Ally,
I read your post and I felt compelled to reply. I am a former patient of Dr. Tony Mangubat (“M”)(E. Antonio Mangubat,
Southcenter Cosmetic Surgery - Seattle Plastic Surgery, Breast Implants, LAP-BAND & BOTOX ) and whatever you do, DO NOT become M’s patient. As I describe below, he is INCOMPETENT!! Before M was his currently advertised “breast implants, liposuction, tummy tuck” specialist, he was for years a hair transplant doctor. Although my HORRIBLE experience as a hair transplant patient of M does not provide you with direct advice about a tummy-tuck procedure, I urge you to read my story, or at least the articles in the links below before even considering M as your doctor.
As a hair transplant doctor, M did a number of “Brandy-style scalp reductions” surgeries on me (named after Dominic Brandy,
Hope for Hair Loss. Hair Restoration & Hair Transplant Information from Dominic A. Brandy, MD) that left me SCARRED AND DISFIGURED!!!! D. Brandy was SUED for performing these procedures. Follow these links for news articles with the facts about this:
Business | Suit: Bad Hair Transplant Caused Suicide Attempt | Seattle Times Newspaper Post-Gazette.com
Also follow this link below and scroll down for proof that Mangubat performed the procedures pioneered by Dominic Brandy:
1996 WAHRS Meeting Review
From the regrowth website: “a Brandy-style scalp lift with preservation of the occipital neurovascular bundle by Dr. Tony Mangubat, with assistance from Dr. Carlos Puig;”
At a minimum, you should ask M:
1. Although not related to tummy-tucks, ask M if he has he performed scalp reduction surgeries (called “Brandy scalp reduction procedures” after Dominic Brandy). If he doesn’t lie, the answer will be yes, because he has done this procedure on numerous victims, including me.
2. Ask him to show you before and after pictures of the “Brandy” procedures. If he dismisses your request (says that has nothing to do with your procedure) and refuses to show photos, ask yourself why is M refusing to show his own work? Is he hiding something??
Although your procedure is very different, you will get a very good idea of M’s HORRIBLE and INCOMPETENT work by seeing these pics. As I’ve described below, M butchered my scalp and left me with a horrible, thick horseshoe-shaped scar ¼ - ½ inch from 1 temple to the crown and back to the other temple with no hair growing there. Beware that pics may have hair combed over the scars, and this is nothing less than TOTALLY MISLEADING and a lie b/c it conceals the true result, i.e. SCARS all over the head!
With respect to pics, very Important: The before/after photos that some cosmetic surgeons show you are VERY MISLEADING because:
- Some doctors only show their best top 10% patients, and don’t show you the average result or, as in my case, the horrible results.
- The photos are typically low resolution, so e.g for hair transplants, they may not clearly show the hairline or may be in low light, thereby concealing the scars and the thin density and unnatural look of the transplants.
3. When M said that he has 23 years of experience, he of course conveniently forgot to mention that he spent many years as a hair transplant doctor. So you may want to ask him why performing hair transplants and scalp reduction surgeries should count as experience doing tummy-tucks??!!
Here’s the rest of my story:
I was in my 20s when I signed up as M’s patient. He suggested that I get 3-4 transplant sessions and 1-2 Scalp reduction surgeries (called “Brandy” scalp reduction procedures). The worst decision I ever made in my life was to follow M’s advice and have these procedures done. M left me SCARRED and DISFIGURED!!!!
My result was a horseshoe shaped scar ¼ - ½ inch thick and 6-8 inches long on each side from each temple to the crown!!!! I’ve had to undergo numerous reconstructive surgeries, spending over $20K, to reduce the scars.
As I mentioned above, Dominic Brandy was SUED for performing such scalp reduction surgeries:
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Sunday, September 15, 1996 - Page updated at 12:00 AM
Suit: Bad Hair Transplant Caused Suicide Attempt
By Jeffrey Bair
AP
PITTSBURGH - Michael Potkul says he was told he would have a scar no wider than the stroke of a pen if he underwent surgery to rearrange his scalp to get a full head of hair.
Instead, he claims, he ended up with scars from his temples to his neck and depression that drove him to attempt suicide. And he's still losing his hair.
Potkul, 33, took off his hairpiece yesterday to show the marks to a jury - including three men with thinning hair - that is hearing his $1.3 million malpractice lawsuit against Dr. Dominic A. Brandy.
Potkul said Brandy sugar-coated the risks of surgery and operated repeatedly despite the deterioration of his scalp. Brandy claims Potkul signed a consent form that mentioned scarring, then abandoned treatment before a final, essential operation.
"If you do enough cases, you're going to have patients here and there who will voice their displeasure in a courtroom," said Jerry Brandy, the doctor's brother and executive director of his practice.
Potkul said he contacted Dominic Brandy six years ago after seeing him on a talk show. Potkul's hair was beginning to thin, and his brothers were being teased about going bald.
"Everything depends on looks. You can turn on the TV at night and see 30 infomercials about everything you can do to your body - diet videos, all that stuff. I wanted to look like everybody else. I wanted to look good," Potkul said during a break in the trial in Allegheny County Court.
Brandy performed five operations to stretch hairy skin from the back of Potkul's head to the top and to transfer grafts of hairy scalp to cover bald spots, Potkul said. The sixth operation would have been another scalp graft.
But Potkul said he was so depressed by the results of the first five operations that he shot himself in the chest in 1992. The bullet missed his heart and went out his back.
Brandy severed key arteries as he tried to stretch Potkul's scalp, stunting hair growth instead of encouraging it, said Dr. Ernest Manders, Potkul's new plastic surgeon. He said he is reluctant to alter Potkul's scalp any more because the skin could die.
Manders said that, as an associate editor of a medical journal, he once rejected an article submitted by Brandy on scalp reconstruction because the methods were "potentially harmful" and had "significant limitations."
Brandy has been in practice for 15 years and runs an ad campaign for his services in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida.
"Dominic Brandy is a salesman who just happens to have a medical degree," Potkul said. "He really needs somebody to come along and wake him up to what he is doing and make him clean up his act."
Copyright (c) 1996 Seattle Times Company, All Rights Reserved.
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I did a few quick searches and found M in his own words praising the “benefits” of scalp reduction surgery (see below). This kind of surgery (the Brandy procedure) is what left me totally scarred and disfigured!! Not to mention that Brandy was SUED for doing these procedures!! So much for the “benefits”!!
M’s own words speak volumes on his incompetence and the fact that he’s clueless and oblivious to the harm he’s done to many like me. Here are the links:
Global Convocation on Hair Restoration Surgery - Monday
The Rise and Fall of Scalp Flaps, Reductions and Lifts
[Tony Mangubat of Seattle, WA is one of the leading doctors performing scalp reductions. "I've noticed in the Seattle area over the last two years a fall in the area of scalp reductions... I was a little disappointed in it, and I was almost upset until I started looking at it in a more objective way... the answer to this question becomes very clear." Dr.Mangubat outlined his feelings on reductions and why he thinks the number of doctors performing the procedure has decreased. "We want fast results, we want a home run.. Managed care has caused an influx of newcomers. The fact is I make more income off of hair transplants than scalp lifting, so from a financial point of view maybe it's not such a bad idea..." The fall has been precipitated by an influx of newcomers due to doctors who are earning less due to managed care and HMOs. "These are all victims of our new managed care society," said Dr. Mangubat. Doctors coming in have been resistent to learning reductions, flaps, and lifts due to the steeper learning curve, greater risks, and marketing against reductions. The number of doctors performing are remaining steady, but the number of doctors coming into transplants are growing, so the overall percentage are lower.]
If I could do it over again, I would have NEVER trusted M and NEVER let M lay a hand on me. Instead, I would have just accepted my hairloss and not permitted M to butcher my head!! I would have shaved my head while we wait for a cure.
Unfortunately, M left me with huge scars on my head and so I can’t just shave my head. Instead I’m forced to wear concealers to hide the ugly scars on my head. Anyone considering M DOES NOT have to go through what I’ve been through. So I strongly recommend that YOU STAY AWAY FROM MANGUBAT!!!!
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