Bad Experience with Dr. Couto and FUExpert

[Zizou88]

First, @Melvin- Admin, thanks for taking the time to have a conversation with the Doctor to investigate, as I think this is valuable information for me and the forum. Also, for sharing and confirming that he charges per graft implanted.

@RobertoDeNiro, I understand. It sounds unusual that he said he was doing the implantation but there was no chance for miscommunication there. It was in Spanish, and the most important part for me in making a decision. This is a fact. I want to make sure there is no doubt about it in here.

I am not overlooking the extra work or cost to have the clinic open. However, his prices are per graft. He can select the prices/terms he wants to, and it is up to the customer to accept them, which I did.

The main miscommunication comes when I get the estimate of a max of 2,500 grafts:

1. This estimate included temples and reinforcing the crown, which we didn't end up needing to do. If we are not doing the original plan of, in addition to the hairline, doing temples and reinforcing the crown but still, we are going to use the 2,500 grafts, I personally think it should have been discussed prior to the procedure, as obviously, the original coverage plan decreased but the number of grafts stayed the same. He could have explained why.

2. I think understanding the point @Melvin- Admin made, that the doctor understands this differs from the industry standard, I think it should have also been communicated prior to the procedure that they charged by grafts implanted. It would have avoided most of the miscommunication I had. I think this is great information to have on the forum.

@Diff-thinner, good to know you also got the email late, so it's a common thing and thanks for offering support through-out the process👍

Guys, it's OK I had a bad experience (process + transparency) with a reputable doctor you guys had a good experience with. It's also OK we had a different experience with the same Doctor. For example, @Diff-thinner, my experience in the consultation was not the same as yours, and that can happen.

Again, the result might be amazing. Personality-wise, he and his team were very nice to me, and the clinic is beautiful. However, based on my experience, independently of the result, I wouldn't recommend him. Having said that, I will also post my result in the future so everyone can have the full picture of the review.

[EvansLawrence]

Wow this is soooo weird... Couto doesnt strike me as a doctor Who would extract 1,7k grafts but then Split and charge 2500. 

Not at all..!

If posible I would try to speak this to him f2f

About the extraction: Esteban is not a tech, he is a Doctor who has been working 8 years with him, I wouldnt be concerned.

I understand your concern about Torres. I had a phone call with Couto before my procedure ( I am now at month 😎8 (idk why the emoji poped up)) I asked him since mine is a repair and only hairline and temples, would It be done entirely by you? He told me yes, that hairlines, repairs and temple are their field. However if there was more behind the hairlines It could be done by the other doctor Who is completely trained by him. I left the phone call convinced that It would be done all by Couto. Then on the surgery days couto did temples and hairlines, but adding density was done by Torres in the middle part. I didnt like It at the begining either but now at month 8 I can tell you I dont see where Couto's work ends and where Torres's starts. Besines, there is a part done by Couto himself that will need a touch up as he confirmed me last month. This Will take part on month 12. Also I have seen about 3 or 4 cases on forums where neither can I see where Couto's work ends and where Torres's starts.

So I wouldnt worry about the Torres situation, but I would definitely try to clarify what happened with the graft count. Because It does not seem fair at all.

Edited June 6 by EvansLawrence

[CharlesBarkley]

As Evans says in his post, do not worry about the assistant doctor doing some of the work, if he has been trained by Dr Couto, one of the most renowned doctors of the moment, you have 300% guarantee you result will be fantastic. 

The important thing though, how is all going? How did these first weeks feel? Could you share some photos?

[Napoli]

I don’t think is acceptable to get a big part of implantation by a trained doctor. You paid for doctor couto to do the whole implantation, but he didn’t without even inform you for that. If you wanted a trained doctor you would go to another clinic and pay much lower that you actually paid. 
regarding the extractions is also not acceptable at all to be charged for more money than extracted. This shows a purpose to charge you more money for nothing. 

[CharlesBarkley]

19 minutes ago, Napoli said:

I don’t think is acceptable to get a big part of implantation by a trained doctor. You paid for doctor couto to do the whole implantation, but he didn’t without even inform you for that. If you wanted a trained doctor you would go to another clinic and pay much lower that you actually paid. 
regarding the extractions is also not acceptable at all to be charged for more money than extracted. This shows a purpose to charge you more money for nothing. 

 @Melvin- Admin reached out and clarified many of the points with Dr Couto. You should read everything on Page 2.
Also, as Zizu stated, Dr Couto did most of the implantation including the "most sensitive part". 

I would say an assistant doctor trained by Dr Couto, Dr Konior or Dr Zarev will be one day among the best of the best doing Hair Transplants for sure. And if these trainings did not happen we would be in great trouble. Who would do the work when all these doctors retire? 

 

[Belve]

Happy growing mate !

Edited June 11 by Belve

[Napoli]

4 hours ago, CharlesBarkley said:

 @Melvin- Admin reached out and clarified many of the points with Dr Couto. You should read everything on Page 2.
Also, as Zizu stated, Dr Couto did most of the implantation including the "most sensitive part". 
 

All of the recipient area is sensitive part. You can’t call the front more sensitive than behind the hairline. You don’t want to end up with a gap behind the hairline or unatural directions of grafts..

 

4 hours ago, CharlesBarkley said:

I would say an assistant doctor trained by Dr Couto, Dr Konior or Dr Zarev will be one day among the best of the best doing Hair Transplants for sure. And if these trainings did not happen we would be in great trouble. Who would do the work when all these doctors retire? 

 

It’s not the same. Assistant  doctors have much less experience than the original doctors.
So if anyone go to couto he would go to him because he wanted an experienced doctor and not an assistant doctor. Assistant doctors are getting paid much lower than the famous ones. But this guy here paid the same amount of money and he wasn’t informed that dr couto wouldn’t do the implantation by himself. 

Also I don’t agree that’s normal for A clinic to charge you More grafts that originally extracted, because you won’t get more coverage with splitting hairs  and you would have the same amount of hairs in your head 

Edited June 11 by Napoli

[shadowcast]

On 6/11/2024 at 8:47 AM, CharlesBarkley said:

And if these trainings did not happen we would be in great trouble. Who would do the work when all these doctors retire?

Problem is that the clinic will never tell you that you will be a training subject. When your doctor wordlessly steps away from surgery, only to be replaced by an unfamiliar face (as happened to me - although not at Couto's clinic), it is extremely unnerving.

[BaldingEye]

Hello, Zizu. How are you? Everything looks great in the photos. Your design is incredible, as all Dr Couto´s hairline designs. I am sure the result will surely exceed your expectations. And I’m saying this from experience.

I had a hair transplant with Dr. Couto, and the results couldn’t be better. I’d also like to mention that Dr. Torres was involved in some parts of the operation in my case. Here, I am posting a small photo of the area where he worked, and it is simply close to perfection.



Could you update us with some new photos? Did you get the photos from the clinic? Would be great to see those too.

[duchaine]

On 6/5/2024 at 6:31 PM, Zizou88 said:

 Dr. Torres confirmed that after the first day (1,100 graft extracted) the right side (hairline), all the midscalp reinforcement (right and left) and large portion of the hairline on the left was completed. Therefore, the second day the extraction was less. 
 

Very goos point

[duchaine]

On 6/6/2024 at 11:10 AM, EvansLawrence said:

mine is a repair and only hairline and temples

....

[duchaine]

On 6/11/2024 at 2:47 PM, CharlesBarkley said:

 

I would say an assistant doctor trained by Dr Couto, Dr Konior or Dr Zarev will be one day among the best of the best doing Hair Transplants for sure. 

 

Who did train Couto, Zarev or Couto?

[Zizou88]

Sharing pics for an update. As mentioned before, I'm not judging results until afterwards. Almost finished with the shedding. Still red on the hairline, but hopefully that should be gone sometime in the near future. Still have one section below the hairline that is fully numb.

@EvansLawrence thanks for sharing your experience. I knew Esteban was doing the extraction, as the doctor mentioned before the appointment and I also spoke to Esteban a month before. I heard of his great results, so I was happy with it.

It seems in your case Dr. Couto mentioned that another doctor could do the area outside the hairline prior to the procedure, which leads me to believe that he didn't mean to mislead me and probably misspoke during our appointment. In my case, I found out about this in the middle of the procedure. In hindsight, if I knew, I probably would have gone with one of the other doctors who do all the implants themselves and charge by graft extracted, such as Konior, Lorenzo, among others. Not because I don't trust Dr. Torres, but if I could pick, I would probably choose one of the other doctors mentioned before Dr. Torres for non-hairline sections.

Having said that I am expecting/hope the results will be great. Not really concern about the results as of now. 
 
@BaldingEye@EvansLawrence 

Glad your procedures went great. Both of you had an implant with Dr. Couto. Was it discussed in your case about grafts extracted vs. grafts implanted? Do you know how many grafts were extracted and how many grafts were implanted? Do you have a report on this? This was and still is my main concern/frustration, as this part was definitely not clear (in my case), all of this was discuss after the procedure and not before. Still, today, I don't have clarity.

I spoke to the doctor on May 24th about this issue. He mentioned, he would send me the graft extraction report. Since then, I have followed up 3 times but have not gotten a reply on this, which feels odd.

I haven't been able to see any case similar to mine from other Dr. Couto's patients, discussing how many grafts they have extracted vs. implanted and how their estimates are based on post-splits grafts implanted. 

[shadowcast]

On 6/19/2024 at 4:03 PM, Zizou88 said:

In hindsight, if I knew, I probably would have gone with one of the other doctors who do all the implants themselves and charge by graft extracted, such as Konior, Lorenzo, among others.

Lorenzo does not do all the implantation himself - see my previous comment in this thread.

[Zizou88]

8 hours ago, shadowcast said:

Lorenzo does not do all the implantation himself - see my previous comment in this thread.

I was told last year by his clinic that he does, and before making the post this week, I called them to confirm, and they mentioned he does all the implants. Maybe misinformation from their representative? Anyways, good to know.

[shadowcast]

13 hours ago, Zizou88 said:

I was told last year by his clinic that he does, and before making the post this week, I called them to confirm, and they mentioned he does all the implants. Maybe misinformation from their representative? Anyways, good to know.

They told me the same thing. Then, about half-way through my second day of surgery, Lorenzo suddenly sprinted out of the operating room and a young girl stepped in. Their clinic is very hectic, with multiple patients at once.

My result ended up being pretty good, but it was a bad enough experience that I didn't go back. It seems like he runs his clinic on a tight rope with no room for error.

[BaldingEye]

On 6/19/2024 at 10:03 PM, Zizou88 said:

Sharing pics for an update. As mentioned before, I'm not judging results until afterwards. Almost finished with the shedding. Still red on the hairline, but hopefully that should be gone sometime in the near future. Still have one section below the hairline that is fully numb.

@EvansLawrence thanks for sharing your experience. I knew Esteban was doing the extraction, as the doctor mentioned before the appointment and I also spoke to Esteban a month before. I heard of his great results, so I was happy with it.

It seems in your case Dr. Couto mentioned that another doctor could do the area outside the hairline prior to the procedure, which leads me to believe that he didn't mean to mislead me and probably misspoke during our appointment. In my case, I found out about this in the middle of the procedure. In hindsight, if I knew, I probably would have gone with one of the other doctors who do all the implants themselves and charge by graft extracted, such as Konior, Lorenzo, among others. Not because I don't trust Dr. Torres, but if I could pick, I would probably choose one of the other doctors mentioned before Dr. Torres for non-hairline sections.

Having said that I am expecting/hope the results will be great. Not really concern about the results as of now. 
 
@BaldingEye@EvansLawrence 

Glad your procedures went great. Both of you had an implant with Dr. Couto. Was it discussed in your case about grafts extracted vs. grafts implanted? Do you know how many grafts were extracted and how many grafts were implanted? Do you have a report on this? This was and still is my main concern/frustration, as this part was definitely not clear (in my case), all of this was discuss after the procedure and not before. Still, today, I don't have clarity.

I spoke to the doctor on May 24th about this issue. He mentioned, he would send me the graft extraction report. Since then, I have followed up 3 times but have not gotten a reply on this, which feels odd.

I haven't been able to see any case similar to mine from other Dr. Couto's patients, discussing how many grafts they have extracted vs. implanted and how their estimates are based on post-splits grafts implanted. 

Hello Zizou.

I wanted to share a bit more about my experience as another patient of Dr. Couto to hopefully provide some reassurance.

My hair transplant was a complete success, and I have nothing but positive things to say about the whole process. The previous months to my hair transplant communication was smooth. And during my hair transplant at FUExpert Clinic the whole team was wonderful and extremely supportive.

Regarding the delay in sending information, I can relate. They were a bit slow in providing me with the details as well, but since everything was stored and explained in person at the clinic, I didn’t need that data urgently.

And now looking at the photos you shared I have to say your donor area looks impeccable, as if no work was done there at all. Your recovery seems to be going extraordinarily well, and that’s something to be very happy about.

While it would have been helpful to see some of your post-operation photos to understand the entire design better, from the image you shared of the frontal area, everything looks very good. Remember, you’ll need to wait a few months for the growth phase to start, typically around month four. Patience is key now.

Again, talking about the whole Hair Transplant, it’s important to understand that with Dr. Couto, you’re receiving premium treatment. They might not have discussed the exact numbers of grafts extracted versus implanted in your case, which can be confusing, and I have to agree that this matter seems like it could have been handled differently so that there was no space for misunderstanding. However, they took whatever number of grafts from the donor area and meticulously converted all those grafts to ensure an extraordinary result. And this is huge news for you as it will reflect on your final result.

The customized work they did on you is exceptional and not something you’d typically get at other clinics. The final cost we pay at FUExpert does not even reflect the high level of customization and care we as patients receive. 

I’m confident that in six to eight months, your results will be among the best on this forum.
Please continue to share your updates regularly so we can all follow your progress.

[Zizou88]

I spoke with Dr. Couto yesterday and wanted to share some valuable information:

1. Miscommunication Regarding the Implants: Dr. Couto apologized for the miscommunication about who would be performing the implants. Ideally, this should be discussed in detail the day of the procedure to manage customer expectations (as I things might change). However, on the day of my procedure, he had a personal emergency and couldn't see me until after the extraction.
   
   Important to know, he also mentioned that he offers to his customers a touch-up free of charge if needed. 

2. Correction Regarding Graft Splitting @Melvin- Admin : In your post, you mentioned "he never splits quad grafts into twos." Dr. Couto clarified during our call that while most splits are singles (as needed for the hairline), in some situations, he does split quads into twos to achieve a better look when necessary.

3. Difference Between Extracted and Implanted Grafts and How They Are Charged: Dr. Couto mentioned the following:

   • All good clinics split grafts when needed to achieve a natural and good result.
   • Most, if not all, clinics charge for grafts implanted rather than extracted. Many clinics claim they charge for extracted grafts but actually charge for implanted grafts, which they often do not disclose to customers. This appears to be an industry-wide issue.

   He noted that he very rarely has a customer ask/questioning about the difference between grafts implanted versus extracted and how is charged. I explained that I was under the impression that costs were based on extraction (as is common in the industry). I wanted fewer extractions, so I asked Esteban about the number to be extracted on the first day of the procedure. When I received the report, and it was different from what I discussed with Esteban it didn’t make sense, hence my questions about the number of grafts extracted versus implanted. If I hadn't asked Esteban beforehand, I would have just assumed the graft report related to extractions and wouldn't have question it.

   Understanding that is rare for customers to ask him about this, I asked Dr. Couto if it's important for patients to know how many grafts were extracted from the donor area. I mentioned that three other patients I spoke with were very happy with the procedure and highly recommended him. However, currently they assumed that the report and the payment were based on grafts extracted and were not informed about the implanted versus extracted numbers.

   Dr. Couto mentioned:

   • It is important for patients to know how many grafts were extracted.
   • Regarding the patients who didn't receive this information, he mentioned that they might not have needed a split (as every patient is different) or it could have been an oversight. However, they do try to provide this information to all patients. (If you are a past patient, it would be great to confirm if you received this info.)

4. Conclusions: I agree with Dr. Couto that there is a lack of transparency in the industry. I spoke to several of the top clinics in the past and had a hard time getting a straight answer on how they charge. In my case, I also think FUExpert should be more transparent, as it would have been great to get this information prior to the procedure and not after.

   Clinics should be transparent about how and what they charge. Probably due to this lack of transparency, some doctors do not want to disclose that they charge per grafts implanted when the competition claims they charge per graft extracted (even if, as the doctor mentioned, they might be lying).