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.