Dear Forum Members,

As many of you know, we gather as much information as possible about a physician, their staff, technique and track record before they are even considered for recommendation on the Hair Transplant Network. Part of our review process involves getting input from patients and the members of this forum community. To learn more about this review process, click here.

I would appreciate this community's input on the potential recommendation of Dr. Rosanelli on the Hair Transplant Network. At this time, Dr. Rosanelli is only being considered for recommendation, not the Coalition. To see our standards for recommendation, click here.

This past April, I visited and observed Dr. Rosanelli in live surgery and was very impressed with his dedication to high quality follicular unit hair transplantation and his personal attention to each of his patients. To see the highlights of my visit, view the "Visit to Dr. Tom Rosanelli in San Francisco".

Dr. Rosanelli has been performing hair transplants exclusively for almost 20 years and is a Board Certified Diplomate of the American Board of Hair Restoration Surgery. As a sole practitioner, Dr. Rosanelli takes provide in providing his patients with personal attention and provides each of his patients with his personal cell phone number.

Dr. Rosanelli and his dedicated and experienced staff of 10 medical technicians operate out of San Francisco, CA. While Dr. Rosanelli has an experienced staff large enough to perform over 3000 grafts in a single session, Dr Rosanelli believes that sessions under 3,000 grafts provide his patients with optimal graft survival and growth.

Dr. Rosanelli uses a single blade to excise the donor area to minimize the risk of transection and uses a double layer closure to reduce wound tension and the appearance of the donor scar. Dr. Rosanelli believes using the trichophytic closure technique is best reserved for the last surgery in order to maximize use of the donor area for subsequent sessions. All follicular units are dissected and trimmed under microscopes and carefully placed into the recipient sites by his experienced staff to maximize hair growth yield.

Dr. Rosanelli uses blades as small as .8mm to carefully create recipient incisions to mimic natural hair direction and minimize trauma to the scalp.

Given Dr. Rosanelli's dedication to high quality follicular unit hair transplantation, I believe he should be considered for recommendation.

Patient and surgical examples can be found below:

3908 Grafts in Multiple Sessions with Dr. Rosanelli

5377 Grafts in Multiple Sessions with Dr. Rosanelli

3617 Grafts in 3 Sessions with Dr. Rosanelli

1225 Grafts Post-Op with Dr. Rosanelli

3819 Grafts in 2 Sessions with Dr. Rosanelli

2320 Grafts in 1 Session with Dr. Rosanelli

I welcome input and comments from forum members regarding his potential recommendation.

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Not overly impressed.

Also, why 3 sessions for 3600 grafts???

Do we have any grown out photos of patients who have received 2500+ grafts in a single session?

Thanks,
Jason

Edited to reflect a correct question.

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6721 transplanted grafts
13,906 hairs
Performed by Dr. Ron Shapiro

Dr. Ron Shapiro and Dr. Paul Shapiro are members of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians.

Jason,

Dr. Rosanelli and his staff only perform sessions up to 3000 grafts as noted above.

I too am personally impressed by larger sessions, but from what I've seen, Dr. Rosanelli is still getting great results. It just takes more time and surgeries to get there.

Also remember that he is only being considered for recommendation at this time rather than the Coalition. Coaltion mebership requires surgeons to perform regular sessions larger than 2500 grafts when appropriate for the patient.

I encourage all members to refamiliarize themselves with our standards for recommendation and how it differs from the Coalition.

Best wishes,

Bill

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Managing Publisher of the Hair Transplant Network, the Hair Loss Learning Center, the Hair Loss Q&A Blog and the Hair Loss Forum and Social Community

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To learn about how I restored my hair, view my my hair loss website.

Remember, true beauty radiates from within, not from the skin.

I am not a medical professional and my words should not be taken as medical advice. All opinions and views shared are my own.

I think additional work of sessions in the ~2500 range that show clear growth and artistic touch would be nice. The work looks pretty solid; but, while "huge" sessions shouldn't be the end-all/be-all, impressive sessions of the ~2500 range would certaintly be nice to see. Also, sessions exemplifying high(er) density.

I have a pretty moderate attitude towards recco's; they should all certaintly be of competent doctors that are in a class well above your average bloke or hair-mill. But, when I factor in the reality of the "patient pool", and how decisions often end up going down, I'm not sure how beneficial it is to have a radically small, elite handfull of clinics as opposed to a more (geographically) encompassing field of physicians that all perform solid work. At the end of the day, as well, cream -- err, results -- will rise to the top for people to see.

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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!

looks solid, but not world class. I'm also not impressed.

For your review, Dr. Rosanelli added another photo album.

3819 Grafts in 2 Sessions with Dr. Rosanelli

Best wishes,

Bill

__________________
Managing Publisher of the Hair Transplant Network, the Hair Loss Learning Center, the Hair Loss Q&A Blog and the Hair Loss Forum and Social Community

View our hair loss articles on Hub Pages

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Subscribe to our Newsletters | How We Recommend Physicians

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To learn about how I restored my hair, view my my hair loss website.

Remember, true beauty radiates from within, not from the skin.

I am not a medical professional and my words should not be taken as medical advice. All opinions and views shared are my own.

I went through and visited each collection of photos in the order presented. Let me start by saying that before any consideration is given to this Doctor - even for recommendation - we need to see more pre, during and post op photos.

The 1225 case is one whereby every single one of us would tell the patient that 1225 grafts on a NW5 (just guessing) would produce very inadequate results, especially when spread out over such a large area. If the doctor is trying to present this as his best work - which is why he has selected this crop of photos - what is the rationale to go along with this case?

Next is Mr. 3617 graft case. The results look pretty good, but I feel bad that a patient had to wait 36 months for full growth when it could be achieved in as little as 12 months with one mega-session, that would also save the patient thousands of dollars. Is this a recent case? Or did this start many, many years ago and only recently does he do larger cases?

5377 Grafts - I can't even review this as the post-op photos are so far away and are 'studio' photos with proper lighting, etc. to make everything look perfect. This is not impartial photography that I expect us to base any form of valuable opinion on.

3908 Graft Repair Case is honestly the most impressive to me. What does 'multiple' sessions mean? 4, 5, 6? This is where FUE appeals to me as no old grafts would have to be removed and then sutured.

I hope nobody thinks I'm being harsh, but rather, I am holding this Doctor to the same standards I would expect this site to place on any recommended Physician. As it stands, without any further photographic evidence or patient contribution of photos relative to their expectations, I would not support his recommendation.

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1662 with Dr. Ron Shapiro - Spring 2006
1105 with Dr. Ron Shapiro - Fall 2009
M&M Weblog

I agree with what has been stated here.

Six sessions for the 5317 case?? You have to be kidding. The down time and the healing for each of these procedures would drive me nuts. I am going crazy waiting for results, I couldn't wait six years for the results I feel I would get in one megasession.

Some of the results look good, others decent, but the road to get there for me would not be worth it. These guys must have a ton of patience.

Not sure about recommendation.

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My initial HT thread:
done and done!! Check it out...

It appears that the majority of you feel that the presented results look good however, are not very happy with the number of sessions it took to get there.

Dr. Rosanelli did comment on a number of the albums to explain his approach. On the multiple session in particular, he commented that he started on this patient years ago and today, he'd be able to accomplish the same result in 2 sessions.

Admittedly, for appropriate patients, it's nice to be able to walk into a clinic and get one or two megasessions and be done as opposed to having to go into surgery another time or two to accomplish the same result. However, despite the convenience and preference of larger sessions to many, I believe what matters the most is the end result. In my opinion, the end result in the above presented examples look good in every result case.

Since Dr. Rosanelli performs sessions between 2000 and 3000 grafts when appropriate for the patient, I will send an email to Dr. Rosanelli to present a few more examples showing this.

Best wishes,

Bill

__________________
Managing Publisher of the Hair Transplant Network, the Hair Loss Learning Center, the Hair Loss Q&A Blog and the Hair Loss Forum and Social Community

View our hair loss articles on Hub Pages

Follow us on Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

Subscribe to our Newsletters | How We Recommend Physicians

-----

To learn about how I restored my hair, view my my hair loss website.

Remember, true beauty radiates from within, not from the skin.

I am not a medical professional and my words should not be taken as medical advice. All opinions and views shared are my own.