Shampoo

How many grafts are you shooting for in this surgery? I think most of the mega-session surgeons require shave-down.

Spanker like you I am excited to "get the show on the road". The only thing i am really worried about is being in the chair that long. I'm ok with the pain, the ugly duckling phase, the staples, the money....but that 8 hours or more in the chair combined with my sometimes panic/anxiety scares the hell out of me. I'm gonna need a double dose of whatever they give me, maybe throw in a shot of Patron, and a qualude! LOL

Congrats and best of luck Spanker. With all the great advice and time you spend on this forum to help others you certainly deserve a great result. BTW...I will be right behind you...my date with Dr. Jerry Wong is August 14th.

can you elaborate a bit? what were you not comfortable with? his office? his mannerism? his approach? his pricing? was he hurried?

But Bob... Who upheld their end of the bargain? Wasn't Dr. Feller ready to perform the agreed to service? Who kept postponing the agreed to service? Who caused this to not work out? Do you agree that it's your fault?

Bob....I am not against you and as this thread has evolved I have come around a bit to thinking you have a few valid points...at least in regard to the clinic should have if nothing else protected themselves from this type of incident by clearing stating in writing/e-mail exactly what their refund policy was. It appears other clinics do inform patients other than just on their website. From personal experience I know Hasson/Wong does and Janna stated Shapiro Medical does make it very clear to each patient when deposits are being made. BUT.....do you really think "ooops the economy turned so I now can't afford a hair transplant" is a "genuine reason"? To me most of your reasons are not the fault of Dr. Feller...they are your fault. #1. After scheduling a surgery Bob can't afford it because of economy #2. Bob decides to postpone. #3. Bob decides he doesn't like propecia #4. Bob decides he "wont consider FUT" #5. Bob decides to leave deposit at Dr. Feller's for years. #6. Bob decides years later he "no longer is a viable candidate". Although I don't see anything wrong with what he said, I think in hindsight Dr. Feller should not have personally responded on this forum because of the emotional nature of this issue. Again in hindsight he probably should have agreed to a partial refund to bring closure and he can still do that after reviewing this thread and basically say "look we don't feel we did anything wrong, but would like to move forward and break our ties with this patient, we wish him well, and are going to refund half his deposit money". End of story.....

john have you and are you taking any of the drugs like propecia or avodart? do you feel you are possibly still losing a lot of hair which negates to some degree the 6000 Dr. Wong added?

wow Joe....so few grafts....but it looks great!

Dr. Feller has a great reputation and he may not even be aware of this. Maybe his staff over-booked or something. I would bet Dr. Feller would gladly compensate you if it was 100% their fault that you had to pay for a hotel because they cancelled. Dr. Feller didn't get to where he is by not treating his patients right.

If that's true that borders on ridiculous. If you were charged a hotel night because Dr. Feller's office cancelled last minute then I would ask Dr. Feller to pay the hotel fees.

I have to commend Managing Publisher Bill for allowing this discussion to continue. I would assume Dr. Feller is one of the "super star clinics" and it may be tempting to find a way to squash a thread like this. I was kind of anticipating seeing it deleted. I think this thread dispels any notion that this is not a free and open forum for patients to discuss all aspects good and bad about hair restoration.

In hindsight Dr. Feller besides the website explanation should also include in patient paperwork/e-mails a section explaining their refund policy, but does a patient have any responsibility themselves to ask questions when they are sending in hundreds of dollars for a deposit? I know I would inquire before sending someone hundreds of dollars.

Janna is a rockstar in this industry! Very informative and educational.

I don't really think the dude is entitled to getting his money back (although I'd probably throw him a bone to make him "go away") but I agree this thread has probably been a learning experience for patients as well as clinics. I bet there are clinics reading this thread without making a comment but are double-checking their procedures on down payments and may make adjustments to the way they handle such matters as far as being extremely clear on what their down payment policy is. Wiggle room needs to be squeezed even tighter where no one can possibly claim "I didn't know".

Bobby, Have you seen this video about what questions to ask at consult?

Just a comparative note to add to this discussion. When I recently made my appointment with Hasson & Wong they required a deposit of $500 within one week of scheduling surgery. They do require a sizeable down payment three weeks prior to a procedure. In my confirmation e-mail of scheduling a surgery they were pretty clear and seemingly quite fair about cancellations...see below: "If you need to cancel surgery seven days’ notice must be given to avoid a cancellation fee of $500. Both deposits will be non-refundable and non-transferable if surgery is cancelled within 48 hours of your scheduled appointment. If you have any questions regarding the cancellation policy please contact me directly"

Will do Doctor. I have been under the care of a hematolgist for two years. I am going to show him this case report discussing a possible link between low platelets and propecia. Until I get in to see him I have stopped taking propecia to see if it will have any impact when he runs the blood-work.

Thank for your comments Dr. Lindsey. I have had low platelets in the 110-128 range for about three years. I have been back on propecia roughly for about the same time. In this thread there was some information about propecia and low platelets possibly having a link. I am now considering stopping propecia to see if my platelet count would rise. Roughly how long do you think I would need to be off propecia to see if there was a link? A month? 3 months? 6 months? a year? 2 years?

Would you be open to just getting part of the deposit back? Jezzzz this has been going on since 2008? From what I see they are not really at fault, but to make you go away I would think they might be open to giving you something back. As a business owner myself I know I would.

Future_HT_Doc what are your thoughts on Propecia vs Avodart?

RCWest....I notice you take Avodart. Do you think most doctors if I explained why I would like to switch from Propecia to Avodart would gladly oblige and write an RX for Avodart instead?

rev3....I wonder if we find that propecia is at least partly related to our low platelet count would Avodart be a good different option?

rsn I am right there with you. I try to do it. I have a bad shoulder. 30 minutes at a time is just completely out of the question for me. I must be a wimp, but I get tired in like 3-5 minutes. I am going to keep trying and do the best I can.

shinytop as stated above I too suffer from some mild low blood platelet counts. I recently made an appointment for HT surgery and listed my low platelets on the patient information page and the doctor made no comment about it being a problem as far as having HT surgery. Of course when they are mildly low it is maybe different than if someone has super low platelets. I was totally unaware that propecia has been linked to low platelets. I am going to look into this further. I will share with you that I read tons of stuff on the internet about low platelets and discovered some think taking "Papaya Leaf Extract" can help increase platelet counts. I thought what the heck and tried it. After taking it for three months I went back to my hematologist for a regular check of my platelet count and guess what? Yep my platelets had risen for the first time in 3 years. Look I am not a doctor and this could be a fluke...who knows. But I am continuing to take drops of Papaya Leaf Extract in water every single day. Here is where I buy my 4oz Liquid Extract: Iowa Select Herbs

Wow Rev3 thank you for posting that link. I too have suffered from mild low platelets the last 3 years. I am going to investigate this further as well as share this study with my hematologist who has run tons of tests without being able to determine the cause of my low platelets. BTW Rev3 are you still taking propecia in light of this study? Has your doctor had any thoughts about your low platelets and propecia? Are there other options besides propecia?