stvobadia

Bonkstoker! You are so way way off the mark! I was expressing my concerns about the timeline and distribution of grafts as I discussed with Hasson and Wong. Read the post slowly and clearly and do not react so impulsively!! If you notice I praised Hasson and Wong for their work and professionalism and that I was working with them on resolving my issues. Instead I get insulting comments in return, accusations of trying to manipulate the issue to receive free work!! Really!! Come on now!!

completely absurd!!!!!!!!

Hi Stagger. Yes, this is indeed much ado about nothing, well put. The problem here is that I have already established a relationship with the clinic and they are aware of my issues. I realize that this is a public forum, however, people should also have the ability to post concerns and to keep it within the community rather than have it forwarded to those involved. Is there a forum where people can post their "concerns" without having a moderator forward their concerns to those involved?

Hello Bill. First I would like to make it clear that I am not unhappy with my hair transplant in general and this certainly not a knock on Hasson and Wong who have been receptive, considerate, and responsive towards my concerns. This is about the frustration that I have been through because of some lack of information regarding the timeline, which would have eased my concerns from the start. I decided to write on this forum mainly because I wanted feedback from others who might shed some light on the 12 month mark versus the 18 month mark, from their own personal experiences. My intention is not to spew bad remarks towards H & W and honestly, I don't appreciate having my concerns on a blog forwarded to H & W without my go ahead. I have already been in touch with them and they are aware of my concerns. I will wait until the 18 month mark to make my final judgement and then decide where to go from there.

Thanks Spanker. I think you understand my issue better than some who seem to have been offended somehow by my comments. I did tell them that I was not concerned with density, only coverage, and understood that it would not look perfect, as when I was much younger, so i think my expectations were realistic. I can tell you that I am happy with what I have seen so far, and there is quite a bit of hair in the crown, just very thin and immature. So, I have strong hopes that in the next 6 months or those hairs will thicken and mature. I can tell you that Dr. Hasson and his staff are professional and courteous and I would recommend them to anyone who is looking to get a hair transplant. I would only advise them to wait 18 months not 12 to judge the final result.

Hi Dutch. I did much research on the 18 month mark, that is how I discovered that this is indeed the right time to judge the final result. I am not unrealistic or upset about the hair transplant, I never expected it to look like it did when I was 20 years old. Coverage was really my only concern and if they had told me that a prominent bald spot was going to be the result of the surgery I might not have done it at all. Either way, my post started off stating that I was not disgruntled hair transplant recipient, only disillusioned. I have been in constant contact with the clinic and have seen them on many occasions and have expressed to them my concerns. They did not tell me that 18 months was full maturation and thickness, they insisted that it's 12 months which they referred to as the "final result". I had emailed them asking about the 18 month mark but they would not admit this. This is the main issue I had. Not density or expectations, just proper information.

I don't know what you were reading but it is clear it was not what i wrote. I was referring to my request of having whatever grafts I had evenly distributed so as to avoid having a bald spot and that the clinic assured me that that was what they were going to do. I also mentioned that density was not my concern, only coverage. I also left the door wide open to see what happens in the next 6 months or so. The 18 month mark is what many professionals including those who had experienced a hair transplant had reiterated to me, but not the clinic. Last thing, it was already discussed with Hasson and Wong that if I was not happy that they would fix it for me, most likely, at no charge. So, take it easy there bud! Read the post a little more closely next time.

This is not a negative post regarding the work that Hasson and Wong performs on what seems to be on a consistent basis. This is more about lack of disclosure of information. I received a hair transplant in March of 2011. I am approaching the one year mark, which according to the clinic, is the time where the "final" result is seen. I received over 6000 grafts and was a borderline NW6. At the pre-op meeting, a meeting that was critical in shaping my decision to go ahead with the hair transplant, I made sure that they knew that which was critical for me was that there are no bald spots present. I had asked them to take whatever grafts there were and evenly distribute them as density was not my main concern. They assured me that this was going to be done as per my request. Instead, what ended up happening was a gradual thinning of hair as you approach the crown. Now, it appears that I have a rather pronounced bald spot on the crown. When I approached them about it they seemed to avoid the question but rather tried to "convince" me that I was much better off, they did this by showing me before and after pictures. Am I better off then I was a year ago? Of course! But, they did not do what I requested. This leads to next point, a point that I hope will render my previous concern moot. The other thing is their constant insistence that the one year mark is the bench mark for full growth and maturity. After much research I discovered that this is rarely the case. In fact, 18 months is more reasonable, especially if you had work on the crown. What drove me to my concern was that as I was approaching the 12 month mark I realized that I had a long long way to go, especially in the crown area! Hence, my concerns were exponentially accentuated. I had after all asked that the hairs been evenly distributed so as to avoid having a bald spot so obvious and pronounced. My point is really simple, be more upfront about the hair timeline! If they had told me that it would take up to 18 months before the crown matured I would not have panicked. But, instead they were sticking to their 12 month benchmark. Now, this may all work out in the end, and I am certainly hopeful that it does. I heard that Hasson and Wong stand by their work so I am hopeful that I won't need to come in a second time so they can address my issues, I certainly don't have the money for a second transplant so I would expect them to recognize my concerns and "fix" it at no charge. But, they would have saved me a whole lot of heartache and panic if they had simply admitted that the 18 month mark is much more realistic in terms of hair reaching full maturation! We'll see what the 18 month mark brings. Crossing my fingers!!

Thank your response. Yes, my experience has definitely followed along the same line as your timeline, patience, growth descriptions. The issue for me is to get the clinic to admit that 12-18 months is the true timeline for growth and maturation is difficult, it's like pulling teeth! They seem to be insistent on the 12 month full maturation period, which, from my experience thus far and my research is inaccurate and in the end creates more frustration than satisfaction. If they would have indicated this to me I would not have been deeply concerned at seeing limited improvement as I quickly approach the one year mark. I have a comment to make regarding what you wrote about the claim the huge majority of the patients get a second transplant to further improve density. Although it is likely that I will have a second one further down the road, hopefully much further down the road. I beleive it is much easier for someone who has adjusted to hair loss over a long period to accept thinner and less dense hair than it is for someone who lost their hair over a very short period of time. For me, if I achieve a full head of hair, even if it is not as dense as it could be, it already such a huge improvement that strong density, although of course is better, it is at this point anyway, not a concern. Who knows what the future will bring but I thought I would make the point regarding slow thinners versus quick hair loss and what would satisfy them.

Hey Richie, Thanks for your response. Forgot to mention, what I have observed anyway, what might be considered their main motivation for pushing the one year mark. Simply, if a patient realizes that they are not quite happy at the one year mark the clinic would suggest that they get a second transplant. This has already been suggested this to me. Instead of having the patient wait it out longer, the clinic would try to get them to book as second or third, depending on the patient, transplant. I guess there is no such thing as business ethics, hehe. Thanks again!

Hello, Thank you for your reply and putting my mind at ease. I was suspicious of the reasons why they insisted that I double the dose and suspected that it was to ease my concerns. They referred to finasteride as "medication" suggesting that I had a condition that needed to be treated, I really didn't buy into that reference. It is my impression that the clinic finds it important to maintain that the 1 year mark as the measure in determing the final result in order to promote their clinic over others. It is obvious that if potential patients thought that they only had 1 year to wait rather than 18 months that that might attract more people to their clinic. The clinic strongly encouraged me to come back at the one year mark for a visit in order to take pictures and convince me that the hair transplant was a complete success. The last time I was there, which was this past December, was the first time they asked me to smile for the camera, clearly to show potential clients the state of satisfaction and happiness of their transplant. The lesson here is clear to me. The clinic is first and foremost a business. Any dissatification is deflected away from the clinic and what is promoted and protected is the clinic's insistence regarding their claims, in this case the one year mark. What ires me a little is that the clinic in essence put their interests above mine when insisting that I double the dose. There are potential harmful side effects from taking finasteride and doubling the dose can cause them to develop. The clinic would rather have me take that risk, despite my willingness to wait it out, rather than have a dissatisfied customer complain on boards such as these and the clinic in the end having negative advertising. After all people who are thinking of getting a hair transplant would visit these boards for advise. Lesson learned! Thank you for your response. Much appreciated!

Thank you for your quick response and for confirming what I thought was the case. I am taking one half a pill a day, or 2.5mg. I am not sure if the doctor believes that this will help speed up the hair growth in the crown or not, but found it kind of odd that that would be his recommendation. I have the feeling that only time would help the crown and that doubling up on finasteride would not really help. Maybe I'm wrong but this is the only conclusion I can draw at this point. I did email the clinic and asked that if it's a question of patience I would rather wait than doubling up on the finasteride dose to avoid potential side effects, but they insisted that I continue with the double dose. I also found it strange that the clinic kept pushing the one year mark as the indication of a final result. Perhaps, they are trying to advertise the one year mark to attract potential new patients? Either way, in the end all it did for me is make me doubt the final result. I think they would have done better to tell me straight out that it could take up to 18 months then I wouldn't have been concerned. Thanks again for your response!

I have a question for anyone who can answer it for me. I have been told that a hair transplant reaches its apex after one year, or close to that. I have also researched some forums and found that there are those who say that 15-18 months is more realistic to achieve full maturity and the final "look". In my case, it's been 10.5 months since the transplant and the crown hair, and i know it typically takes longer than the rest of the hairs ie. frontal area, seems to be lagging a few months behind in terms of thickness and maturity. If i were to estimate I would say the crown hair is where my frontal area hair was 4 months or more ago. I have asked the clinic where I got the transplant, who have said from the beginning that the one year mark is the apex in appearance and maturity. They have assured me that one year mark is when I would see the final result. However, in my opinion, the crown hair has much further to go. Has anyone had any experience where the crown would take much longer than a year to mature? Is this typical? Out of the ordinary? When I went to see the surgeon he doubled my finasteride prescription after seeing the crown. Not sure why he did or what this will achieve. Thanks for listening.

I am new to this board and this will the first time I share my story about my hair loss. I am a 46 year old male and have been losing my hair since about the age of 22. I was "lucky" enough to have my hair loss happen slowly, I was able to cover it up for the most part, well at least it look covered enough to me. About 1 year ago I started noticing that despite my best efforts I could no longer cover it up. My hair loss was getting worse and quickly. It started showing more and more. Now, despite my attempts to do so I would always wear a baseball cap so as to "pretend" that I wasn't balding. I knew full well that it was not the case but it allowed me to forget about it while I was out with friends, etc. Finally, this past year I decided to either just accept it or to do something about it. I tried my best to accept it, tried to convince myself that this is natural and that many others share the same experience as I do. But, one morning I decided, ya know there has been enough progress in the field of hair restoration that it would be a good time to start doing some serious research. I didn't have to accept this. The more I researched the more the name Hasson and Wong appeared. Despite my best efforts I could not find any serious bad reviews regarding their clinic. The ones that I did find that were "bad" were usually due to unusual or very unfavorable circumstances of the recipient. It was not about the clinic per se, the doctors were informative and honest, but the client was not. I finally decided to send my pictures to Hasson and Wong to see what they had to say. They told me that I was an NW6, I didn't know what that was until I researched it and found that I was in the category of rather high hair loss. They sent me an email and told me that it they could transplant 4000 grafts with an additional 2000 at a later time. I reflected on this for quite some time and decided to go ahead and do it. They sent me an email with an outline of pre op instructions. I went ahead and did the scalp exercises in hopes that it would produce enough grafts so I wouldn't need a second procedure to cover the crown. After about 2 months of doing these exercises I finally was able to produce about 6300 grafts which covered the top and the crown. I was pleased with this result. Scalp exercises work!!! I will post more details on the results of the hair transplant. But, let me tell you for anyone who is serious about getting their hair back and are thinking of getting a transplant consider Hasson and Wong! There may be other doctors out there than can do the job just fine but you just can't go wrong with Hasson and Wong. It's been 3 months now and my hair is really growing back fast. I can't tell you how pleased I am with the decision to get the transplant. I am looking forward to great results, already at this short juncture I can tell that this is going to be a great success. I have a lot of hair but it's relatively thin, this is to be expected at 3 months, but it will thicken over time.