"Dave" is a 52 year old man who has been the unfortunate recipient of some of the worse hair transplant work. He spent the last 22 years of his life dealing with the stares of strangers at his unnatural and pluggy corn row hair line.

Recently "Dave" undertook a journey to Australia seeking the help of a physician Dr Ray Woods to repair the nightmare he has had to live with over the past 22 years.

Dr Woods has developed a unique transplant technique where he is able to move single hairs one by one, without removing any donor area.

This is his story.

The following is an account of my experiences over the last 22 years. I am not a doctor and I am not promoting hair transplantation as all my efforts were concerned with correcting the unsightly condition of seven previous and hair transplant surgeries. I am not affiliated with any physician or represent any company or organization with regard to hair related matters and receive no compensation from anyone. I have gone too great effort and personal expense to seek an acceptable corrective surgical result. It is my opinion that corrective hair transplant surgery should be considered a specialty within the hair transplant process. It is also my opinion that hair transplanting a virgin head is a much easier process when compared to correcting a botched hair transplant and this is not an easy task for any doctor!

I had my first three hair transplant surgeries in 1979 via the "Black & Decker" punch graft method over a five-month period. Needless to say, the end result was something less than the image of the pictures in the color brochure with glowing testimonials and a picture of the medical director in a three-piece suit sitting behind his hardwood desk. I won't get into a rant about the many registered letters of complaint and phone calls that were never responded to. It would be 15 years before I put my faith in another physician in the hopes of correcting a wall of plugs protruding from my frontal hairline.

In 1994, I approached another clinic that advertised they performed hair transplant surgery for an evaluation of my condition. I was informed that I had sufficient donor area and that a series of surgeries would correct the condition. Throughout the 15 years, I would visit other doctors, not related to hair transplantation surgery, in the hope of getting some insight to my condition and had no luck in doing so. There was one surgery performed from the doctor at this clinic and I never returned. I would later find out that this particular doctor was responsible for many disfiguring hair transplant surgeries.

The next year, in 1995, I had an evaluation from another doctor that said he could help me and that he performs corrective surgery on an ongoing basis and has been performing hair transplant surgery for many years. Once again I put my faith in another physician and submitted to a series of three corrective surgeries with this doctor. The results of the corrective surgery are evident in my before pictures.

In 1998, at 50 years old I retired from my business and decided I would try a different approach to acquiring a corrective surgery other than putting my faith in another physician involved in standard hair transplant surgery. I now had the time and financial resources to acquire a capable physician and a true corrective surgery, if available. Anger is a great motivator! I listened to radio advertising from two of the previous physicians responsible for my hair transplant surgery proclaiming they were expert/specialist and the "new technology" in hair transplantation is superior. The clinic responsible for my first three plug hair transplants advertised "you have seen people with bad hair transplants and we would not do that to you!" After 20 years I walked into this clinic and had a chat with the head honcho. Nothing is worse for a hair transplant doctors business when there is someone like me in the waiting room verbalizing and frightening the prospects waiting for an evaluation. I told the doctor and manager I would do some advertising of my own. And I did!

I took out advertising in the Boston Globe in Massachusetts and the Providence Journal Bulletin in Rhode Island and advertised for "Bad Hair Transplant" recipients in the hope of making contact with someone that had the bad hair transplant and was able to locate a physician capable of repair. At the same time with the same advertising, I offered free information to anyone looking into the hair transplant process. The responses I received from prior hair transplant recipients were nothing but horror stories. Not one person could give me any insight to a physician concerning a corrective method. In fact, it seems that many people, including myself, have been playing musical chairs, a better term is Russian roulette, with the same doctors responsible for other people's bad hair transplants.

Had the internet been available even seven years ago, to the extent it is today, things might have been different. The various forums on the internet have provided the good, the bad and the ugly with regard to information. The internet is a tool and I have learned to read between the lines to source out viable information. I would visit many doctors over the next two years and I was interviewing them as much as they were evaluation me. There are doctors of note that have satisfied clients concerning corrective surgery. The prognosis with regard to my situation came down to a ravaged donor area and not enough elasticity for suturing the donor site. Every evaluation ended with "something could be done to improve the condition." I received proposals that ranged from a single surgery to a series of four surgeries. More confused than ever, I still surfed the net and participated in forums and voiced my opinions concerning hair transplants. There are proponents of hair transplants and there are people satisfied with the surgery and I wish them well. However, the people that responded to my advertising and the people emailing me were recipients of a botched hair transplant and have been living with the adverse effects from a surgery that was supposed to improve your life.

I first heard of Dr. Woods in Australia the summer of last year and that his approach was different. I kept his name and a printout of his website among the many doctors in my file. I emailed my "before" pictures to Dr. Woods. I was contacted and informed that the removal of the plugs could be achieved with a series of 4 or 5 surgeries over a ten day period. The elasticity concern in the donor area was not an issue as there is no suturing and the hair follicles are removed within the entire donor area with a minimum of surrounding tissue removed. I am intrigued but I'm not ready to hop on a plane just yet! I kept surfing and getting feedback from people, especially from Australia, and once again decided to put my faith in another doctor.