Complaint Review: ihrs

I suffer from a medical disease called Alopecia Areata which means my hair was thinning and I had a couple of bald spots on each side of my head, however I was able to cover them up by combing my hair a certain way to camouflage it but I was always afraid that if the wind blew too hard that area would show and I wanted to do something about it for my own confidence. I initially went into Ihrs Hair Restoration for a consult for hair replacement surgery and I was told that my donor hair (which is the hair at the back of my head) wasn't thick enough to donate to the areas that needed hair. This procedure would have cost around $10,000 which is an expensive procedure but I figured once it was done and paid for, I would have hair and have my confidence back but i was talked out of this procedure and I later I realized why. It’s because the procedure that they suggested (which was the one I ended up getting and using for about 5 years) would keep me costing me money which could easily exceed the $10,000 that I would have paid for the surgery.

I became a patient/customer with Ihrs Hair Restoration around 2005. I had consultations a couple of years previous but I had not made a decision because I was told that the crown of my head would have to be shaved. I finally made the decision and I'm now regretting that decision was ever made. I wore the system for about 5 years until I just could not afford it anymore. The initial procedure cost around $3500 (which I had to put on my credit card) then the beginning of each year I had to put down about $500 to order a new system (which they suggested me to order every six months) but I informed them I could not afford that and I would just have try to make my system last the whole year. I also had to pay $99 a month to have the system taken off, cleaned and replaced. 

The first time I had the procedure done, I suffered from a lot of blisters which were sore to the touch, I couldn't sleep lying down because my head was so sore. This was caused by my sensitivity to the adhesive that was used.  They discontinued using adhesive and tried using the double sided tape which seem to work. The system caused my head to itch and I could not scratch or relieve the itching due to the system being made out of some type of plastic/rubber. I tried to relieve the itching by scratching or rubbing on the system which caused the hair to shed and break off in the areas that I scratched/rubbed. This became very uncomfortable at times and the breakage and shedding also made the system wear out much sooner.

After I realized that I just could not afford this system any longer (I am a single parent and at that time I was raising two kids in high school and one in college plus trying to manage paying a mortgage) I decided to try to cancelled my contract, which was not easy to do. I had to plead and beg to get out of it. The contract automatically renewed itself each year and I still had a few months left. Ihrs made a deal with me that I could suspend my contract but I would still have to continue paying the $99 per month until my contract ended for maintenance. However, I wasn’t receiving the maintenance anymore because I wasn’t wearing the system therefore I was just giving away $100 a month so to speak.

After I stopped wearing the system, my only other choice was to wear a wig (which I didn’t want to do otherwise I would have just bought one in the first place). The fear of the wind blowing or someone knocking my wig off has always been a fear for me.

The worst part to this whole ordeal is that the crown of my head where my hair was shaved has not and probably never will ever grow back because the plastic and tape that was used smothered my scalp and wouldn’t allow it to breath.

I ended up purchasing a wig (cranial prosthesis) that was custom made for my head and made out of breathable silicon. But this system required me to shave my entire head daily so that the silicon would suction. This wig cost roughly around $3500 (this wig was not purchased from Ihrs) luckily for me I was able to claim this wig as a medical necessity and was reimbursed for a great portion of the cost. The constant shaving of the hair that was left around the perimeter of my head started causing my head to become very irritated therefore I had to reframe from shaving and just let the hair grow. The problem now was I only had hair around the perimeter of my head.  I now had to revert back to square one, which was wearing the itchy store bought wigs. Only now I’m even more afraid of the wind blowing it off or someone knocking it off. It is even more embarrassing now because I am completely bald on the top (crown is as smooth as a baby’s behind) all because I let Ihrs convince me to shave my head and wear that system. Not once was I told that this could be the result and that my hair would never grow back. And as a woman this is very damaging to me and it has caused me great depression.  I guess they assumed that small detail wouldn’t matter because I would wear the system for the rest of my life.