Hi,
I am 32 years old with hair loss that started at age 20. I have visited two doctors with high reviews - Dr. Epstein in Miami and Dr. Griffin in Atlanta, GA. I live in Atlanta, GA.

I was very happy with both Doctors. I would pick any of the two for the procedure. I am currently leaning towards Dr. Griffin simply because he is located in Atlanta.

I have a question about the quotes I received to ensure I am comparing apples to apples. Both doctors use Strip method and perform Follicular Unit Transplants.

Epstein quoted me $$ for 2,400 to 2,500 grafts.

Griffin quoted me for $$ for 1,300 "Follicular Units" which he stated is equivalent to about 2,600 (or more) "Follicles".

The price quotes for both were very close. My questions are:

With Epstein, do I get 2,500 incisions? Does Epstein cut multi hair follicles into smaller sections to insert 1 hair at a time? Or does this really mean I will get about 1,300 incisions resulting in 2,500 hairs just like Dr. Griffin quote me?

Dr. Griffin stated he does not like to break up a multi hair follicle. He likes to keep them together to not disturb the genetic composition of the follicle. Is this recommended?

Please advice if the procedures they have quoted me are about the same. Your help is appreciated.

I am looking to pick the doctor this week.

Regards
MGM

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My Hair Loss Weblog - Hair Transplant with Dr. Epstein

Hi,
I am 32 years old with hair loss that started at age 20. I have visited two doctors with high reviews - Dr. Epstein in Miami and Dr. Griffin in Atlanta, GA. I live in Atlanta, GA.

I was very happy with both Doctors. I would pick any of the two for the procedure. I am currently leaning towards Dr. Griffin simply because he is located in Atlanta.

I have a question about the quotes I received to ensure I am comparing apples to apples. Both doctors use Strip method and perform Follicular Unit Transplants.

Epstein quoted me $$ for 2,400 to 2,500 grafts.

Griffin quoted me for $$ for 1,300 "Follicular Units" which he stated is equivalent to about 2,600 (or more) "Follicles".

The price quotes for both were very close. My questions are:

With Epstein, do I get 2,500 incisions? Does Epstein cut multi hair follicles into smaller sections to insert 1 hair at a time? Or does this really mean I will get about 1,300 incisions resulting in 2,500 hairs just like Dr. Griffin quote me?

Dr. Griffin stated he does not like to break up a multi hair follicle. He likes to keep them together to not disturb the genetic composition of the follicle. Is this recommended?

Please advice if the procedures they have quoted me are about the same. Your help is appreciated.

I am looking to pick the doctor this week.

Regards
MGM

__________________
My Hair Loss Weblog - Hair Transplant with Dr. Epstein

That is a very large discrepancy, first of all; I'd also note that there seems to be an influx recently of threads regarding drastically different graft quotes, and that Griffin was inolved in one (maybe two) of them.

Anyways, with Epstein you would be receiving ~2500 grafts -- that is, 2500 slits, containing mostly 1, 2, 3 hairs (single units would be geared more towards the hairline); w/ Griffin, you would receive 1300 grafts, if I read your post correctly. Assuming both Griffin and Epstein would be operating on the same area, which is pretty safe to say, I would guess the total hair counts would be proportionately similiar -- of course, given Epstein would be utilizing a substantially larger # of grafts, I would also make the safe assumption that you would receive a substantially larger amount of hairs.

Not seeing any pics of your hairloss, I won't say which graft quote I think is more appropriate for you, but I'd encourage you to post various, clear pictures if you can.

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*A Follicles Dying Wish To Clinics*

1 top-down, 1 portrait, 1 side-shot, 1 hairline....4 photos. No flash.

Follicles have asked for centuries, in ten languages, as many times so as to confuse a mathematician.

Enough is enough! Give me documentation or give me death!

I just had a procedure done with Dr. Epstein great doctor,but I dont know to much about griffin. I was supposed to get about 2300 to 2400 grafts from my 1st ht, he pulled out 2953 grafts witch contained 1 folicles, 2 folicles, 3 folicles and 4 folicles in a graft. I ended up getting 2953 grafts,not hairs witch contained far above. Dr.Epstein uses the 1 folicles on your very front so that this will be a natural looking hairline, tHen he places the 2,3,4 graftsin the other areas. I am actually waiting and just asked him for my hair count,not grafts,since I know my grafts where 2953. So my haircount is going to be much higher.Remember the doc does not know what number folicles are going to come out of your donor area,until they get into the techs hand for counts. He was great and gave me alot of free grafts because my donor area was a jackpot. Each person is different in donor area.

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Good advice and I agree with my HT brothers. the average FU conains about 2.2 hairs.

So Dr Epstein: 2500 grafts x 2.2 hairs per graft = 5500 hairs total

Dr. Griffin: 1300 grafs x 2.2 hairs per graft = 2860 hairs total

Thanks for the prompt reply. I have just taken 3 pictures to show you. I think I am a 3V to 4 on the scale.

Epstein quoted me 2400 to 2500 grafts for $8,400 (he said that would be on the high end since 2200 would also be fine).

Griffin quoted me 1,300 FU equivalent to 2,600+ follicles for $8,500.

Based on your comments, I would get a lot more hairs with Epstein ($3.36 per graft). I wonder if Griffin is really quoting at $6.54 per graft or I am missing something.

Pictures are attached. Thx
http://mariomontag.blogspot.com/

Attached Images

mgm1.JPG (77.1 KB, 78 views)

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My Hair Loss Weblog - Hair Transplant with Dr. Epstein

IMO, having now seen your pics, Epstein 100%, and I would say that even if the prices were reversed! I will say, this is another Griffin quote that has left me scratching my head...

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*A Follicles Dying Wish To Clinics*

1 top-down, 1 portrait, 1 side-shot, 1 hairline....4 photos. No flash.

Follicles have asked for centuries, in ten languages, as many times so as to confuse a mathematician.

Enough is enough! Give me documentation or give me death!

I tell you, I live about 45 minutes from Dr. Griffin and if I were him I would change my price structure because it is at the best, confusing, and at the worst, much higher than the others.

If you'll type in his name, you'll read my experience which is similar.

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100? 'mini' grapfts by Latham's Hair Clinic - 1991 (Removed 50 plugs by Cooley 3/08.)
2750 FU 3/20/08 by Dr. Cooley

My Hair Loss Website - Hair Transplant with Dr. Cooley

Current regimen:
1.66 mg Proscar M-W-F
Rogaine 5% Foam - every now and then
AndroGel - once daily
Lipitor - 5 mg every other day
Weightlifting - 2x per week
Jogging - 3x per week

I don't understand this...
From my understanding, most docs give you a graft estimate as to what they feel would be appropriate to meet your needs/over all situation;
no doc will be able to tell you how many particular follicular bundles (i.e. 1's, 2's, 3's) will be in your strip until it has been excised.
I understand that on AVERAGE they are 2-2.5 in units, but that really doesn't account for the discrepancy between the two reccomendations (Ep's is almost DOUBLE to Grf's)?
I would assume Epstein would be going off of the same basic assumption that each unit is on average 2 hairs.
???
If your work is ONLY being done in the crown
then I can see why Griffin wouldn't want to subdivide the units into single's as is done in hair line work.
-BUT-
still, seems strange to me as I would assume Ep would do the same...

Go to epstein,he is generous, I was qouted 2300 to 2400 grafts for 8k and he pulled out an extra 653 and gave me them for free. I cant say that he will be that generous with others. I flew from Boston to miami and I did mine on feb 7th 2008. I also paid the man cash. So Cash worked for me. He is great and the procedure is virtually painless. I did not even know my Donor area was out,only because I did not ask questions and did not want to know when he was taking it out. tHEN HE SAID WHERE ALL DONE, ALL DONE WITH WHAT i SAID? THE DONOR IS ALL STICHED UP HE SAID. i WAS LIKE WOW

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My Hair Loss WebLog