A MAN claims a €7,000 hair transplant he got was botched and a court was told it may cost up to €50,000 to repair.
Sales and marketing manager, Niall Clancy (32), Scholarstown Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin, has brought an action for damages against hair and scalp specialists Volu-Med Ireland Limited, Greenmount House, Harold’s Cross Road, Dublin, and the Nobel Clinic (UK) Ltd, High Street, Uckfield, East Essex, England, where the transplant was carried out in January 2004.
Liability has been accepted by the two companies and the court is only looking at how much it will cost to repair the work carried out on Mr Clancy. He told the High Court yesterday he decided to get a transplant after seeing an advertisement in the Golden Pages for Volu-Med. He paid Volu-Med €7,000 for the procedure which was carried out on January 12th, 2004, by the Nobel Clinic in the UK. He returned home the following day when his forehead swelled and he was unable to see because of the swelling.
He says the procedure has disfigured him, failed to alleviate his balding and is a constant source of embarrassment because others are aware he had a transplant. He told the court he always wear a hat when playing golf and found work and socialising could be very humiliating.
The court heard different estimates of what the cost of repairing Mr Clancy’s hair would be from two Blackrock Clinic surgeons.
Dr Tom O’Reilly, a plastic reconstruction and cosmetic surgeon, told the court that he estimated the cost of repair at €26,000, although it was not something he had done before.
Dr Maurice Collins described the work on Mr Clancy as appalling and estimated it would cost up to €50,000 to repair. He said the hair had an “abnormal appearance” and the attempt to shape it was very poor.
Asked by Mr Justice John Quirke if he could charge what he liked, Dr Collins said he did not have a specific fee but was the only expert in the country who could carry out this work.
The judge commented that it was unsatisfactory that Dr Collins seemed to suggest he could charge anything he liked because the defendants could not be expected to pay something exorbitant.
The judge is expected to give his decision early next week.