greatjob

So I'm a pretty private person and sharing isn't really my style, however after the great experience I had at Dr. Rahal's clinic, coupled with the fact that he's getting screwed by the laws in Ontario preventing him from posting on these forums I thought I would share my experience.

So first a little background on my hairloss, I started losing my hair very early, like junior high early and it has always been a major issue for me. I had a transplant of about 900 grafts with a respected surgeon (who I'm not going to name, I'm over it and see no point in getting into it) maybe 6 years ago. Promises were made about what I could expect in terms of results for that procedure and I believed them because I was uneducated. I now know the promises made were impossible to achieve. I decided to cut ties with that surgeon and move on. After doing a lot of research and finding this site I had a few consults with my short list of doctors and I chose to have my procedure with Dr. Rahal. Much of that decision had to do with my interaction with Mattj, I'm not sure if he's on here still since they were stopped from posting, but if he is I have to say thanks. He was super patient with me and not pushy at all, he's a great guy.

Anyways, I'm not going to go into a crazy detailed right up of everyday I spent in Ottawa, but my experience with Dr. Rahal was fantastic. It was a complete night and day difference from my first procedure even though I went to a highly respected clinic. Dr. Rahal's clinic is like a well-oiled machine, the attention to detail pre-op, intra-op, and post-op is pretty incredible. Everyone I dealt with during my stay was absolutely top notch from Dr. Rahal, Mike, April and the receptionist (I believe her name was Michelle, I'm horrible with names)

I was a little apprehensive going into this procedure as I experienced a lot of pain in my donor area with my first procedure; I had to get a refill of pain meds which I took for almost two weeks. This time however I only took the pain pills the first night and experienced very little discomfort which I think speaks to Dr. Rahal's surgical skills.

I ended up getting 3340 grafts and 6939 hairs with the following breakdown:

578 singles

1926 doubles

836 triples

The procedure was focused on the front half of the scalp. My hairline was kept conservative as I don't have great donor density, which is fine by me as I've always had a fairly high hairline and I really just want as much density as I can get within my existing hairline. I do have very good laxity so I have more left in the bank. So I'll leave it at that for now, I'm not big on pics but I know how much everyone loves them so I have posted pre-op, day 1, week 1 and week 2 pictures. I will keep this thread updated as things progress.

Another insightful contribution. :eek:

Glad I could be helpful

But when you fail to even acknowledge a question on a number of occasions I also happen to think that it's not unreasonable to point that out.

There's a difference between pointing something out and being a dick. Guess which one you are..

Matt.... why do you ignore questions? I must have commented on 3 or 4 of Dr Rahal results, in a very positive way and just asked to see a few more pics, post op or other but have never had the courtesy of a response .

 

Are you too busy? Spex and Jotronic always seem to find the time. If you don't have pics, just say so but an acknowledgement of the question now and again wouldn't go amiss.

Geez man! Cut the guy a break, 2 days passed before you start accusing him of dodging your questions. Impatient much? Hate to break it to you but the world doesn't revolve around you...

 

 

 

I had my HT surgery with Dr. Charles in Sept 2012.

He's a brilliant and artistic HT surgeon but more importantly, he's a real person.

He tells you what he can do with what you have to work with.

No radio commercials. No slogans. No seductive saleswomen running their fingers through my hair oozing about how attractive the new hair will make me.

His office was spotless

His operating room was state of the art.

His techs are experienced, dedicated and conscientous professionals

I barely felt a thing with over 3100 grafts. I enjoyed the entire procedure.

I would definitely refer anyone to Dr Charles.

He isnt the least expensive but the cheap places arent really going to give you the amount of grafts you pay for so don't fool yourself. Dr Charles and his staff are going to give you more than you paid for.

EH

I don't know Dr. Charles, but I have always been very impressed with how much time he devotes to helping people out on the various online forums. He is one of the most active doctors but he never markets himself, he just genuinely offers up advice to people struggling with hairloss, and I think that speaks volumes about him.

Holy hell that is impressive for 4 months!! I can't imagine the freedom of getting rid of the piece, must feel great. Good luck with the rest of your journey!!

Please tell me you are not having FUT? Do you really want a scar across the back of your head?

 

Take time to consider all the options. ...

 

Yes, Spex is a great guy and a fountain of knowledge, but he also works for Dr. Feller, so is bound to recommend him. Feller does FUT.

 

Again, nothing wrong with Dr. Feller, he has had some fantastic results, but please please consider what's best for you. If you are depressed about how you feel now, imagine if you have visible scarring after FUT, you could feel worse.

 

If however, you are completely comfortable with having FUT, then you are in safe hands with Spex and Dr.Feller, the results will be good.

 

Rob

While I'm not sure whether Iamx121 is going to undergo FUT or FUE, you are pretty uninformed about Feller. Not only does he perform FUE he was one of the first surgeons to offer the procedure when it was first introduced and has even developed his own tools for FUE procedures.

Iamx121 I also think you're out of your mind to be so concerned with your minimal hair loss at your age, but you are in great hands and I wish you all the best.

Hi Joe,

 

How would you describe this patient's donor density?

Thank you everyone for your comments.

 

GJ,

 

This patient has slightly wavy hair with average coarseness. His donor laxity was average but he appears to have had a bit higher than average donor density because the strip is smaller than what a patient with average density would need for 4500 grafts.

5char

Thank you everyone for your comments.

 

GJ,

 

This patient has slightly wavy hair with average coarseness. His donor laxity was average but he appears to have had a bit higher than average donor density because the strip is smaller than what a patient with average density would need for 4500 grafts.

thanks for the reply Joe, this example is very helpful for me!

Joe,

How would you describe this patient’s hair quality, density, and laxity? He looks to have similar hair characteristics as I do with maybe a little more loss and he had around the same number of grafts I would probably be getting if I can scrape up the money, lol. From what I can see his hair looks to be of a finer or medium quality with maybe a pretty good density. Great result and very helpful for me!

I completed P90x as well, its a great program expecially for dropping tons of body fat. It's great to not have to go to the gym as well. I am on my second round but I have custimized the progam a lot this time around, trying to pack on more muscle. Congrats on making it through, its a kick in the balls the first time through, lol. I had some of my meathead friends give it a try and they couldn't hang.

So lately I've been thinking about how a hair transplant may effect the results of future cellular treatments for MPB such as the treatments currently being tested by Replicel and Histogen. My concern is that since it has been shown that hair follicles don't actually die, but are just miniaturized or go dormant, what are the possibilities that the incisions in the recipient area from a transplant could damage these dormant follicles to the point that future cellular treatments would be rendered useless on individuals who have undergone a transplant? I don't think anyone can really say for sure as of yet, but I would be curious what some of the doctors or clinic reps that frequent this site think about this topic. My logic is that even if the incisions do damage the dormant follicles beyond repair, they can't damage all of them since human hair/skin epithelial cells are about 70 microns or 0.07 mm across and the incisions don't approach that density, but it is something I am concerned about.

Holy Hell!! I'm really starting to hate the Spanish and the Italians with all their super human scalp laxity and donor density!!

..........

WOW!! Unreal!!

Looks Fantastic!! Good Planning!

Greathair,

 

Your logic makes zero sense. So basically, what you're saying is that Dr. Feller should simply roll over and allow one of his patients to post knowingly false and potentially damaging statements about him online? If someone was making false accusations against you using your real name and it was being indexed in all the search engines, would you just sit back and let it happen? I highly doubt it.

 

Bill

That’s not what I'm saying at all. I don't care if he rolls over and takes it or not. What I was saying is that if he was smart he would let this die. There are hundreds if not thousands of positive reviews on Dr. Feller all over the internet this one poor review is going to do little to hurt his reputation as the accusations made by Jessie, in all honesty, weren't that bad. More a case of miscommunication, which I believe is usually the only issue that ever arises with the top clinics. Just look at all the threads that pop up with mediocre results like Jessie's, the clinics don't make a big deal of them and they eventually run their course and die and everyone forgets about them. Little harm is done to the Dr.'s reputation. I doubt Jessie's claim that he was not made clear the disadvantages of fue would have had any effect on feller's reputation or bottom line. However deciding to sue a former patient over it is going to have a big impact on his bottom line. My point was when choosing between the top clinics, Rahal, Hasson & Wong, the Shapiro's, Tru & Dorin, Feller, etc., there is very little difference is skill of the surgeon and the decision usually comes down to comfortably with the doctor. I don’t think most potential patients are going to keep Feller on their short list knowing he needlessly sues former patients. This is the reason Feller should have let this go, he is going to lose way more business from this lawsuit than he ever would have because of Jessie's false claims. There is a reason most large business and corporations settle baseless claims instead of fighting them in court, it’s cheaper.

I don't think it matters who is right or wrong in terms of the lawsuit. Whatever harm Jessie did to Feller's reputation is nothing in comparison to the harm Feller is doing to his own reputation by suing a former patient, regardless of the merit of the lawsuit. If Feller were to win a monetary settlement or even win an order to quiet or censor Jessie it will pale in comparison to the amount of money he is going to lose by suing a former patient in terms of future prospective business. I don't care if the lawsuit is founded or not. If I was considering a ht with Feller I no longer would be. He should have let this die; it would have been in his best interest.

I had not heard of SAMY but I will keep it on my list of products to try after my next HT.

I love that stuff! i had been using american crew forever one day picked some of this up and have been using it ever since. Super cheap lasts forever and you can find it at every store. I think the tube I have right now I paid $6 for and it has lasted over 6 months. Cant beat that!

I also think that your scar would be unaffected by this. I am curious however why you are so concerened about your scar. I'm not trying to be a d*ck or rude just curious. I have seen a lot of posts from you concerning your scar stretching, but if you are a female who had a hairline lowering procedure and no signs or history of hair loss and you don't plan on ever shaving your head then why do you care so much about the scar?

I personally think your reasons for not choosing Dr. Epstein, other than the transgender issue, are very valid and understandable. I personally don't give two sh*ts how you feel about transsexuals or homosexuals, I rarely am offended by anything. However I can understand why others jumped on you. I would be willing to bet that every recommended doc on this board has performed a transplant on a transgender patient. It is not that unusual or weird as you think. Dr. Rahal is one of the most respected surgeons on this board, and rightly so, and just recently he performed a procedure on a transgender patient:

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/162185-dr-rahal-transgender-patient-4044-grafts-4-months.html

Should he be considered strange or unethical for performing this procedure? Of course not! He is my top choice at the moment, so I’m not trying to bash Dr. Rahal. Just wanted to point out that the transgender comment was moronic. Every other issue was spot on; I wouldn't let Epstein touch me with a ten foot pole.

from the 49ers? who made "the catch"?

Haha! I was thinking the same thing when I saw the thread title. Joe montana was my hero growing up, that was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw this thread!

I doubt that the mucinex had any effect on your hair, but using it in such high dosage and for an extended period of time is defiantly not healthy. I would suggest going to your doctor or dermatologist and getting a full blood work up done. I started losing my hair around 16-17 which is very early but not unusual, but if you did indeed begin to lose your hair at 11 yrs. old there could possibly be an underlying medical issue to blame for your hair loss and not mpb. I'm sure there are people who see the onset of mpb at that age but I’ve never heard of them. It's worth determining the exact cause of your hair loss and if it is in fact male pattern baldness then you can give finasteride and minoxidil a try.

For any of the members taking oral Minoxidildo you happen to have any before and after pictures? I'm curious whether or not I should give this a try. Also wondering how willing doctors in the states are to prescribing it.

Looking good!! I think you are going to have a fantastic result. As I've said in your previous thread I can't get over how hair contrast affects the appearance of density. Got me thinking about dyeing my hair grey. I think the people at the beauty store would think I was out of my mind though if I went in looking for grey hair dye, ha. Good luck in the coming months!