RP43

Toronto to Ottawa flight, strongly suggest Porter Airlines off the island airport, no congestion, great, quick service, nice lounge in Toronto and Ottawa, return flight less than 300.00, followed by a 15.00 cab ride to his office Much better than Air Canada,especially after the surgery. I had strip, so cant commnet on FUE. Just call the office and ask Adrian, I am sure he will answer all your questions

I had my HT by Dr Rahal 7 weeks ago, (February 11th) Absolutely wonderful, proffesional experience from consultation, to surgery and post-op. A gifted, committed doctor that has surrounded himself with a great team that genuinally cares about his patients. He will take the time to answer all your questions and be, in my case (N6), bruttally honest on what he can realistically do and accomplish based on your/my hairloss Granted it is way too early to tell, how my HT is going to work out but so far so good from all accounts. Post surgery I had no issues, My donor scar has healed well, my hair is sprouting and I am pain free. I did my extensive due dilegence and consulted with 3 doctors before Dr Rahal and I am so lucky and happy that I found about him on this forum originally. I live in Toronto and Ottawa is a 45 minute plane ride away so I went with him. What amazed me was when I went for my consutation, there were two people from Korea there who recently had HT. The day before my HT, there was someone from Australia, the day after me one from Spain, followed by one from Italy. People come from all over the world for a reason. There is a reason why he is consistently mentioned in an elite group of HT doctors consistently. Ultimatley you have to be happy and comfortable with who you choose. My only suggestion would be to meet with as many doctors as you can. You will know, who is right for you Good Luck

Brent, ultimatley you have to be happy with your choice and comfortable with who you choose. I live in Toronto and had three consultations here. I made the trip to Ottawa for a consultation with Dr Rahal and decided to have my HT done on Feb 11th of this year,on the spot. After three other consultations, and then visitig him, his level of honesty, detail, expertise and comfort level were far beyond anyone else I consuted with. Seven plus weeks after and I have no regrets and could not be happier about my decision to go with Dr Rahal and his entire staff which is important Dr Rahal is without a doubt one of the best at what he does. That is widely agreed on any forum you come across, not just my personal opinion. Having had my HT recently, his experienced staff is something nodoby should under estimate the value off. Preparing for the procedure, during the procedure and post procedure the entire experience has gone better than I could have imagined. With him, you get one of the best but also a great team that is every bit as dedicated as he is, If you want any other info, just send me an email and best of luck to you

Hello Megatron, Hope your doing well. To be honest, as far as one year on rogaine that is what Dr Rahal stated to me with reference to getting the translplanted hairs growing I beleive. He may have said to improve blood flow, but dont quote me for sure. In your experience or anyone else here, is it beneficial long term? Forever> I live in Toronto as stated earlier and headed to the US tomorrow, Monday and Dr Rahal did suggest picking up some of the rogaine foam which he preferes becasue it is not available in Cananda, so I will roll the dice and hope I dont get stopped coming back into Canada.... At this point, if all I have to do is spray some rogaine on my head a couple of times a day, no problem with me

Drsmtx, to answer your question, yes I am using rogaine for my crown and recepient area and have been instructed by Dr Rahal to do so for about a year.

Bandido, I should clarify a "full head of hair", meaning full coverage of my bald area. I guess I just get overlly excited and things may come across not entirely like I mean them to, so let me explain As mentioned earlier, one of the decideing factors to go with Dr Rahal was because of his candid honesty. Most definatley he can cover all the area that was and is bald on my head,with one more session, all you have to do is look at what was covered in one and that would not be a stretch. However densitiy would not be 100%. After all, a full head of hair to a formerly Norton 6 guy and full head of of hair to Norton 3 are totally different interpretations and expectations. It was not my intent to confuse anyone. My aplogies if I mislead anyone. But, Hey, I have hair on top of my head and could not be happier, thanks again Dr Rahal and staff!

It has been three weeks since my transplant. So far, so good. Still have some scabbing going on but no real bother. Had the sutures remooved by my GP and then met with Dr Rahal a few days later while he was in Toronto. According to him, my donor area and receipient area both look great Now all I have to do is wait for it to grow! I am so happy I had this done with Dr Rahal and cant wait for the growth to start

Raphael (which is my name as well) I appreciate your support and kind words As far as what can be achieved with two transplants, Dr Rahal was confident that he could give me a "full head of hair" in two sessions. Density of course would be hard to predict, (Adrian if you see this perhaps you can comment I really dont want to quote out of turn. What I do know for sure,based on my experience to date is that as of right now, I will be second one done. We approached the first one, as not sure if I was going to get a second one because Dr Rahal and I decided that would be best. Hindsight is 20/20 of course, and knowing what I know, I would have opted for more density and less area covered, but no regrets as Dr Rahal can increase density in the front during the second session. He did suggest we do wait at least a year though The original analysis of donor area was average density according to Dr Rahal. His goal was get to get 3800-4000 graphs based on what he saw. Dr Rahal does recomend and insist you do some scalp stretching excercises prior to your surgery. I did them throughout day and more than was suggested because I trusted his suggestion and felt it may help get more. Thankfully he was able to get alot more the following numbers are what he was able to get. 4506 graphs 766 singles 2826 doubles 914 triples 9160 hairs in total Not sure where you live but great choice, rest assured you are in great hands. When is your date? The only part that caught me off guard and was uncomfortable for a few seconds, that felt like an eternity was the freezing needles, once those are done, there is no discomfort at all Also, I am not much a alcohol drinker. Part of your post op instructions is no booze for two weeks prior. I did not have a drink for 4 weeks and as such had very minimal bleeding as alcohol does thin your blood and can cause blood to run as Dr Rahal maps out the recepient area. Minimal bleeding does make the technicians job a lot easier so I would strongly suggest you sustain from any alcohol for as long a period as you can. If you have any other questions feel free to drop your email address and ask away. I will try and post my progress later this week. Good Luck

Thanks for the update Megatron, appreciate it, at the end of it all, we are all here to help each other and share experiences and information so that we all do what is best for our individual cases IF it was not for the information posted on this site, and the research, suggestions and information posted by hundreds of people, I would not have got a transplant. After my first three consultations, I had no intent of getting it done and was just going to accept, I was bald. Thankfully with the info I found here, I was able to come across a great option for me, Dr Rahal and I am thankful I did All the best to you, I will follow your progress and get around to starting my own page

Megatron, to be clear, in my personal experience having consulted with three doctors in the Toronto area I felt like just another patient. All three of the doctors ( I wont name who because that is not important) spent some time with me and all gave me the same verdict. We can do 3000 grafts and honestley they all quoted me 7,000.00. It felt so "cookie cutter" and matter of fact. This was all in the last year or so. Something did not feel right but then I found this forum and website and dug deeper When I went for my consultation with Dr Rahal, there was a proffesionlism and genuine sincerity about how he actually checked my hair, drew out a potential hair line and how far he could go. He asked me a lot of questions, and also was very direct about what to expect in one session He was very honest about my density which he said to expect about 40%. I am realalist and am well aware I will not have thick density by way, so if your intent was to dim my expectations and excitement, you did not. Dr Rahal also told me what he would expect in terms of further hair loss He clearly explained to me, that if i wanted maximum coverage a minimum of two transplants would be required. As this was all new to me, we decided to approach it as I would not get a second transplant. He approached it as such. After having gone through this experience, I will definatley get a second tranplant in a year or so, to do the crown and increase my density in the front area with Dr Rahal My point is, none of the three doctors I went to previous to Dr Rahal, took the time to explain any of this to me. I was simply shuffled in and out, and told, 7k for 3000 grafts. That was all thier opinions. None of them took the time to tell me about density or do what Dr Rahal did which was to put grafts where I had hair in the side of my head because he felt I would have further regression there and I decided to not get a second one, there was a chance I would bald spots on both sides of my head. I did not mean to offend you or anyone else on this board, the reality is alot of people dont even need 3000 grafts when they get thiers done. Maybe I should have qualified by stating, anyone at a Norton 6 should not simply take the standard 7k for 3000 grafts because there are talented doctors like Dr Rahal and several more on this board who can offer so much more if anyone is looking for more This forum is for opinions and experiences, all I can say for sure is that I have had a great one to date with Dr Rahal and would recomend anyone to him without hesitation based on my experience. I guess that's why there is chocolate and vanilla.....

....and here is an immediate post op, sorry, cant figure out how to post multiple pics on one post

Oops meant to add Pre and post op pic as well

I am/was a norton 6. Now thanks to Dr Rahal and his great staff, I HAVE HAIR! I had the procedure done on February 11th. I live in Toronto and after visiting 3 Doctors in Toronto, I am extremly thankful I made the trip to Ottawa for a 4th opinion. Believe the hype! Dr Rahal and his staff are as proffesional, welcoming, knowledgable and comforting a staff in any type of business I have been exposed to. World Class indeed! The procedure went well, and virtually pain free... aside from the needles to freze my head OUCH those stung a bit. I thanfully felt nothing after that and aside from the first night really no pain or discomfort at all since. Sutures are coming out tomorrow and as far as I can see and based on the feedback from his office on the pictures I have sent him, so far, so good. For anyone who is on the fence regarding doctors and Dr Rahal is on your list, you could not be in better hands. This is your head you are getting a procudre done on, dont nickle and dime the options. " A lot of people know the price of everything...and the value of nothing" This is by no means your least expensive option, but ask yourself, are you worth a few extra dollars on your head? Dont get sucked into the standard 3000 grafts for 7k. This is what the previous 3 consultations told me. There is a reason why Dr Rahal and his staff can do over 4000 grafts on a regular basis. I know the anxiety and nerves involved first hand...YOU DESERVE THE BEST! In total I received, 4506 graphs, which was thankfully about 10% more than he planned on, I guess following all me pre op instructions did make a differnce I would like to thank Leesa, Adrian, Mike, Dr Rahal and the entire staff for a making what was a very anxious and nervous part of of my life a wonderful experience. I cant believe when I look in the mirror I see HAIR, I cant wait until it grows... I will do my best to keep everyone updated.

Softwareguy, great choice to go with Dr Rahal. I did after extensive research and made the trip from Toronto, last week. I received 4506 graphs and so far so good. Dr Rahal, and his entire staff ; Adrian, Mike, Leesa and all the technicians are wonderful, caring and as proffesional as you will find..if not more based on my research. You are in the best hands possible if he is within your geographic reach. I will be posting pictures and more info soon, but if you need any other info, let me know, I can probably answer alot of your questions. Good Luck