Hello all,
I just wanted to share a recent hair transplant experience I had of mine. A little backstory, about 8 years ago I was going out with a girl, and I thought that my balding would ruin my chances. So in a moment of weakness, I decided to go to the Philippines to get a cheap hair transplant because that's all I could afford at the time. I supposedly got a 2000 graft transplant, but the end result was sparse hair, somewhat wiry and also had pitting in some areas. The experience was pretty horrifying because after the procedure, I was bleeding pretty heavily and probably lost lots of grafts. I had scar procedure, because that was all that was offered, but thankfully the scar was horrible. A couple days after the procedure I was swelling so bad, I looked like I had elephantitis in my face, and I was really worried it wouldn't go down. Basically for the past 8 years, I've had to grow my hair long because it looked pretty unnatural otherwise. Going to the barbershop was embarrassing...I was lucky enough to find an understanding hair stylist a few years back.
Fast forward to last week, where I had an actual 2000 graft transplant from Dr. Gabel in Tigard, OR. He and his staff were very courteous and thorough. He mentioned that a good portion of his patients are hair transplant repairs, which gave me a lot of confidence in him. Well, I also researched sites and forums like this and was pretty convinced that he was the real deal. He was great, I'm still recovering from the procedure, but it looks amazing compared to the results of my last transplant. I'm currently on my 3rd day post-op and just trying to be really careful to not mess it up. I've swelled up a little bit, but it just looks like I had a wisdom tooth removed. It was nice also, because I paid the upper estimate for the procedure, and it ended up that I didn't have as many grafts as the higher estimate so I'm getting refunded the difference.
Basically, anyone who has suffered like me who has had a bad transplant from the past, give Dr. Gabel a try. He's honest, and he'll let you know what can be done. His staff is really supportive, and he seems to be really picky about who works for him, which is a really good thing. I haven't taken any personal pictures yet, but if you PM me, I can see what I can do. Also, if you're really thinking of getting a HT for the first time as well, don't go to anyone who doesn't have a good reputation like I did. If you don't have enough money, save up for a good doctor. Whatever you do, don't go the cheap route, because you'll more than likely have to get it repaired anyways, plus you have to live with awkwardness of having to cover up something that doesn't look natural.
