After my first hairtransplant in 2000 with Bosley, I was ready for the 2nd transplant and this time around I wanted to do my homework. I interviewed Dr. Cooley in Charlotte (as this was my closest HT clinic recommeded by this site) and found that his procedure and techniques was very impressive. But cost was also a factor (with new child, job loss, job change, state change etc) and I was givien a quote of approximately $9K at Dr. Cooley office. This was around 2008. Then In 2011, I was visiting India for some work and decided to look at quality surgeons as cost will be 1/4 th of that of US.
Now, one has to do extensive research in India as there are many self proclaimed "experts" who will doctor any docuement (heck even their medical licenses could be fake) they can. Without an internal network and time, it would he hard to uncover such crooks in India. To narrow my list, I decided to start with the recommendations from this forum, Dr. Radha and Dr. Madhu. The issue about Dr Madhu that I heard through my sources in hyderabad is that he runs his shop like a Ford Assembly plant. He does 2-3 procedurs in a day and none of it, he personally do the work. Its all his assistants who do the cutting, insertion etc. He only gives them instructions on what to do. To me that is not acceptable. I'm paying for doctors expterise, skill and time, and not for assistants do the work. So he was ruled out. And my sources here in India ( I worked in Hyderabad in year 1996-1998 and have good friends base there), also told me that some of the profile pictures he has were not his original work. So I ruled out Dr. Madhu
However, I heard good reviews about Dr. Radha and also her personal attention to each patient. So she was my first choice, however, I was in Bangalore and could only afford two days for this trip and procedure. During my school reunion, I met a friend of mine who is an opthamologist in Bangalore, so I inquired him about qualified surgeons in India and his recommendations. Surprisingly, he himself had done HT and he recommeded Dr. K. Ramachandran in Chennai, India. So I decided to visit Dr. Ramachandran and made an appointment on Aug 23rd. During my first consultation, he evaluated my donor area and said, I could expect a realistic of 1300-1500 grafts. As I had already done a FUT in year 2000 through bosley, he said that donor area, above and below would be good candidates for FUE technique as a strip above that area would yield less. This was the first time that I had heard a doctor recommending FUE, as all other doctors, Madhu and Radha, were FUT proponents. So I clarified this with the doctor on why would everyone recommend FUT saying it yeilds better results. Dr. Ramachandran's candid response shocked me. Doctors use FUT for the following reasons.
1) FUT is less work compared to FUE
2) Doctor has to be there all time when performing FUE (for extraction and insertion)
3) More grafts in FUT so more money charged (This is a myth that FUT gives more grafts, I got to know that after my procedure. EVen though my FUE yeilded less grafts, I got more 3's and 4's in FUE than FUT. So if i multiply my 3's and 4's per graft, i got more on FUE and much less visible scar. In essence you can target 3's and 4's donors on FUE. In FUT you are stuck with what you get on the strip. So a less quality donor strip can yield more singles. I like more home runs on my extraction than singles...sheesh who wouldn't)
So more work, less money and cannot employ your assitants to do the work deters most of the doctors from FUE and they promote FUT. As an informed patient now, I would recommend FUE over FUT if you are given a choice.
I wanted more info, references, from Dr. Ramachandran and I scheduled another appointment with him on Sep 1st. Spent an hour with him on what to expect and he was very patient in answering all my concerns. I also spoke to people who were visiting his office and got confidence in his ability. So I set the date for my procedure on Sep 3rd 2012.
I arrived his surgey clinic at 11:30 am and was taken care by his friendly staff. I was given light snack and they prepped me for the procedure. Doctor arrived at 1:30 pm and made all the arrangements for the procedure. We had a video session as well (I will post that soon) of the initial discussion on what he was going to do and the approach. He recommeded a combination of FUE and FUT to get the optimum results.FUE was to be performed above and below my prior HT scar area and a fresh strip will be take from the left side of the head.
Surgery started at 2:30 pm and the only small pain was the local anasthetic needles pricing throug my head. After few minutes I did not feel a thing. He explained to me in each step on what he was doing and making sure that I was feeling comfortable. After the FUE and FUT donor areas were selcted, his staff, dissected the follicles to be transplanted. Everything went smooth as the doctor and his staff was very friendly. At 8:30 pm the process was complete. During the 6 hours, Dr. Ramachandran did not leave the side of the table even for a break. WOW, THAT IS CALLED DECICATION. Even when I got done in Bosley, the doctor walked away while the insertion was happening.
The original goal was to get 1300-1500 grafts and we actually got 1894 multiple grafts (see the single graft breakdown below). During Post-op, the doctor said based on these results in 8-10 months, we can decided if we need one more procedure (mainly through FUE) to cover any areas or spots. Breakdown of individual grafts
FUT - 1604
FUE - 1540
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Total - 3144
I was very happy with this whole process and my research of 2 years and paitence finally, I feel like, was paid off. Now, its too early to blow the horn as the jourey of 10 months has just begun. But I feel very confident that I will see the results from the procedure.
Link to my pre-op and post-op pictures
https://plus.google.com/photos/102632363828784644153/albums/5784173254648495601
Will upload periodically on the progress and also the video of the actual procedure.
Thanks
AKK, Atlanta, GA
