You Can’t Judge a Book by its Cover

A few months ago a gentleman came in for a consult and as he walked through the door I was shock by his overall appearance.  He was dragging his left foot and had his left hand in his pocket. He literally had no teeth and was wearing what I have to call a huge pimp hat. The first thing that came out of his mouth was so slurred that I had trouble understanding anything he said. He said something about how my staff has to learn to speak slower on the phone especially when they hear someone is having problems communicating with them.  Actually the gentleman was giving me advice about how to improve my staff and my business, which I later passed on to them because he was right.  I asked him if he had suffered from a stroke, because all his symptoms pointed in that direction, but came to find out that he had been hit by a car and suffered major head trauma which included surgery and that also was why his arm and leg were so crippled. With all that was going on with this gentleman’s health and physical appearance, the one thing that bothered him most was his hair loss.

I have this convertible but the top won’t close

Once I finally got him to take his giant “pimp” hat off, I realized he was suffering with a Shakespearian hairline, no hair in front and all his hair was gone to about the middle of his head. He was calling it his convertible that wouldn’t close and said he needed three fingers of hair to get the roof to finally close again. As I examined him I knew that this poor soul would never be able to afford this procedure, but I didn’t want to belittle him by not giving him a complete and thorough examination, which I would do for any patient who took the time to come in and see me.  Using his analogy I explained that 3 fingers would not do what he had explained to me he wanted done.  He would need at least five fingers to get his top to totally close. He was going to need me to rebuild his entire hairline and fill in the space all the way back.  We were going to create an age appropriate recession for him and I felt we would make him look great about his hair again.

Now it was time to talk Dollars that made Sense

I really tried to make this procedure as affordable as possible for this “poor” gentleman who had gone through so much in his life.  Don’t get me wrong I try to be affordable for all my patients because all men and women who are suffering from hair loss should have the opportunity to have their own natural growing hair back on their head, but I was certain that this man was never going to be able to afford it.  Then I quoted him a fair price and he said that he forgot money, but if I would stay open till 6:00PM he would bring me $2,000 for a deposit and would bring me the rest the day of his Pre-op.  Well you could knock me over with a tooth pick.  I never thought was going to happen.  Then I found out we were the third place he had gone to and everyone had him in and out in ten minutes or less, and we were the only ones who took the time to take him seriously and gave him the chance to believe we were the people he could trust to do the job so it would look natural and great.

He got me, but taught me a great lesson!

When he came for the pre-op and I asked for the remainder of the money he owed he said he forgot it, and my heart sank.  Then he smiled and laughed and said, “Aha, I got you, you thought I forgot, but I have all the cash right here in my pocket!” He did get me, but today I got him, it is now about seven months later and his hair looks fabulous and the sparkle in his eye is even brighter than it was the day we met.  This man allows us to grow hair on him and his attitude and faith have been an inspiration that he has shared with us.

We Grew Hair on him and he sure Grew on us…

What an Inspiration!