• Welcome to Hair loss Experiences hair loss forum.

    Free impartial hair loss advice, hair transplant advice, hair loss medications and hair loss news.
    You can contact us directly at [email protected] if you experience any problems.

A unique oppurtunity to own exclusive hair transplant counselling facility

Dr Arvind

Dr Arvind

Valued member
Dear readers,
Hair transplants are becoming increasingly popular. At the same time there is an ever increasing number of untrained €œHT clinics € that are mushrooming and doing more harm then good in this field. Correct and ethical patient education/counselling is the need of the hour.
I think it is essential to have well trained and experienced hair transplant counsellors that know their stuff and can educate the prospective patient about the intricacies of a hair transplant procedure. They should be able to guide the patient on whether they are suitable candidates for hair transplants, their graft requirements if they are and on any and all available alternates.

With this in view, we have launched this special initiative.
If you feel you have it in you to correctly educate a prospective hairloss patient about his hair restoration options, please get in touch with us.
We are looking for intelligent, ethical people with good communication skills who are willing to get trained in the field of hair transplant counselling.

The selected people, in return for their pre operative patient education, asisstance/planning of logistic support for the patient and post operative follow up and education, will be owners of area exclusive hair transplant counselling facilities of Dr. A €™s Clinics.

The order of preference for any particular area will be given as follows:
1. HT veterans who are also past hair transplant patients of Dr. A €™s clinics
2. HT veterans who have got hair transplant performed at any other clinic
3. Long term (>1 year) participants of any major hairloss discussion forums.

The selected hair transplant counsellors will be trained in detail about all aspects of hair transplant surgeries, (except the actual performance of the surgeries) and any additional knowledge that be deemed necessary in respect to patient education and care.

I look forward to your suggestions and advise.

Regards,
Dr. A

 
J

JJ09

Member
I would be interested in this opportunity unfortunately I need to sort out my own situation (hair) first in order to be considered €¦I €™m sure.



From my experience I could certainly advise people on what €œnot € to do when considering a hair transplant operation.
 
Dr Arvind

Dr Arvind

Valued member
Dear JJ09 and other readers,
Thank you for your emails evincing interest in our latest initiative. Going over some common enquiries, I thought it best to answer them on the forum as many others may have similar doubts.

Reading the initial post I realize that I have not explained in full detail about the specifics of this initiative.

1. This is not a drive for recruiting regional sales consultant as someone called it. This is a partnership/collaboration call to HT patients worldwide.
There are an overwhelmingly large number of untrained doctors that are causing more harm everyday and we need to stop them.

2. It does not matter whether you have had a previous good or bad hair transplant to join this initiative. Even if you have not had any hair transplant but have good communication skills, complete our course and pass the exam, you can be part of this initiative. The important thing is your willingness to educate the patients about the real possibilities of hair transplants in your own cities.

In return, you earn a decent reimbursement that is ethically earned and you build a reputable lifelong career.

I will speak in greater detail soon. Meantime, let me know if you have any specific queries. You can also email them to [email protected]
Regards,
Dr. A
 
Last edited:
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Hi Dr Arvind.

I look forward to hearing more about this initiative you propose.I agree with you that there are far too many bad results being performed in this day and age.

Hopefully it will change.

Thanks bm.
 
Dr Arvind

Dr Arvind

Valued member
Dear readers,
I have thought deeply on various aspects that are wrong with the HT field at present. Based on that this idea of trained HT counsellors that are also past patients is the first step in a direction that will totally change the industry (or rather create a respectable industry where only businesses exist at present).

------------------------------------------------------------------
Problems that exist and are multiplying by the day
1. Celebrities get good hair transplants and claim the same in public. This gives credibility to HTs. But... this also creates 2 problems. First, more people think they should go for HT. No problem in that. Except they do not realize they have to research and choose the doctor. Earlier, the fear of bad HTs held back many people from contemplating HTs. Its not so any longer.
Second, and a much bigger problem... untrained doctors jump on the wagon and start offering HT because they see a demand. Since there is no regulation on which doctor with what type of training can offer HTs.

That leads to a lot of bad HTs and bad future reputation for HT field. No matter how good the top few doctors are, there will always be 100 bad HTs being performed each day by new untrained doctors for each 1 correct ht pperformed by the top doctors.
The people who get these bad ht, will : 1. Be a constantly visible bad publicity of HT for the lay public that will look at them 2. Most of these patients will believe themselves that this is what HT is like. So, they will not go for repair and will warn all others not to go for a ht because it is bad.


To address this situation I took one small step. We now have free Open house every last saturday of the month in which prospective patients can come and meet volunteer patients that got ht done by the correct techniques.
If after that they still choose to go to another doctor who may be untrained, atleast they will know that the mistake is not ht itself but that of ht being performed by an untrained doctor.
This we have been doing since sept 2009.

However, this is a small step as everyone can not make the trip to our clinic. Even if the top 20 clinics of the world were to hold such regular events that will still not be sufficient to reach out to most people.

But imagine! There are thousands of patients around the world who have got HTs from this top 10 - 20 clinics.

There would be atleast 1 willing, educated person in every city of the world who will be able to devote time to educate the patients. They will be the first major deterrant against the forthcoming flood of untrained doctors and their unprincipled counsellors.

Regards,
Dr. A

 
Dr Arvind

Dr Arvind

Valued member
Bigmac wrote:
Hi Dr Arvind.

I look forward to hearing more about this initiative you propose.I agree with you that there are far too many bad results being performed in this day and age.

Hopefully it will change.

Thanks bm.
Please do not hesitate to ask for any clarifications.
 
Sparky

Sparky

Valued member
I'm interested in this, I've been thinking about this for a while before you posted it. I assume the people you recruit will be based in their native country?
 
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Dr Arvind wrote:

But imagine! There are thousands of patients around the world who have got HTs from this top 10 - 20 clinics.

There would be atleast 1 willing, educated person in every city of the world who will be able to devote time to educate the patients. They will be the first major deterrant against the forthcoming flood of untrained doctors and their unprincipled counsellors.

Regards,
Dr. A


Hi Dr Arvind.

How will the prospective patient find these patient advocates,i know this site helps many in their research but when researching many patients simply look at doctors websites and only look for a forum when it goes all wrong.

Thanks bm.


 
Dr Arvind

Dr Arvind

Valued member
Bigmac wrote:
Dr Arvind wrote:

But imagine! There are thousands of patients around the world who have got HTs from this top 10 - 20 clinics.

There would be atleast 1 willing, educated person in every city of the world who will be able to devote time to educate the patients. They will be the first major deterrant against the forthcoming flood of untrained doctors and their unprincipled counsellors.

Regards,
Dr. A


Hi Dr Arvind.

How will the prospective patient find these patient advocates,i know this site helps many in their research but when researching many patients simply look at doctors websites and only look for a forum when it goes all wrong.

Thanks bm.



1. After successful completion of their HT counselling/patient education course, there will be a link to their contact information at our website, including their geographical location.

2. Some of them may be familiar with the forums and may become active participants.

3. There will be many people they come in contact with daily whom they can educate.

4. Many of the counsellors may decide to make their own webpage/blog

If a prospective patient knows they can meet a past HT patient in their neighbourhood, I think most will take time out to meet them and see results and learn of the experience in person before taking the plunge.


 
Dr Arvind

Dr Arvind

Valued member
Bastion wrote:
How will this be funded?... It`s an interesting concept.

This initiative will tap into 2 resources:
1. Most patients, after successful completion of their hair restoration, carry on with their life and decide not to share their HT experience with others. However, as HT counsellors, they (and their spouses) will be able to give back to others from their experience and education.

2. It will require minimal funding. Till now patients have spent on their hair restoration. Now their HTs (and their education), will work to earn money and a career for them.


We will train suitable candidates from each area for a minimal fee and they will be required to pass our examination. They will also follow a laid down patient education method and the final consultation will be done in conjunction with our doctors.

They will help in patient's pre op education, logistics, booking their procedure, collecting advance confirmation fee, aiding travel plans, post op counselling and facilitating patient-clinic communication. In return of their services they will earn a fee.

While it will be preferred that they have a dedicated real estate for the purpose of counselling, but I am not averse to idea of people working part time/over weekends. One could possibly decide to meet his prospective patients near Buckingham Palace (is it St. James Park?) over a cup of coffee. As long as the prospective patient gets the correct info, the rest is incidental.
 
Last edited:
Dr Arvind

Dr Arvind

Valued member
Sparky wrote:
I'm interested in this, I've been thinking about this for a while before you posted it. I assume the people you recruit will be based in their native country?

Yes, they will be based in their native country and city.
 
H

hairtech

member
This is a quote (copy/paste) from the original post:

"The selected people, in return for their pre operative patient education, asisstance/planning of logistic support for the patient and post operative follow up and education, will be owners of area exclusive hair transplant counselling facilities of Dr. A €™s Clinics." "

What does this mean please?
 
Nervousnelly

Nervousnelly

The Coolest Member
The concept is good but I believe that logistically it is going to be very challenging to pull off. The purpose of these forums is to provide a useful resource that is a NONBIASED arena for individuals to assess all areas of the hairtransplant surgery and see both results from clinics and past patients. The key is that there is no bias. Once you start to provide financial incentive for individuals to market themselves and a particular clinic it no longer has the same effect. Don't get me wrong, ofcourse there is subtle marketing taking place on all forums because we have doctors and staff posting, but it is fairly well managed. Lets face it, once you have a legion of recruiters, all steering potential clients to a particular physician, it looks suspicious.

I have to say that I sit on the fence with this one. I appreciate that there is an effort to guide people away from the unethical physicians and clinics that are in the market for only financial gain and do not have the training to provide world class results. I understand the thought and like it, but there needs to be a conserted effort to educate without bias. This forum does just that. Possibly with todays technology, we could go further by having the site capable of translation into several different languages via the click of a button??

I have been approached by an office to solicit business for them (not SMG that performed my procedure) because I am educated on the HT process and have been active on forums for over 3 years (loser??) I didn't like the fact that I would be "tied" to a particular clinic and could therefore not provide people with a complete nonbiased response. Having financial incentive tends to blind opinions. Few on these sites are capable to being completely nonbiased despite their affiliation with a particular physician.

I also question whether it is irresponsible to assert that a particular person is an expert because he has passed a nonregulated exam? I know a lot but could I call myself a counsellor?

Dr. A-I love your idea and enthusiasm to have people avoid untrained clinics but I do have to admit that it reaks of profit driven incentive. It is a little too "Bosley". You are a good physician and located in a region with a massive population. I believe that your focus should be primarily on educating that population. I have seen some horrendous work still coming out of Asia. It would not make sense for myself (in Michigan-USA) to have a facility to educate people on HT's with Dr. A.

Just my 2 cents once again.

NN
 
H

hairtech

member
great post Nervous... well thought out and probably what many are thinking.;;D
 
Dr Arvind

Dr Arvind

Valued member
Dear NN,
Thank you.
This response was what I was waiting for.

1. I agree with you that to have employed counsellors would undermine the whole exercise. That is why I am against employing HT counsellors. These HT counsellors will only be trained by our clinic.

2. Since they will be independent HT counsellors, they will develop their own reputation based on how they educate and help prospective patients. Its NOT binding on them to refer patients requiring HTs only to us.
The key here is that these counsellors will be well trained and be able to refer suitable patients to doctors of their choice. To maintain their reputation, it is my belief, they will never refer these patients to untrained and unsuitable doctors.

3. They will act as a deterrant against untrained doctors entering the field and their paid consultants trying to lure unsuspecting people.

4. You said and I quote "I also question whether it is irresponsible to assert that a particular person is an expert because he has passed a nonregulated exam? I know a lot but could I call myself a counsellor? " There is no official, government approved course for counsellors or even hair transplant surgeons. A start has to be made. Yes? And this initiative is that start. You are correct that you have been on the forums for a long time and you can not call yourself a counsellor. There is an awful lot of information that a counsellor needs to have before he can honestly educate patients. Today I am starting one course. In future, there may be more. The reputation of each course will depend on the quality of people that successfully complete the course.

Who knows, one day, we will have a recognized, government approved course too.

5. Again, I quote you "You are a good physician and located in a region with a massive population. I believe that your focus should be primarily on educating that population."
This is something some people in West do not understand. We, in India alone, have a higher number of people speaking/reading English then the entire Europe (barring UK). South Asia has a higher total number of people who speak and read English then the entire UK.

I am thankful that people have created this forum. But please consider that this is an English language forum. Let us not make it an area specific forum. People from my country and region read these forum extensively, even if they do not participate actively in the discussions.

When I write on the forums, its as much to educate them as to educate someone sitting in UK, New York, Sydney or Congo. So, let us drop the patronising attitude.

6. I would appreciate all suggestions to make this idea work for the benefit of the patients.

Regards,
Dr. A

Nervousnelly wrote:
The concept is good but I believe that logistically it is going to be very challenging to pull off. The purpose of these forums is to provide a useful resource that is a NONBIASED arena for individuals to assess all areas of the hairtransplant surgery and see both results from clinics and past patients. The key is that there is no bias. Once you start to provide financial incentive for individuals to market themselves and a particular clinic it no longer has the same effect. Don't get me wrong, ofcourse there is subtle marketing taking place on all forums because we have doctors and staff posting, but it is fairly well managed. Lets face it, once you have a legion of recruiters, all steering potential clients to a particular physician, it looks suspicious.

I have to say that I sit on the fence with this one. I appreciate that there is an effort to guide people away from the unethical physicians and clinics that are in the market for only financial gain and do not have the training to provide world class results. I understand the thought and like it, but there needs to be a conserted effort to educate without bias. This forum does just that. Possibly with todays technology, we could go further by having the site capable of translation into several different languages via the click of a button??

I have been approached by an office to solicit business for them (not SMG that performed my procedure) because I am educated on the HT process and have been active on forums for over 3 years (loser??) I didn't like the fact that I would be "tied" to a particular clinic and could therefore not provide people with a complete nonbiased response. Having financial incentive tends to blind opinions. Few on these sites are capable to being completely nonbiased despite their affiliation with a particular physician.

I also question whether it is irresponsible to assert that a particular person is an expert because he has passed a nonregulated exam? I know a lot but could I call myself a counsellor?

Dr. A-I love your idea and enthusiasm to have people avoid untrained clinics but I do have to admit that it reaks of profit driven incentive. It is a little too "Bosley". You are a good physician and located in a region with a massive population. I believe that your focus should be primarily on educating that population. I have seen some horrendous work still coming out of Asia. It would not make sense for myself (in Michigan-USA) to have a facility to educate people on HT's with Dr. A.

Just my 2 cents once again.

NN
 
Last edited:
Nervousnelly

Nervousnelly

The Coolest Member
"These HT counsellors will only be trained by our clinic.

2. Since they will be independent HT counsellors, they will develop their own reputation based on how they educate and help prospective patients. Its NOT binding on them to refer patients requiring HTs only to us.
The key here is that these counsellors will be well trained and be able to refer suitable patients to doctors of their choice."



I think that for the most part we are not too far off on what we are both saying. I did not mean to patronize in my response but was merely pointing out the large geographical distance between where I live vs. where your clinic is located. If you are sincere in what you stated above, I certainly could understand and justify things. However; due to the large amount of travel time, in good faith as an honest councellor, I could never justify recommending a client to you (if they live in my region) unless they were a possible candidate of BHT. Price might also be a consideration.

To go about this best, it would be ideal if the candidates are trained by a group of top world class physicians. Ex. yourself, SMG, someone from Belgium, etc. This would elliminate the appearance of a self serving enterprise on your behalf. Now if you would prefer to go about this yourself and have councellors trained by you, lets face it-smells fishy. Don't get me wrong, I am a business person and I fully understand if you would like to create several worldwide HT Councelling Offices. Whether it be for your financial gain or you truly are a martyr, no problem. Just don't try to sell it as something it is not. It likely won't get the support of the online community.

I want to be very clear. I like you Dr. A. You are a great physician with enormous talent. I am just playing devils advocate and asking questions or pointing out possible scenarios. Whatever route you choose to go with this, I still will recommend that you are a talented physician and people in your neck of the woods should definitely be seeking your services.

Do others have opinions?

NN
 
Nervousnelly

Nervousnelly

The Coolest Member
I did want to point out also that I am very aware that India has a very high population of english speaking citizens. This was not what I was referring to in above post. Moreover, your intentions might be 100% sincere, but at some point a unscrupulous clinic will at some point "grease the palms" of a trained councellor and low and behold you have bias. Unfortunately money rules the world.

NN
 
J

JJ09

Member
I see this initiative providing an opportunity for a patient to access a trained councillor/consultant affiliated with any reputable clinic in his/her own region, where the prospective patient has already chosen a particular Doctor.

Most patients intending on travelling for a procedure only have access to an online consult and any information provided by the online community.
Imagine being able to have personal consult with a councillor from your €œchosen clinic € in your area €¦at least you would be well advised on what the possibilities are in regards to a hair transplant procedure and if the consultant is a patient of the said Doctor €¦all the better! I would love to meet with Janna, stephenl (only ones I could think of right now €¦hope you don €™t mind making reference to you, I don't know your roles of course, just love your advise on this forum) for example prior flying out to their clinic. Gold! ;)

 
Last edited:
Dr Arvind

Dr Arvind

Valued member
Nervousnelly wrote:
I did want to point out also that I am very aware that India has a very high population of english speaking citizens. This was not what I was referring to in above post. Moreover, your intentions might be 100% sincere, but at some point a unscrupulous clinic will at some point "grease the palms" of a trained councellor and low and behold you have bias. Unfortunately money rules the world.

NN
Dear NN,
I understand. Its just that reading your comment would make it seem that to educate people nearer to New Delhi would require me to post in some India specific forum. To dispel this myth it was important for me to point out that what is writtent on the English language forum is as likely to be read by someone from Bangalore as from Los Angeles or Michigan.



Also, as someone said, one should not discard a good idea in a vain attempt to find a perfect one.
True, there is a chance some future counsellor "may" be tempted to act against the patient's best interests by monetary gains. But then, theres a whole army of untrained doctors and counsellors who "are" working in a biased and uneducated manner (contrary to the interests of the patient) today. That is why there are so many repair HTs.
Moreover, such a counsellor would lose reputation very soon.

An educated trained counsellor (who has got a hair transplant done), would be any day better then an untrained doctor offering HT. Moreover, the trained counsellor will not lose revenue telling the patient the truth because he will have access to top doctors of the world. The untrained doctor will be always more biased if he keeps his monetary gain ahead of patient's well being.

I appreciate your playing the devil's advocate and would like to hear your views further.
Regards,
Dr. A
 
Last edited:
Top