This is my first post here, and I hope nobody thinks I'm a shill for Hair Club. Not a good way to start on a forum.... but read on and you'll believe I'm not from Hair Club.
Anyways I know this is an old thread but felt I had to pipe up because I had my hair transplant (HT) done by Dr. Jones back in 1999 when he was working under Dr. Rassman at New Hair Institute (NHI). And unfortunately there seems to be a climate of "if the doctor isn't listed then he's no good". Now, there's a very good reason for that line of thinking because there's a lot of butchers out there and a lot of unfortunate guys have suffered unmeasurable emotional trauma as a result, but it also stigmatizes legit guys like Dr. Jones. So that's why I'm vouching for him here. He did a great job in my case.
I'm an MD myself, so I'm pretty attuned to whether a doctor knows his stuff or not. Dr. Jones is perfectly fine for HT. I thought he did a very nice job for me. I was pretty open about it with my friends and co-workers and they felt the same. I happen to have a bad combo: Asian with slightly lower than average donor density (for an Asian), and fine hair, not the typical coarse Asian hair. At the time I was a Norwood V, and he said I would need a 2nd or even third procedure. Remember, this was way back in 1999, back when 5000 FUT's were practically unheard of. He said "let's plan for 1000 FUT's for the first one", and his tech ended up harvesting 1200 which was awesome.
Now, I haven't gone back for my 2nd procedure yet, and it's definitely time to now. But the work he did still looks great and planned out (in case I never returned for the 2nd) - the transplanted hair is well distributed on the top. We both agreed that given my limitations, that restoring the crown would have to wait (either with something like cloning or ACell today).
I was surprised to find that he no longer works at NHI, and worse yet, works at HAIR CLUB! What the hell happened?? I had a bad incident in the early 1990's with "Hair Club For Men", back before one could do their research on the internet. "System"? Hell, it's just a damn toupee with a fancy name! A $4000 toupee (in 1990 dollars)! I guess that's what they are called today, but back then, I only knew them as toupees or hair pieces. Not a "system". I got bamboozled into it. I was a stupid 20-something year old kid that was anxious and desperate to reverse the hair loss. When they put that thing on me, it looked so unrealistic. It had a double sided 1 inch tape on the front. I could flip the front part of the toupee up and over. It was ridiculous. And I was a stupid kid. Anyways, that's my Hair Club story. It was bad. I ended up having it removed the next day, and then shaving my head for a couple of years.
Back to Dr. Jones: he treated me exactly the way I expected: the same way I treat my own patients. He was ethical and honest, didn't hype things up. He was realistic and not aggressive like some of the other HT doctors I've heard that have performed butcher jobs. In fact, what was really nice of him was that when I told him I was also a military physician at the time (he's ex-military too), he said "Well, I like that. Hell, I'll give you a discount. My military discount. I'll reduce the per graft charge by a full dollar. Just don't tell my boss!" Now that was REALLY nice of him, but I hope that's not what caused him to leave NHI. I hope that didn't incur Dr. Rassman's wrath...
Eleven years later, I'm contemplating getting my 2nd procedure done finally. The technology has progressed immensely, and we know so much more now than back in 1999. My scar on the back of the head is noticeable if the hair is cut too short, but I think that was par for the course back then. And it's easily fixed these days anyways, so I'm not worried.
Unfortunately, I'm not going to have Dr. Jones do the procedure again because I'm NOT giving Sy Sperling any more of my money! I'll have it done by one of the well-regarded, and well-reviewed doctors on these HT forums. I have another 3000-5000 grafts left, then I'll be depleted probably. After that, if I still want work done, it'll have to be either via hair cloning or ACell (if studies eventually show its efficacy).
In any case, I hope Dr. Jones is doing well these days. I wish him well. The hair that was expected to fall out within the next 10 years has fallen out by now, but the way he planted the grafts has minimized the Norwood VIa look. He planned well, given that he had only 1200 grafts to work with (small by today's standards). But for the first couple years after the HT, I looked great and dating life resumed back to normal. Nice guy, great doctor. I just wish he didn't join Hair Club for employment... what the hell, man?
Congratulations, and good choice with your choice of surgeon (his partner did my 2nd procedure). If I could give you any advice, it's to never stop taking the finasteride. I had my first procedure at age 30, which brought my Norwood 6 back to a nice looking, well defined hairline. I continued to take finasteride for the next 2 years, but then started to slack off. After several years, the hairs that were programmed to fall out eventually, did, and brought me back to Norwood 6, or worse. Thankfully, Dr. Wong, was able to bring me back to what I had 10-12 years ago. I still have a lot of hairs destined to fall out, and my donor area is nearing depletion, so I need to make sure I take finasteride to slow down that process, and cross my fingers that hair-multiplication will become a reality in several years (plus obtaining FDA approval which takes another few years).