they wanted to. Well, things can happen with multiple reasons, but you're cutting out a lot of those variabilities if you're going to someone whose heart and soul and practicing that and using science versus someone who doesn't advertise

Dr. Ben Paul

Listen. I totally agree. And I think that no doctor I've seen does a hair transplant, a normal size hair transplant all by themselves, maybe a tiny one, but not a big one. We all need help. This is a much more collaborative effort than some other procedures in plastic surgery. And so you want to go to a place that works with a team that they're really familiar with, with a lot of experience at every level. And I think that that's just not something you can be as certain about at a bigger place because there's a lot of rotating people at a smaller place with really good results and consistency. You're going to see a team that's a well-oiled ship. That's well optimized.

To hear this whole interview, check out our podcast, “MASTERS OF BEAUTY” available on Apple Podcast, I Heart Radio, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts!