This is just a suggestion to any and all clinics that would like to join the 21st century. If you are going to invest time and money into building your website you need to actually have some pride in your own facilities and staff and use your own photos. Your own patients, your own clinical photos, your own technical photos etc.

I busted one clinic in Manila back in February for using a patient of ours in their own gallery. Today, I find a photo that I took of my own surgery on a clinic's website. It's not as serious as snagging a patient photo but it is dishonest nonetheless.

Dr. Sarah Wasserbauer, http://www.californiahairsurgeon.com/index.html, has a photo on her "Follicular Unit Transplantation" page that is taken from my personal site. I took it over six years ago with a 2.0 mp camera and those are MY grafts being dissected. That is a H&W technician (Sylvia to be exact) with one our our microscopes in our clinic with our techniques.

From Dr. Wasserbauer's site...




and the same pic on my site...




I suppose this will be chalked up as being a "webmaster mistake" (it always is) but I hope from now on everyone will actually review the site your webmaster builds and be able to say, "yeah, that's my work".

Joe,

Unfortunately, I have seen this before, not just in hair restoration surgery, but on many a website.

Though in most cases, it's not purposeful deceit, it could definitely be misleading to patients and is highly disappointing. This most likely occurs when a clinic says "design me a nice website" and then isn't directly involved in the process. It is both the fault of the clinic for not providing their own photos and the webmaster for using someone else's photos.

Stealing patient photos and promoting them as their own would be an outrage and blatant purposeful deceit. I'm glad to see Dr. Wasserbauer is not doing this.

Best Regards,

Falc

Joe,

Maybe you could take her out one evening to discuss it......

Actually, as I peruse the member list and their sites I'm coming across several other examples. No patients, but technical photos, most I worked on and took myself and at least one with a hard print copy write. I think I'm going to be ill.

Joe,
I was absolutely blown away by the stealing of your photos in an attempt to deceive patients into thinking the work was theres. This is the email I send to our new friends at the Sara Wasserbauer Clinic:

"Greetings,
What a bunch of fraudulent hacks you must be. You have taken a picture of Joe Tillman, a patient of Dr Wong of Hasson and Wong, and put a picture that he took of his own surgery on your website as if he were your patients. I have never in all of my days seen such deceit. How many unsuspecting suckers have you hooked in from this type of lies just to make a buck? What you did should be criminal and if I were Mr. Tillman and Dr's Hasson and Wong, I'd seriously consider seeking advice from an attorney to find out just to what extent of damages you have caused to their practice and reputation. Please know that I will gladly do my part on the hair transplant networks and websites to discredit and expose you for who you are"

One other thing, I have to disagree with the thought that the owner of a clinic isn't involved or interested enough to know what's going on with their website when building it. I know many physicians and surgeons and they are just like any business owner, especially cosmetic surgeons. Most take a keen interest in how they are branded and perceived by the public. If you ask me allowing this to happen is pretty much a smoking gun as to the quality of work that is performed at that clinic.

Spineguy,

I share many of the same concerns, but you are taking an pretty extreme stance, don't you think?

Though it is certainly discouraging and potentially misleading, I doubt that clinics that are trying to demonstrate a concept with third party photos are purposely trying to deceive patients. Displaying patients of other physicians, now, that is another story. Thankfully, that is not the case here.

I have personally spoken to Dr. Wasserbauer and they appear to be doing solid follicular unit transplantation and using microscopes for dissection of the grafts. I also know that Pat has just recently visited her clinic (this week) yet I haven't had a chance to find out how it went.

It appears however, that they (the clinic and their webmaster) used poor judgement in putting their website together.

That being said, I have also sent Dr. Wasserbauer an email about using third party photos and the importance of using her own. I'll keep you posted on her response.

Falc

quote:

Originally posted by Jotronic:
Actually, as I peruse the member list and their sites I'm coming across several other examples. No patients, but technical photos, most I worked on and took myself and at least one with a hard print copy write. I think I'm going to be ill.

Jotronic - I think you have every right to be upset and every right to call out the other sites and Doctors who are using your / H&W's photos. It's not right and they should be taken down.

I think Jotronic and H&W have the right to be upset and have the pic removed upon request. I would bet it is a webmaster thing like was mentioned. If you google "follicular dissection" in google images, Jo's infamous image is number 1.

[EDIT ADDED]

d'oh. looks like the google image is coming from her site ...

Dear forum members,

As I mentioned earlier tonight, I took the liberty of contacting Dr. Wasserbauer with our concerns.

I was impressed with her prompt response and action taken to resolve this issue.

Below is her response:

---------------------
From Dr. Wasserbauer
---------------------

Bill, Jotronic, et al.

Thank you for writing to us to alert us of this problem. When we created the website via a webmaster familiar with hair practices, we were assured these photo's were stock, royalty-free pictures. They were intended to be used as place holders until we got the site up and running and we could place our own into those spots. This is not an excuse, just the explanation.

We do not and never will have any intention of using them as a means of showing the quality of our work. In fact, this picture shows grafts in saline at room temperature and our grafts are kept cold (either by way of ice packs or refrigerators) and wet, and cut under microscopes with backlighting at all times to maintain the best quality and graft integrity for our patients. We take what we do very seriously as any of our patients, staff, or surgical colleagues will attest.

I just got off the phone with our webmaster and this seems to be one of the things that "slipped" his mind. He has assured me the pictures will be removed from the site tonight, and will be replaced with photos of our own. We certainly have plenty of our own surgery photos and we apologize to the member whose photo was used. This was an honest mistake.

In the final analysis, all aspects of my practice are my responsibility, and I take credit as well as responsibility for my web site (you can scrutinize it yourself at www.californiahairsurgeon.com). Thanks for keeping us "honest" and we look forward to working with you in the future.

-------------------------------------------------------
I also received an email from their webmaster shortly after
--------------------------------------------------------

I removed the photo of graft dissection. Not sure where we got it but it was in the original prototype prior to launch. I replace it with one of yours from the video next week.

--------

Unfortunately, this situation is relatively common, but as a former webmaster, I can understand the use of "placeholders" that are intended to be replaced. But often times, websites become a second hand priority. Perhaps this was just the "push" she needed to begin working to complete this project. I am pleased that the situation has been rectified.

Best wishes,

Falc

Falceros, Jotronic, et al.

Thank you for writing to us to alert us of this problem and I apologize to "Jotronic." When we created the website via a webmaster familiar with hair practices, we were assured these photo's were stock, royalty-free pictures. They were intended to be used as place holders until we got the site up and running and we could place our own into those spots. This is not an excuse, just the explanation.

We do not and never will have any intention of using them as a means of showing the quality of our work. In fact, this picture shows grafts in saline at room temperature and our grafts are kept cold (either by way of ice packs or refrigerators) and wet, and cut under microscopes with backlighting at all times to maintain the best quality and graft integrity for our patients. We take what we do very seriously as any of our patients, staff, or surgical colleagues will attest.

I just got off the phone with our webmaster and this seems to be one of the things that "slipped" his mind. He has assured me the pictures will be removed from the site tonight, and will be replaced with photos of our own. We certainly have plenty of our own surgery photos and we apologize to the member whose photo was used. This was an honest mistake.

In the final analysis, all aspects of my practice are my responsibility, and I take credit as well as responsibility for my web site (you can scrutinize it yourself at www.californiahairsurgeon.com). Thanks for keeping us "honest" and we look forward to working with you in the future.

Warm Regards,
Dr. Wasserbauer

I'm sorry, I work as a software developer, and this WEBMASTER's mistake is BS. All people who work in the web/app development know about COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL.

I, however, am not blaming the doctor for it but the WEBMASTER (another overrated word lol meaning self taught know a little bit about the web/html, no offense Bill )
According to him he was getting all pics from STOCK royalty free website, how in the world did he end up on H&W site and oops got the image by mistake. Sorry for ranting but his excuse is hardly argumentative.

P.S Dr. Wasserbauer I would like to see a few of your patient results with good quality pictures You can post them (like many doctors on this site) in the Hair Transplant Patient Photo Albums section

Didnt the doctor look at her own site when completed and realize ,hey this isnt us.
I would steal Joes hair if I could and risk the felony Hey Joe try this delicious drink I made for you.

Dr. Wasserbauer,

Thank you for your openness and prompt response to the issue. I hope you understand my position on the use of photos on a clinical website. I've seen it before, with my own photos and with those of other clinics. Heck, I once saw a picture of Pat in a clinical gallery for a Dr. that practices out of Dubai.

After reading your explanation and having seen the email from your webmaster to Falceros I think that this could actually be a case of webmaster error. I thank you for your willingness to explain this error and I accept your gracious apology.