irishitaliangirl

I realize this post is really old, but I think it is a ridiculous comparison! You could get a hair transplant without anyone ever knowing. There is no visible scar, and the hair does not feel different from real hair, because it is real! Breast implants leave a scar upon inspection under the breast, and most people can tell by feeling them that they are hard and don't feel like real breasts. Most discerning individuals will also be able to tell just by looking at you. With breast implants, you will have the stigma your whole life of people thinking you are fake. Maybe the implants will look good and I think there is nothing wrong (morally) with any type of plastic surgery. I just know that certain people will always consider you to be fake if you get the breast implants, whereas hair transplant can be your little secret!

Actually, I called Dr. Rassael's office & cancelled the apt. after the first responses to my question. Of course, they did not refund my deposit. Since I only held the apt. date for 1 week & gave him more than 2 weeks to reschedule another procedure for that date, I asked that they refund my deposit if he was able to reschedule. The receptionist said she would have the office manager call me back. Needless to say, I am still waiting for the call & it has been a week now. I don't expect one. I don't believe this is very ethical of Dr. Rassael. However, I'm just relieved to get out of that apt. I'm very interested in the work of Dr. Epstein in Miami after looking at his work on female patients. I'm also going to keep my consultation with Dr. Vogel in Baltimore, since it is close by & he comes with good reviews. Nothing against Dr. Feller for all his fans who have responded to my question... and I appreciate all of the advice.

I have noticed people on these forums who are representatives of Feller Medical. If Dr. Feller is so great, why does he need to advertise so heavily on these forums? I'm just as cautious about choosing a doctor based on geography than choosing one based on how many people they are paying to recruit potential patients from forums.

Thanks for the advice. Why are coalition doctors the only ones to be considered? Also, how could a doctor mess up a hairline when they are using follicular unit? My understanding was that the "plugs" are tiny, and the worst case scenario is that the transplanted hair will not grow in or that it will grown in a different consistency than the rest of my hair. I have thin, straight hair & I don't want the new hair to grow in coarse, frizzy or wiry. Also, why is 500 grafts/session a red flag? Dr. Rassael recommended that I wait a year in between so he could see how the hair is growing & see where he needs to fill it in. It didn't sound like a bad thing. I have attached a picture of my forehead & hairline which shows the high/cowlick side very well. I'm parting my hair on the other side now. If anyone could tell me if they have had something similar to this, and how many grafts were reqired to fix it & in how many sessions, that would be very helpful! Someone asked me about my hairline & whether it was a result of genetics or hair loss. I have always had a high hairline, where the temples are higher than the front, one side is higher than the other, and a cowlick on one side where the hair grows very short. When Dr. Rassael measured my face into thirds, he did so to see whether my forehead was 1/3 the length of my face. I already knew that ideal facial porportions have a forehead where the length is no greater than 1/3 the length of the face. And often, the most beatiful faces have a forehead that is less than 1/3 in length. My forehead was 1 cm higher than 1/3 of the total length of my face, except for a slight widows peak in the center. Anyway, my high forehead has become more bothersome to me recently, requiring me to style my hair differently to cover the cowlick side. So I think I definitely do have hair loss. When I presented my theory to the doctor, he said that some women have male pattern baldness (scary, I know!) I do have an apt. scheduled with Dr. Vogel in January, so now I'm thinking I might be better off losing my deposit with Dr. Rassael & getting a second opinion.

I'm a 31 year-old female and I feel like my hairline is too high so I would like to have it lowered. There is also an area on my temple which has a cowlick & the hair grows very short there & looks like a recession. The hairline is higher on one side. After trying to find a doctor in Maryland/VA/DC area, I kept reading the name Dr. Vogel. Tried to make an apt. with him & he was booked 3 months in advance. I don't want to wait that long to get the process started, so made an apt. with another doctor in maryland after looking at his website. The doctor's name is Dr. Rassael & his website is www.mdhairtransplant.com. I got an apt. with him immediately, making me wonder why he is not as busy as Vogel. nyway, during the consultation he told me that some females have male pattern baldness & that I have recession at my temples & some hair loss in the front which is why I'm unhappy with how high my hairline is. He took a quick look at the back of my head & said I was indeed a candidate for follicular unit hair transplant on my hairline. He did not take any blood tests, use any instruments to measure my hair density, or draw a line on my forehead to show me how my new hairline would look (as I have read on this forum that other doctors have done). He did not volunteer much information about the technique he would be using, but assured me when I asked that it was follicular unit transplant & that he employed all the newest procedures. When I asked about his credentials, he said he had performed hundreds of these surgeries, and many on women. When I asked to see pictures of women on whom he had performed a similar hair transplant procedure, he said he did not have any because most women would not allow themselves to be photographed for reasons of privacy. I accepted it at the time, but isn't that a little strange? He did show me a few pictures of men in his book, but only because I asked. He said he would follow my natural hairline & fill in the areas at the temples. He measured my face into thirds & said that my forehead is 1 cm too high & that he would lower it a bit. Then we discussed price. He said it would require 2 sessions, a year apart. For each session, he would do 500 follicular units, which would result in about 750 hairs because some units have 1 hair & some contain 2 hairs. For the donor strip, he would not be using a disolvable stitch, because he said there would be an appointment 2 weeks after the surgery to remove the sutures. Is this normal? I have read that the disolvable stitch is the best & newest technique. Now here is the most suspicious part of all... when discussing price, he said for a procedure involving such a small amount of hair follicles, he would normally charge $7/follicular unit. But, that if I allowed him to photograph my results & sign a photo release, then he would only charge me $5/follicular unit. The pictures could appear in any publication or photo journal, or website that he publishes. I said okay to the photos because I'm not a public figure who needs to be overly concerned with privacy. But then I felt like I had been duped. How do I know he doesn't charge everyone $5/follicular unit? The final thing that worries me is that his schedule was open to do the procedure in just a few weeks. I wanted to do it soon, so I went ahead & scheduled the apt. right then at the consultation & had to drop $500 to secure the procedure date (which is normal). But it also means that it is going to cost me to change my mind at this point. I'm no expert on hair transplant, but I have done a lot of reading online. The only other thing that worries me about Dr. Rassael is that his website says he uses the "Stereo Microscope -- the most accurate method of obtaining the highest quality hair follicle unit grafts." Is this the best procedure? Finally, has anyone on this forum heard anything about Dr. Rassael in Maryland or had a hair transplant done by him? I'm really getting nervous and wish that I could get more information before going through with the procedure.