My Doctor Must Be Good Because He’s Performed Surgery for Many Celebrities
Written by Joe Tillman on February 1, 2008
Recently I had a conversation with a sufferer of hair loss about his surgical recommendation and he mentioned that he had already had one hair transplant by a different clinic. He told me that the doctor said he had worked on many celebrities including Nicolas Cage and Sylvester Stallone just to name a few. I chuckled under my breath because I’ve heard this one before but NOT from the same doctor. In fact, I seem to recall this same story being repeated as originally stated by no less than THREE separate doctors. It seems to me that dropping names is something that is looked upon as being beneficial by some doctors and that it instills confidence for the patient.
The first problem with this type of claim is that it is most likely a bold faced lie as was the story told to the patient at the beginning of this post. The chance of any doctor that you are speaking with having actually performed hair transplant surgery on an “A list” actor or celebrity is pretty small unless that doctor is in the Beverly Hills or greater Los Angeles area. Now, this is not to say that they absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, are lying but the chances that YOUR doctor worked on a big name celebrity are slim.
My second point is this…WHO CARES?!?!? Why should you make a lifelong decision based on what a celebrity does? The decision to have a hair transplant is a very personal one and is not to be taken lightly. Once a hair transplant is performed, that’s it. There is no going back, no reversal, no setting the clock back a few years. It is with you for life. Besides, if you are speaking to the actual doctor that performed the hair transplant surgery for the celebrities mentioned above, run, do not walk, out the door because you do NOT want the type of work they received (no offense if any of you reading this are actually Nicolas Cage or Sylvester Stallone. Call me, let me help.).
My third and final point is the most important. If you are speaking to a hair transplant doctor and they mention any one specific celebrity (or any patient for that matter) by name then they have just violated one of the most sacred of medical ethics. No doctor should reveal the name of a patient for any reason much less for self promotion. This is a very good indicator that your doctor is either lying for self promotion or is choosing to ignore doctor-patient confidentiality, again, for self promotion. It just isn’t something that should be done and should in and of itself be a very good reason to move on to your next doctor interview.