Date of procedure: Sept. 29, 2009
Surgeon: Dr. Jerry Cooley in Charlotte North Carolina
4,000 folicular units (~10,000 hairs)

15 years earlier I had a procedure from another Doctor who featured very large sessions (I had over 3,000 units transplanted at that time) at a low price, and who was just a couple hours drive away. This was an earlier era and the technology was not as refined. Moreover, although this other doctor was conscientious, he was not in the same world-class level as Dr. Cooley. The grafts were packed in very tight with a lot of extra tissue, and the results were very disappointing. I am a careful observer and I watched carefully to see what I ended up with months later. I would estimate that I ended up with no more hair. That's correct, zero. Even taking into account the difficulty of assessing such a result 6 months later, the graft survival rate was certainly less than 25%, and a significant number of my existing hairs were killed in the procedure, resulting in no noticeable improvement in my head of hair.

I vowed that the next time I had a procedure, I would find the finest surgeon in the business, irrespective of how far away he practices, or what it would cost. I concluded that bargain rates are meaningless if one doesn't end up with what one needs.

Let me emphasize what a major decision this was in my life. I am a person of moderate means -- I make $4,000/month and I am the sole financial support for my wife and family. In order to have the needed money I needed to save my entire small monthly allotment of personal money for 12 years. That was 12 years of my never buying a shirt, pants nor shoes in anything but a thrift store. 12 years of my never going out for lunch. 12 years of never going out for a beer. 12 years of never playing a round of golf (when I felt the urge to play I'd wait until dusk when the clubhouse would close and then get in a few free holes before dark). It was a big deal. After all those sacrifices, I made sure I was making the right choice in surgeon.

I did a great deal of research, most of it on this site (thanks to everyone involved here at this website -- it was a godsend). My initial emphasis was to find the surgeon who was the world's leading expert at graft survival. That inevitably led me to Dr. Jerry Cooley. He researches and writes papers on the subject, as well as delivers talks to other hair transplant surgeons -- teaching them how to improve graft survival rates.

I then checked out Dr. Cooley very thoroughly in other aspects of transplantation, going over patient results and reports from objective observers (like Pat) who watched him at work. To my delight, I found out that not only is he the best at graft survival techniques, but as far as I could tell from internet searching, he was also absolutely first rate as far as:
esthetic skill,
expertise at all aspects of the procedure,
conscientiousness,
integrity, and
having a large and skilled team of technicians.

Given how good he seemed from my research, I was pleasantly surprised that his rates were not at all exorbitant compared to other first-class practitioners. For 4,000 transplanted folicular units, he charges $14,500. He's in North Carolina, I'm near the California-Oregon border; I would then have to fly across country at a cost of another $700. Total cost for me was $15,200 (he covered lodging).

I had my procedure on Sept. 29, 2009. Dr. Cooley not only met all my high expectations, he exceeded them. I cannot write enough superlatives about how much he impressed me the day of the procedure. 4,000 transplants, done conscientiously, is an enormous task. Dr. Cooley is there participating in every aspect of the work. I was his sole patient for the day (my understanding is that when there are lot of grafts to be done, he always limits himself to one patient per day). He met me promptly at 7AM and discussed what I wanted. He listens extremely well, and worked for a considerable time going over the details of the esthetics of what both he and I were looking for. He was constantly with me all day long, putting in most of the grafts himself (one of his fine technicians was also often working on the other side of my head). I deeply appreciated the carefulness of how each site was cut and how each graft was positioned. This is immensely time-consuming work and the attitude in that room was of complete professionalism -- there was never a hint that all this care was too time consuming. The whole thing wrapped up at 10PM. Yes, that's right folks, he was working on me tirelessly for 15 straight hours. And, get this, at 10PM he even drove me back to my hotel.

It was a privilege to be in the presence of someone who is such a consummate professional.

It's only 9 days after the procedure so I can't report to you about results. I'll file a detailed follow-up report, including before and after photos, at the 6-month mark. Also, if things are not completely settled by then, I'll follow up with a report at the one-year mark. As for now, I am extremely hopeful.

DeepThought42

Sounds like you can finally get some of your life back, enjoy and congrads!

Congratulations on your recent procedure and such a positive experience.

Great thread here, just goes to show what people go through just to be in a position to be able to undertake a HT. You deserve this, and I thoroughly hope that your result is everything that you expect it to be.

Good luck my friend!

__________________
Meds
1.25mg Finasteride
3000mg MSM
Vitamin C
Omega 3
Nizarol

My Hair Loss Website - Hair Transplant with Dr. Rahal

Deepthought, Good Luck with the outcomes! I am sure you'll finally get to enjoy the outcome of what you have been planning for a while!