Vesperian

12 hours ago, Melvin- Admin said:

Read this article 

https://hairtransplantnetwork.com/what-questions-should-you-ask-getting-hair-transplant

Thank you for the link.  I have most of those questions covered.  I’m looking for the really specific and technical questions as well.  If there is an guide somewhere for that, would be greatly appreciated. 

On 5/6/2023 at 2:39 AM, percahontas said:

I'm going with Fue and have a surgery date booked with Dr. Pan who is a younger guy who works with Parsa Mohebi's at the same clinic. He is legit

May I ask if you can share your experience with Dr. Pan if you went ahead with it?  I’m looking into him (and Dr. Carman) as well—and there is hardly any info on both online, especially Dr. Pan.

Hi everyone,

I’d like to ask if there happens to be any thread in this massive forum that has a good overview of the most essential questions to ask at appointment.  In such a large and informed community, I wouldn’t be surprised if there is such a thing, except I have not found such a post, at least with my chosen search keywords.  

I had a massive list of questions in my notes that I would bring to consultations several years ago.  I’ve recently returned to look, with seriousness again, at doctors for a transplant (or any other modality they may recommend).  So along with my all-too-long-list of questions that I used to bring to appointments, I’d like to see what others—many of whom here surely know much more than me—consider the essential questions. It is additionally relevant as I have paid no attention to developments in hair loss in the many years since I’ve last went to doctors for consultations.  

I am most interested in guidance on the essential questions for FUT, FUE, and PRP (if it has since become a more efficacious option for some people).

Thank you for any help.

25 minutes ago, BackFromTheBrink said:

I think most, if not all would tell you that finesteride (or dutasteride) and minoxidyl will have a positive effect on your hair.

Where it becomes more murky is whether they believe they're of enough benefit to balance the side effects.

When I spoke to the surgeon who performed my second surgery he advised against oral minox and oral dutasteride because of the side effects (he was concerned about heart health for minox and hadn't seen enough data on the long term effects of using dutasteride to be confident to recommend it).

Thanks for the additional perspective.  That surgeon’s caution adds yet more to my indecision on these drugs usage.  And wasn’t aware (or forgot) there is a heart health risk associated with minox.

1 minute ago, Bucky O Hair said:

From what I've gathered, the general consensus on this board is that you should be on Finasteride and Minoxidil (ideally both orally).  Many are using Dutasteride too, in addition to Finasteride, however I think Dutasteride users are still in the minority.  

The docs I spoke with were kind of all over the place.  Only some of them asked if I was even on anything.  One was completely against Minox and pretty much said it was junk.  Another was against Finasteride and no longer prescribes it.  One was very into topicals (instead of oral meds) and offered to prescribe oral Dutasteride. 

I think ultimately the docs are focused on hair transplants, so they won't really get into the drug regimen talk. 

That’s very interesting.  Thank you.

By any chance did the doc who was very against Minox go into why they thought it was junk?  Was it strictly about efficacy or also side effects?

30 minutes ago, Bucky O Hair said:

I had multiple consultations with the top surgeons recommended on this board, and I was surprised at the range of answers I received.

Very different from what the general consensus is on this forum.

Were more inclined towards a certain direction?

What’s the general consensus on this forum?

Thanks for the insights so far.

6 hours ago, LeveledUp said:

Both ideally.

Although I know Dr Bisinga has said If patients are reluctant to finasteride or are older patients he just prescribes oral minoxidil and has seen success.

Do you know if Dr. Disinga supports usage of topical versions of minoxidil, finasteride, or dutasteride?

@A_4_Archan

Thank you immensely.  Your overview of the terminology is wonderfully concise and thorough.

I’ll ask the clinic’s staff to further clarify their word usage to better understand how the roles are split between doctor and technicians.

From just what I quoted from the staff in my initial post, it seems like the clinic does not do DHI, is that correct?  I haven’t read about DHI in a long time, and I’ll surely do more research on it later on, but since it was brought up, I‘d just like to quickly ask, is DHI considered a better method than regular implantation and is it practiced amongst only a minority of clinics?

Hi everyone,

Since this community focuses on the practices and knowledge of the very top experts of the field, I’d like to ask if it is known (or just a general sense of the trend) if that cohort of hair transplant doctors are more or less likely to recommend the use of finasteride and/or minoxidil after a hair transplant.  Which of the two is the more likely recommendation, if they recommend it?  And is there any meaningful portion of them that more than recommend them but insist in their usage?

Thank you for any insight.

Hello everyone,

I would like to some confirmation and clarification on terminology so to understand some information I was told by staff of a hair transplant clinic I’ve been researching.

Firstly, 1) is it accurate to break down the total steps of FUE into graft design, extraction, graft opening, and implanting/placing? 2) Are those the proper terms for the steps and are there other accepted and more commonly used terms for any of the steps?

Regarding the information I was told by the clinic’s staff.  They told me that the doctor “does the graft extracting (scoring) and site making (where the grafts will be placed), while technicians pull the grafts after they've been scored, count them, then place them in the sites.”

3)  So presumably graft extracting and scoring mean the same exact thing?  Does the term “site making” mean the same exact thing as “graft opening”?  What is the difference then between scoring and site making?

4)  Is there a name for the step where the “technicians pull the grafts after they've been scored”?  That sounds like extraction, but they say the doctor “does the graft extracting (scoring).”  That makes it sound like the doctor does the scoring and the staff does the actual extracting.  Does that means there are 2 steps in extraction?

So, ultimately, based on what I’ve been told, 5) who exactly does what? And does how they’ve described the role assignment align with good hair transplant procedure?

I know from some online comments that some people prefer for the doctor to do all the steps, but it appears only an extreme minority of practices do that.  I see some opinions saying that it is most important for the doctor to do the extraction and graft scoring for the implantation, but then it’s common and fine for techs to do the implantation, with Hassan & Wong being cited as a highly regarded practice that does just that.

Thank you for any help on clarifying a lot of this confusion.

I’d like to ask if anyone has since consulted or been treated by Dr. Pan.

I only see a single (and positive) review for him online, on Yelp.  If there are reviews elsewhere do please share here.

Thank you!