Search the Community
Showing results for 'Dr. Jerry Wong'.
Found 3,376 results
-
Hello all, I finally bit the bullet. To give everyone a rundown I’m 39 years old this year. I live out of Austin, TX but I’m from closer to the Houston area. I started thinning when I was 18 and I tried everything to slow down the process, admittedly without a lot of knowledge back then. This was 1998 and I didn’t know much about propecia or minoxidil. I tried shampoos and all kinds of gimmicks. I did try propecia and minoxidil liquid but because I didn’t know enough about it and didn’t see immediate results I just stopped and got on with my life. It all started in my crown and then over the course of a decade marched its way forward toward my hairline. While my crown was very noticeably thin my hairline and frontal third stayed noticeably strong until my mid to semi late 20’s. At 24 I went and had my first consultation at a Bosley clinic in Houston and the whole experience made me feel uneasy. The doctor wasn’t really concerned with my crown which is where all the thinning was happening and wanted to lower my hairline which was still a teenage hairline. It was less than four fingers down on my forehead and still really thick. Ah, how I miss that wall of hair... lol. I politely passed but they called me every single day for two years straight trying to get me to come in for the transplant. They wanted to charge me 20K to lower my hairline and sprinkle some grafts in the crown. Knowing what I know now I think back about how they didn’t even bother to mention propecia to help slow loss. Bullet. Dodged. I got married in 2010 which ended really badly very soon after and my hair really started to go after that. Around 2012 I went to Dr Brad Limmer and got on Propecia/biotin/minoxidil foam to slow things down. Sadly he passed away the next year almost to the day of my consultation with him. I’m an actor and I was staying in Houston with a friend in 2014 while filming a movie in Louisiana when someone mentioned Dr. Arocha. I scheduled a consultation and we immediately got on very well. I loved his attitude, how much knowledge he wanted to share, that he was very honest about what we could achieve. I was traveling a lot though and it just wasn’t the right time to pull the trigger. While I traveled around the states for jobs I would schedule consultations with other doctors. I spoke with Feller and Bloxham, Gabel, Hasson and Wong, and others-some through email, FaceTime, in person. Ultimately it came down to me feeling the most comfortable with Arocha although Gabel was pretty close. I’m a diffused thinner and if my father and maternal grandfather are any indication I’m going to end up a 6 on the Norwood’s scale. I was going to go ahead with the procedure last year but my wife (I got married again in 2017) and I found out we were pregnant with twins so I decided to wait until things settled down with them. Side note: I did not stop taking finasteride when we found out we were pregnant and our babies our beautiful and healthy and at the time of this post almost 6 months old. The Big Day! I got to Arocha’s office a little after 7:30 am (traffic in Houston sucks) I signed the paperwork. We took some preop pics. Dr Arocha designed the hairline basically within my existing one. The plan was to work through the existing hairline, fill in the temple corner recession, and bulk up the frontal forelock. We discussed what we would do next year, reassess the front or go ahead and work on the crown. Everybody was really nice. I was visibly nervous and my blood pressure was a little high due to my being a little antsy. The Valium quickly helped out with that. When they were injecting the numbing solution into the back of my scalp I noticed I started shaking and feeling queasy so I spoke up immediately. They turned me over and raised my legs and put ice on my chest. I almost immediately felt better. Dr Arocha was there and cracked a joke about how I was his first patient of the day but probably his 7000th patient altogether so there was really nothing to worry about. TBH I wasn’t nervous about his ability to help me as much as I was just nervous about this giant step I was taking. After this procedure there was no going back. I turned back over when I was ready and they took the strip out. They kept complementing me on how good my donor was however I never got a number from them. I asked but they were just like, “don’t worry, it’s really really good.” I believe I heard say as they were looking at it that it looked like 80 to 90. Dr Arocha started to make the incisions and we talked for awhile before I dozed off and the next thing I know is I’m waking up to salmon kabobs, a killer salad, and potato and black bean soup. I eat up and then I go back to the chair where the techs start to insert the grafts. We chat for quite awhile. Dr Arocha was there for quite a bit of it as he would interject in our conversations. Every once in a while he would remind them about this or that concerning my grafts. I dozed off again and when I woke up we were basically done. They informed me that while I was out they put PRP all over my head. They went over cleaning instructions and we took some post op pics. My wife came in to pick me up and everyone came out to meet our twins. After that we were off and back to Austin. The ride back was pretty rough. There was a lot of pressure in my head and I got a pretty bad headache. Even with the pain pills. It didn’t even last the entire three hour drive though. I’m attaching some pics. Some preop through day two. I don’t have any pics with the design yet. I’m going to speak to Arocha’s office and see if I can get my hands on the hairline design. -
I highly recommend Dr. Bloxham. He does both FUE and FUT. I'm not as familiar with Hasson and Wong. Dr. Bloxham's results are amazing and the FUT scar doesn't even show up at all often with Dr. Bloxham. Look at this thread: -
Good choice, H&W are a top notch clinic with a long reputation dating back 20 years. I suggest using our advanced search page to look up real patient reviews from both surgeons. Unbiased patient reviews are the best way to evaluate any surgeon. I also suggest consulting both of these clinics to get a personalized quote and to see who's philosophy you prefer. Keep in mind, Dr. Bloxham is primarily a strip surgeon, his philosophy is different than H&W who now perform both FUE and strip. Dr. Bloxham https://www.hairtransplantnetwork.com/physician/New-York/Blake-Bloxham/685 Dr. Hasson https://www.hairtransplantnetwork.com/physician/British-Columbia/Victor-Hasson/9 Dr. Wong https://www.hairtransplantnetwork.com/physician/British-Columbia/Jerry-Wong/632 -
Hello all, I’m posing this question as a prior FUE patient (not of either doctor). I am not currently looking to get a procedure because my hair is pretty good right now but I will be looking within the next two years or so, and I couldn’t find any information about the above topic. I lurk on these forums often to stay up to date with things and check out results because it’s very interesting to me and makes me happy to see guys getting great results. I have seen some really good things from both Hasson and Wong of H&W clinic fame. They have a robust patient community and some good marketing and are known globally. I have also recently discovered Dr. Raymond Konior in Chicago, which is close to where I live. I’ve conversed with him several times just asking about his methods and was truly impressed by his responsiveness. His results are also amazing and I have not found anything bad about him. I’ve compared results between the two and honestly it’s hard to really tell which takes the cake. With someone like me who is willing to wait a while, what is the best course of action that you would take? Could I be better suited with one or the other? My procedure would be entirely in the frontal third, mostly the hairline, and I’m looking for FUE. I can upload some pics later, as well.
-
Hello Everyone, Many of you may know me formerly as 'literalno'. I want to preface by saying that username was made in complete negativity before I knew anything about hair transplants and what they can do for people. I was aimlessly searching for answers to my fears associated with propecia and stumbled across a particularly unsightly before/after ultimately assuaging me from ever becoming one of "those hair transplant guys"; hence literal(ly)no(never). I decided to make this thread around the 6 month mark ( I am now a little closer to 7) to promote good vibes for the second leg of the process since I am quite frankly not at my end goal, but very optimistic for what should be the most productive leg of this often tumultuous journey. Much of my skepticism stems from how my hairloss occurred in the first place, and the measures I have taken thus far to fix it. It started very suddenly a few years ago during a rough time in my life. I was going through a tough period and the stress seemed to spur its onset seemingly overnight. I knew what had happened, but everyone around me obviously assured me "its all in your head" (yeah right). About two years ago I was at my wits end before coming across Dr. Amaya Prasad's "Hair Regeneration" treatment in New York (this guys should honestly be put in jail for making these claims, complete snake oil). This miracle injection featured A Cell AND PRP (WOW) as he claimed it halted and in some cases reversed hairloss all together. I was sold and flew to New York within a month, paid the $15 000 up front, got the injection, and slowly but surely thinned some more only this time more rapidly. By a few months time, I knew it was failure and I needed to try something else. Next thing I know I'm on a plane to Boston getting A Cell + Adipose Derived Stem Cells injected into my scalp (I have the lipo scars to prove it) and finally my hair would be saved. Of course, this was not the case, however the only saving grace was that the Dr. in Boston kept recommending finasteride. It took my a few more months to finally bite the bullet and get on the drug. Been on it for about 2 years, with a brief stint of Dutasteride until my doctor felt uneasy about that one, and I halted everything to a snails pace at long last. Of course after all of these experiences with Dr's who "have my best interest in mind", I remain skeptical of everyone and everything until I am proven otherwise (on my own scalp that is). Finally deciding to get a hair transplant was not a task I took lightly. I got to the same point as everyone on this forum does, an inflection point where you choose to suffer and wear hats 24/7, or take a step towards fixing the situation as scary as it may seem. I researched thoroughly for about a year, combing through result after result, and was conflicted between Hasson and Wong and RAHAL. I was able to meet three Rahal patients before my surgery, and the results spoke for themselves. There was also one bad H and W result floating around that ultimately confirmed my choice, and I chose Rahal and FUT to maximize my yield since I am young and want to conserve as many grafts as possible. I was assured during consultation by Sita, some of you may know here here, that Dr. Rahal has close to 100% yield and I believed (and still believe) her words. I don't want to go into details about the surgery itself as I plan to do a big one year post to look back on the last year, I hope in fondness. There's really no point in delving too deep into the minutia of anything until at least that date. It could have been the best time of life or not but that doesn't change the only thing that matters: the end results. I would like to bring attention to a few concerns I've had along the way in hopes of getting some feedback from members who I'm sure have shared my sentiments at some point. I was grafted at approximately 40 grafts/cm squared (roughly 70+ hairs per cm). In my opinion, this would provide me with the coverage I am after, however after my 10 hour surgery, Dr. Rahal did mention it may look thin in some instances. Though I appreciate the honesty, it did get my mind spinning especially after what I had just endured moments before. I reached out to Dr. Nadimi at around 3 months to get her opinion on what that may look like, and her feelings were quite the contrary as she assured me that in the area I showed her, 3000+ grafts would indeed provide a pretty dense result. This may simply be a difference in opinion between the two doctors, but of course contrary information leads the mind to wander. Does anyone know or have a result similar to 40 grafts/cm and like to comment on how that appears in person? I would like point out that my reaching out to Dr. Nadimi is in no way a slight to my trust in Dr. Rahal. I would not have gone to any clinic if I did not have the utmost conviction in their ability to produce a good result. It is merely me as a patient seeking a second opinion on a matter that concerns me, and that's it. In now way does it reflect any negative connotation towards Dr. Rahal and the credibility of the clinic. Unlike many threads I've looked at, my grafts were very scabbed over within 5-7 days of my surgery. Many of the hairs had definitely released themselves from their respective follicle at that point, so I never really got to see a 'buzzcut' representation of what I should expect before the shedding phase as is common among this forum, particularly with Asmed patients. Having not seen too many similar examples, I questioned whether those grafts has survived or not, but have been assured that there is no real way to know until the final result. I've read from a few different doctors online that the visual presence of grafts in the scalp about a week after surgery is a sign they have survived, so naturally it has been on my mind somewhat. My surgery took just over 10 hours. After the surgery, the clinic's lead technician Mike commented on the procedure was like placing "9000 grafts instead of 3000" because my skin was quite slippery and as a graft was placed, the adjacent grafts would slip out. Dr. Rahal has himself said this may slightly affect yield, but other Dr.s on realself say they have never heard of this phenomenon and attribute that to poor skill of implanters. Of course, I know this is not the case at a clinic with the reputation of RAHAL, but would like to know if other patients have experienced a similar thing and how everything turned out for them? Lastly, at approximately 1month post op, I went into the clinic (I live in Ottawa) to see if Larissa (my patient advisor) could try and apply some topik to the persisting redness of my scalp as I had a few job interviews coming up (for anyone in a similar position, the redness went completely unnoticeable and was not a factorv whatseover). The topik looked absolutely ridiculous and I wanted to rub it off almost right away. She proceeded to use an alcohol wipe to hasten the process, but her rubbing was very hard and did hurt my scalp quite a lot. Obviously after looking after transplanted area with extreme care for the previous month, being SUPER, SUPER gentle the entire time, I was very concerned with whether the pain and tingling I felt would affect the grafts. I've read many times before the clinics such as Asmed and Lorenzo say not to even use clippers for the first 6 months as it could damage the area, but I'm not sure how necessary that really is. Larissa and Dr. Rahal assured me that the grafts were deep within the skin and could not be harmed, but I'm sure you can agree that any painful sensation on a newly grafted area is worrisome at the least. Anyone have any thoughts as to what they have heard from their respective clinics, if anything at all? As for those results, I wanted to hold off on starting a thread until I had something closer to the final thread, but there seems to be a lack of posts by actual Dr. Rahal patients, so I figured this would as good as any for prospective patients looking to track a result as it dues completion. It's tough to comment on my progress in terms of percentage of total grafts sprouted (doesn't appear to be 50% if looking by grafts/cm as most have well below 20 atm), I'll let my pictures show everything and the forum can decide objectively how it's looking. I will say that I appear to be a very slow and gradual grower, so I'm just letting time do its trick for the time being. I have read and seen many results that improve night to day between 6-7 months and a year or later, so I am hoping I am on track for the same. It's easy to get fixated on those that are early growers, so for now I'd prefer to spread positive vibes. This procedure is does not come free of anxiety, we all know that, but I gain solace in knowing that this clinic performs multiple surgeries each and every week and has been for the last 15+ years. They are masters and though the process may be long, they know what they are doing. The following pictures start with my pre-op photos, then post-op, 7-days post op (scabbing), a dr. frietas result at 10 days that shows what I mean about being able to see the majority of individual hairs still attached to their grafts before they shed, and finally photos photos taken by me at 6 months. Would love to hear everyone's thoughts on the progress so far. -
Dr. Rahal I'm just wondering why your clinic refuses to give information on pricing for your procedures? I've tried multiple times to get a price per graft estimate from your reps but they insist that I come to the clinic in person which is tough for me since I'm not able to take a lot of time off work. I'd like to consider you for a procedure in the future but it seems overly difficult when they won't give me an estimate which every other clinic I've spoken to has been able to do including Hasson and Wong. -
Dr. Koray Erdogan 5000 grafts
jonnyalex replied to Der3k7's topic in Hair Transplant Experiences and Surgeon Reviews
Yes, but Joe Tillman was slick bald and began with a botched hair transplant which required multiple repairs. You can only get better from that point no matter what. I did not say you will look worse. I said that they suggest you get it right the first time for the best result. Subsequent work can be done but nothing is as good as doing it right in the first go due to scarring under the skin. Implanting into scar tissue is not the same as untouched skin. Scars can tether (connect) under the skin which can obviously affect the yield. Joe recently had his 10th hair transplant with them. If you watch his video, Dr. Wong mentions at one point that he will do what he can while pointing out that he'll have to see what the existing scar tethering will actually allow. -
If you were considering FUT I would have said H&W is an easy answer. But while they are solid in FUE without doubt, they aren't above anyone else like they almost do with FUT. That said between all 3 they would be my choice (think Dr.Wong also is a tad better than Hasson in FUE, but don't take my word for it) ASMED produced some amazing results for some comparable cases, some other solid cases. But they also have underwhelming results too. Rahal is great, but there have been some recent complains IIRC. Are those your only options? I think if you can afford H&W FUE you might consider someone like Dr.Diep? I do really like his FUE work with high norwood patients. -
.thumb.jpg.65ac3fe3c78112107d0f5cc023e6656a.jpg)
Dr. Wong will be back in Rome and Milan Italy next month again for his annual visit. If you’d like to meet Dr. Wong and discover what he can do for you, reserve your spot here: https://hassonandwong.com/consultations-in-your-city/#tab-europe For Milan and Rome, Consultations are available in the following languages: Italian – English – French – Spanish -
This Vancouver area patient in his late 20’s came to Hasson & Wong in order to restore his thinning receded hairline. Dr. Hasson and his team successfully rebuilt a new lower hairline and added density to the necessary areas of the frontal zone. 3462 grafts were harvested over a two-day FUE procedure. 844 of these grafts were singles, and 2618 were doubles. These photos were taken approximately 12 months post-op.
-
Hi folks. So I'm finally ready to take the plunge, live in Toronto Canada and have narrowed my short list to Dr. Nadimi in Chicago (of Konior fame), H&W in Vancouver, and Dr. Rahal in Toronto. My consults with each of them went like this: Dr. Nadimi: FaceTime consult Surgery in Chicago 1500-2000 FUE grafts recommended, could be all the way up to 2400 Shes not entirely sure she can get 2400 FUE grafts from my donor area based on photos and not-so-great FaceTime connection She will perform all extracts and most implants, will be there the entire time Does not feel comfortable doing more than 2400 FUE in a session due to scalp blood supply and time that grafts need to be implanted by (~8 hours) Uses latest tech, hybrid dull/sharp punch, learned everything from Konoir Potentially a discount for future hair transplants No official growth guarantee Recommended to stay in Chicago for a week to get looked after by the clinic Seems like a high end operation Dr. Rahal (Aaron and Tara did the consult): Aaron started the consult and was decent, called in Tara in the middle who blew me away In person consult Surgery in Toronto Measured a total of approx 5000 FUE grafts available in donor area 2500-3000 FUE grafts recommended for 1st transplant of hairline, will likely need another 2500 down the road for crown and touch up, aiming for 45-50 follicles per square cm Estimated Norwood 4-5 in the future No issues doing 3000 FUE in 8 hours, they have done 4200 in a day before Also uses latest hybrid dull/sharp punch tech Rahal and Mike will perform the extractions, Rahal will make the incisions and someone other than Rahal will implant Growth guarantee and free touch ups (not sure what the fine print is around this) Discounted graft rate for future transplants Patient care team access for a year Suggested pairing with PRP Hasson & Wong (James did the consult): In person consult Surgery in Vancouver 3000 FUE grafts recommended, possibly have 5000-6000 FUE grafts in donor area 3000 FUE done over two days, they limit surgeries to about 2000 FUE per day Recommended Dr. Hasson due to hairline objective (Wong more for crown work) Each doctor has performed 10,000+ surgeries Also uses latest hybrid dull/sharp punch tech, 0.85 punch size Techs do the extraction and implantation, Hasson performs incisions Estimated Norwood 5A future recession Informal growth guarantee and free touch ups Discounted future transplants For out of town patients they offer free lodging (3 days), taxis to and from the airport, and a partial flight credit I have to say, Rahal's team did the best sell job and I'm leaning that way.. but is 2500-3000 FUE too ambitious for one day? Am I risking hairs due to them rushing? I don't want to bias your opinion any more than that, but based on your experience on this forum, knowledge, what was said above and my pictures, what would you do? Any other insight or commentary you could offer before I make the plunge? Are there any other GTA doctors that I must absolutely check out? Hoping to finalize a decision in the next few days. REALLY appreciate all the help and support you guys can give. Thanks. -
To be honest I am not sure when I really started to lose my hair. It was more of a woke up one day and thought "What the hell happened?" At any rate, around 40 or I met with a doctor in Beverly Hills and he gave me some idea of what the procedure would be like and what to expect. He did not recommend any drugs to prevent future hair loss though. I also didn't even think to ask. I, of course, did not go through with the surgery at that time. Instead I waited a couple of more years and eventually stumbled across this site. My process for this procedure was to talk to a few different doctors and then make a decision on if I was really going to do this and if so pick the appropriate doctor. Over the course of about 6 months I met with a handful of doctors. The first person I met with when I was 40 in Beverly Hills was Marc Dauer. He was a nice guy and gave me a lot of insight as to what the procedure would be like and what I could expect. Fast forward a couple of years and I ended up meeting with Micheal Meskin in Newport Beach, Daniel McGrath in Austin, TX, Hasson & Wong in Canada, and finally Scott Alexander in Phoenix, Az. All the doctors I met with were very professional and all of them were very open about what to expect for the procedure and what the healing process would be like. All the doctors, except Hasson & Wong, thought they could get about 2,500 grafts and maybe up to 3,000 if I was lucky. H & W said they could get 5,000. Maybe they could have. I don't know, but since their number was so much larger than other doctors it made me skeptical. Also, after a couple of weeks of communication and working through the specifics H &W just stopped responding. Ultimately, I ended up choosing Dr. Scott Alexander at the Biltmore Surgical Hair Restoration. All the doctors I spoke to varied in price from $3.50 - $5.00 per graft. Price, while important, wasn't a factor that would have prevented me from picking the doctor I wanted. In the end I chose Dr. Alexander because he had a ton of great reviews on this site. I had my surgery completed on Aug 2. Attached are the before and after surgery pics. I included other pics since it has been 2 weeks now and I am just getting around to posting this review. The surgery started around 730am and ended around 6pm. The office brought in lunch and I watched movies while Dr. Alexander and his staff worked away. The surgery was a success since the estimate was around 2,500 grafts. Instead we got 3,590 grafts (614 singles, 2006 doubles, and 970 multi hairs)! This allowed them to fill in a much larger area than expected. Prior to surgery I had started Finasteride and using a shampoo/conditioner called Ultrax. I figured if I am going to spend this type of money then I better work at protecting it. I wanted to be on Finesteride for about 6 weeks before the surgery. I wanted to make sure I would be side effect free before completing the surgery. When the surgery was complete I went back to the hotel ordered some food and took a pain killer. I was glad I took the pain killer because when the numbing agent wore off my scalp it hurt pretty badly. Although, the pain killer put me to sleep pretty quickly. I flew back to LA the next morning. I really didn't have any pain after the surgery. The donor area and my scalp were tender, but they didn't hurt. I removed my stitches on Aug 9, 7 days after surgery. The doctor that removed them thought the scar looked nice and that the work done on the top looked very good at that point as well. All the scabs on the top of my head had healed within 10 days. Right now the top and some parts of the donor area are still a little tender, but healing. It has been 16 days as of today and I did get a haircut. I needed to clean up my neck and around my ears. The stylist commented on how good the scar looked and that it looked healed at this point. I have been living in a hat when I am in public and will continue to do so until the top grows out to a length I can style it. I have been very open with clients, coworkers, friends, etc about the procedure. Interestingly enough most of the guys have been considering doing something about their hair loss and the women are intrigued. Sorry for the poor pics. I am taking the photos on my own so all the angles and things are hard to get. If anyone has any questions let me know. I will continue to post as the hair starts to grow in. Right now I am starting to get a tiny bit of shedding. I am guessing this will continue and all the transplanted hair will fall out over the next week or so.
-
While I didn't create an account on this forum over the last couple of years it was invaluable in my research process and I want to pay it forward, especially since I seem to be seeing fewer patient posts with recent dates, at least for Dr. Cooley. Thus I will try to be thorough here in describing my process. Apologies in advance for the length of the post and the variability of the quality of the photos. I know they aren't the best. I am still only a few days/weeks out and will update this with before photos and after photos from the clinic and exact graft count(s) when I get them and try not to disappear throughout the process. My Past Situation I had an ill-advised FUT procedure when I was 21 to address temple recession. I wasn't on meds, it was premature, and I went to a cheap chop shop. CLASSIC, young guy being really stupid. :sigh The procedure (unknown # of grafts) involved putting grafts on the temples and unfortunately also some around the front of my hairline. It did very little cosmetically unless you count triggering massive loss of existing hair (most of which did grow back in fairness). The only saving grace here is that we were talking about a fairly minor temple area and because of my light hair/skin contrast I've been able to get away with a forward brush hairstyle that hid really poor work. Oh and it wasn't big plugs and the scar wasn't horrendous and avoided being in any disastrous region(s) thankfully. No matter what you do STAY AWAY from Samson Hair Restoration in Los Angeles regardless of what doctor they currently have cycled in. Why now Now, 11 years later at 32 with some additional thinning and some recession the previous work was becoming harder to cover, especially when swimming or my hair was wet. Plus, I just wanted it fixed to open up different hairstyles and to get ahead of managing what I believe will be future loss. Almost a gradual "replace" strategy I guess. In terms of meds, I had been on finasteride w/ no side effects for 4 years but then went off for 5+ years (don't really know why). I went back on 6+ months ahead in prep for a procedure and plan to stick with it this time. Not on finasteride or any other shampoos etc at the moment. Picking the surgeon In terms of research this time around I did a lot more homework using this forum as the basis for creating a smaller list of doctors. Ultimately I narrowed my list and research to consults with Lindsay, Bernstein, Cooley, Bloxham, and Nadimi. I felt these were really great doctors that didn't necessarily require a flight based on my East Coast USA location (I was intrigued by Rahal, Hasson/Wong/Kronior and some of the other staple of well regarded doctors as well but with only so much time felt good with my short list). I did not consider India/Turkey etc., not because I don't believe quality results can't be achieved there, but because I didn't want to take the risk and conduct an extra level of due diligence with respect to many of the practices and I was willing to pay $ for that peace of mind. Notes on my Consults During my consult with Dr. Lindsay I felt like he just didn't think I needed a procedure yet. He cited 1200 grafts and it was all relatively cursory. So not a fit for me Dr. Bernstein was a good consult (worth the cost) where I learned a bit and I felt comfortable with him and his work, but ultimately I wasn't blown away by the results I've seen from him either on his website or on this and other forums My consult with Bloxham was really terrific and I got a great feeling from him. He was ultimately my #2 but I did not choose him mostly because he is just relatively newer with fewer posted results. And right or wrong, some of the (rare/older) negative comments about customer service/interactions from Feller put me off. I did NOT have any of this sense from Dr. Bloxham and have never met Feller but the posts are there nonetheless. I will also say, they need to upgrade their facility. Not the medical side hopefully, but the rest of the place was old and run down feeling. Dr. Nadimi was also great (via Skype) and matter of fact but I got the sense she did more FUE than FUT. Similar to Bloxham there are just fewer patient accounts out there that I could find, but based on what I've seen and this consult I was very comfortable and impressed with her Why Cooley Ultimately, I went with the only doctor I didn't meet/ have a convo with directly in Dr. Cooley. I appreciated the consult with Lollie and a deeper understanding of their procedures and liked what I heard about use of Acell, how he preserved grafts out of body, his hands on approach, the tenure of his techs, and so on. But most importantly Cooley's track record of consistent results and patient experiences tipped me over (including one detailed repair write-up by a Blonde haired individual, of which there are relatively few results). I also literally did not find a single negative review (of outcomes) for Cooley in all my research and I valued that apparent consistency. Procedure - Why FUT I knew I wanted FUT as I (a) already had a scar I felt could be improved, (b) wanted to maximize future grafts and survivability, and (c) wanted to minimize recovery time. I am lucky enough to have a lot of Donor and existing hair that can be used to hide a procedure. Pre-Procedure and Day of All things posted about Cooley experiences were true for me. I followed pre-op instructions for scalp laxity. I think this helped as I could feel the sides definitely loosen up, and while the back still felt tight Cooley said it was great and helped with suturing (+ sutures out at 2 weeks vs. 3 weeks). The hotel they set you up in is excellent, easy, convenient and they already know why you are there and what you need. Shuttle drivers, check-in staff, and others there were helpful and discrete and the breakfast and gym is open early enough for day of eating and a last workout. On the day of the operation we met at 7am, had a calm and not rushed discussion where any other questions I had were answered, and re-affirmed my choice of 2500 FUT + PRP/Acell. In terms of hairline we were on the same page to opt for a conservative/mature hairline though Cooley jumped straight to the need for work on the temples which he said he does not always do. This process of agreeing on this was FAST as a lot of it was bridging existing hair and the past work plus a little bit of pulling temples out/down. In terms of PRP, Cooley was candid that for me he didn't know if PRP would make much of a difference as he didn't see a ton of minituraization but (a) I'm paranoid and think there is more than there is/I have very fine hair already, and (b) I am hopeful that it will help somewhat with avoiding shock loss or speeding up recovery. I know there's no real scientific evidence to back that up, but I was willing to spend the $ on the chance it helps. I will say that to make sure you get what you need before surgery begins you should 100% come prepared with your questions. For example in my consult with Bloxham he indicated that my past FUT scar had a small area branching into the danger zone for donor and advised forking the scar near my ear. I really did NOT want to do this, so asked Cooley about it. He decided to implant 10-15 hairs in the end of the old scar as part of the procedure and end the new scar in a safer location. I do not think we would have ultimately done this if I had not asked. H/T to Bloxham for noticing it in a really thorough, caring consult. I also asked about a few grafts poorly placed in the front of my forehead below the 7CM mark we agreed to for the new hairline. He said if I was OK With it that he would remove those with electrolysis which I agreed to and am relieved about as they were definitely not natural looking. Overall, it was a good conversation. I, like most others, felt comfortable and cared for by Dr. Cooley and all of his other wonderful team members. I do think the clinic could get better about having all their pre and post op documentation organized and sent in a big PDF but that's super minor overall and has nothing to do with the in-person interactions I had. One other area that I felt could be improved is in discussing recovery times. The clinic (not Cooley himself) were fairly aggressive in terms of discussing post HT recovery periods and timeline (no redness 5 days, not visible procedure at 8 days etc). It's not that they are totally off, it's just that they are definitely giving the aggressive, "best-case" scenario in my opinion and shaded this as an absolute vs. discussing the potential ranges of recovery times based on patient characteristics. Still thus far in my case it has proven to not be too far off the mark so far (devil's always in the details though isn't it). Procedure itself From the Cooley consult we moved into the procedure. Numbing/valium etc was painless. Unlike others I don't think I really went fully under for the ENTIRE duration of the procedure, I even heard a nice little "ripping" type sound on removal, but no pain whatsoever. By 11:30 the donor was removed, there were 5-6 technicians on the microscopes, I had had PRP and he had done the few electrolysis removals needed. I stopped for lunch and then we carried on. Cooley performed all of the donor incisions, with Brandi hovering nearby, and was present for probably 90% of the graft placement. I know for sure he was doing all the immediate hairline grafts. I believe he left for a little over an hour in the middle of the procedure (basically the length of a movie), but I'm not 100% on whether he popped his head in a few times during that time or not. While he was not actively working on my head Brandi was performing graft placement and I believe Amy also worked on placing grafts. Cooley returned and was essentially there the rest of the day long after many of the other techs had left post dissecting the grafts (easily 4-5+ more hours). It was clear he reviewed and had ample time to change, correct, or ensure any grafts not placed with him in the room were to his liking. Like others have mentioned it was clear throughout the day that this was a well-oiled machine, with team members that had worked together for years (decades even). Everyone was friendly and taking a dedicated and personalized approach to the operation, and I couldn't imagine going somewhere with a doctor doing multiple ops in a day. Throughout the process Brandi was constantly checking Cooley and making sure anything "controversial" about his approach was discussed (a few graft placements here and there, reminders about how many grafts were left etc). All of this was reassuring. I am sure the reverse also happened. Ultimately for the 2,500 graft procedure Cooley was able to get over 3,000 grafts (I will get exact counts later) and we did not finish the day until a bit after 7pm, meaning I was there for nearly 12 hours. This extra time and attention, plus the grafts that were not something I had to pay extra for, all speak to his long-running record of caring about his patients and working tirelessly to get results. I am obviously grateful for this. Post Op - Healing, Pain, and Experience (Week 1) Donor got painful at the end of the day during the operation so I was numbed up again before I went home. I was obviously a bit red and beat up but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting and they had already done a pretty good job cleaning a lot of the blood off. Plus I was wearing Saran wrap + a hat so able to avoid any weird looks. On night 1 I took some Tylenol but nothing stronger--which is good because I didn't get the prescriptions until day-of for stronger meds. Cooley's post-op care uses an ATP spray + saran wrap to increase moisture and prevent any graft damage and antibiotic ointment on the donor scar. You basically spray every hour you are awake and wake up and spray every 2 hours for the first 2 nights along with taking some preventative Prednisone for swelling. I followed the instructions religiously here and I think it really helped calm redness and speed healing. On night 2 I was falling back asleep pretty quickly so it didn't feel too onerous to keep getting up. For sure it kept the itchiness to a real minimum in the first 6 days. I went back the next morning for a post-op clean and got the all good from Dr. Cooley. During this cleaning Amy took time to answer any questions I had about the next week of care and was patient with what I am sure are the same questions everyone asks. In terms of the documentation they gave me to follow, I actually think it could have been a bit more detailed. It wasn't that it was bad, but I felt like an "FAQ" or just more exhaustive detail would have helped. For example, I asked about caffeine / alcohol / ibuprofen which were not listed (Cooley says moderate amounts of both are fine), and it doesn't give you much about how to sleep (when can you sleep sidweays on the grafts) and so on. To give you a sense of how smooth this was, I drove almost 7 hours home the very next day, which was completely fine and painless. Overall I found the post-op regimen easy to follow, the spray and saran wrap seemingly very effective even if I did probably use it too quickly/aggressively to try to get it through the native hair as I ran out a day or two earlier than I think the clinic expects. One curious thing with post-op care from the clinic is that it seems that Cooley's overall instructions,are more aggressive than many other docs (like the timeline to shampoo (next day) and return to regular shampooing (7 days) . I'm sure this is because Cooley is confident in the healing/quality of the grafts and incisions etc and has refined his approach over time but it does make me just a little nervous when looking at the instructions online from so many other places that are much more conservative. But he's my doc and I'm in his hands and so far so good. On night 3 I slept poorly but not really due to pain, I think I just missed exercise. On night 4 and 5 I had more pain when putting the back of my head on pillows (I slept elevated with an inflatable travel pillow partially inflated these nights to help with any potential swelling) and I did take a valium one night and the other pain killer + tylenol combo prescribed drug the fifth night. It almost felt like the donor was a little more stretched these two nights with whatever position I could find that didnt have too much pressure. If this continues I'll call the office to make sure it's normal. Some posters here have mentioned this as the return of nerve sensation but I'm not sure. Otherwise I have had some very very minor swelling which made me break out some ice on my forehead and eye area a couple of times and take ibuprofen periodically as well. It was never uncomfortable or especially noticeable to anyone else however. Last point, I am using the Hair Shake protein. I don't really think it'll do much but I've used protein powder a lot anyway so I don't mind and if it helps at all with speed of growth or minimization of shock-loss, then it's worth a couple months of it for me. I am not planning on using it long term and no one at the Cooley office actually mentioned it directly despite having it stocked there and having it listed as an optional part of the post-op procedure. Post Op Appearance - First Week The scar in the back is perhaps slightly visible with wet hair (first 3-4 days) but completely hidden with normal dry hair. As mentioned it wasn't giving me much trouble the first 3-4 days, although of course everything felt really "tight" there. At night or with pressure on it day 5-6 it actually has felt a bit worse and I've taken some of the prescribed meds just to make sure I get decent enough sleep. We will see of course on final healing and appearance, it is early days. Redness in the recipient has subsided each day, and now at day 6 is not bad at all. It's probably worse in the pictures than in real life. I am fairly pale skinned but had a deep tan going which some say can help. There is definitely scabbing, it is super mild/light and looks like when I return to regular shampooing and rub the grafts a bit it will easily flake off and be gone within the 7-10 day timeframe that they gave. In any case, it's really mild and not that noticeable. I have used their given shampoo and started leaving the conditioner in a bit longer which I think has helped. I have a couple spots of dried blood left but overall it's pretty clean and I haven't noticed anything remotely like grafts falling out. Really, not even many/any hairs yet. The kicker here for me is that I 100% had to hide from the world during this time because I was (a) spraying every hour and (b) couldn't style my existing hair for fear of touching/disloding existing grafts. So you could see the grafts taking hold and small stubbly hair, plus weird caked native hair that was a bit long already awkwardly plastered to my scalp. So all in all, a real lovely mess. Now had I managed this aggressively with a blow dryer on cool or if I was more comfortable touching and styling my scalp in this period I am sure I could have made it look better but I didn't want to take any risks. On Day 6 I did a bit of finger styling and with my existing hair I can make it look decent (see 1 of the pictures). Decent is not invisible however. The temples are harder to disguise and any close inspection things are definitely still visible so I feel I am very much still in hat land. To be fair, my wife says it's pretty hard to tell unless you get up close and personal already. We will see if my extended family at Day 11 notices anything. Summary of first week So far the difference from my first procedure has been remarkable. Basically instead of an immediate "oh shit what have I done" I felt more like a "I'm already looking better than I expected 12 hours later. and everything is going exactly like they said" It's nice to already feel like I made the right choice. The recovery seems to be text book according to their expectations, but I most certainly don't want to be out and about without a hat yet as it would be noticeable. The things I am worried about are (a) appearance at 10 days and masking it, (b) avoiding shock-loss as no work was done in the middle of the frontal third, and (c) continued management of the donor scar pain. All the rest is of course the standard, hurry up and wait, concerns about linear scar etc that we all have but if I can avoid shock loss I feel comfortable looking like I did for 6+ more months. I hope this is helpful and of course any feedback on the pics and actual quality of the work is welcome as well. Again, apologies on the photo quality I will get better ones from clinic later. I will try to post periodically as I hate the posts where people disappear but I also intend to try to live my life and not obsess over the progress over the next few months. -
Crown transplant
Melvin-Moderator replied to surferhair's topic in Hair Restoration Questions and Answers
It depends there are several great surgeons, but one name that is synonymous with crowns is Dr. Wong. -
Hi, i am about to book a procedure with Dr. Wong. Would greatly appreciate if there are any guys who have had procedures done by Dr. Wong and are willing to talk on phone. If you are in new york and are willing to meet, coffee and pastries are on me:-) Much appreciated. Thanks -
This patient in his mid twenties traveled from the UK to see Dr Wong last year he has just sent me these photos showing his 8 month update from his hairline work by Dr Wong. Dr Wong used 1969 grafts with the FUT method. Patient is very pleased with his results and his happy for me to share them here. -
Well, I'm not thinking that when I post but maybe an "unintended" consequence? 😁 Yes, his post here: no thx hairlossPA! I'm glad you asked, it is better to ask for confirmation than to assume what you read here is always correct. Where did you read that? Maybe you could direct me to the thread, I’m curious to see it. No I can’t confirm is it is true because it’s not. 😃 None of our staff were trained elsewhere. Unless, you consider doctors Hasson and Wong working alongside another doctor in the 1990's as such. What I can confirm is that on our journey to produce industry leading FUE results equal to if not better than our famous FUT results, we gathered a lot of information and data. While it is true our doctor/doctors and some select team members traveled to conferences and observed the various techniques and skills of a few prominent FUE surgeons and clinics, no training on any of our staff was performed, only observation. After all of the data was gathered, we brought home this collection of new found knowledge and developed our own FUE philosophies and techniques that we felt would produce the best results. Some doctors were more influential and maintain a closer relationship with some members of our staff. I would say doctors Devroye and Lorenzo fit that description. That is not to say some others such as Dr. Koray were not gracious and welcoming, but they had little or no influence on what we do today. Some deserved credit to the aforementioned Dr. Devroye and Lorenzo for which we are grateful but most of the credit would go to our doctors and the dedication of certain key staff members willing to research, study, practice and make the necessary commitment to prefect our FUE technique and make it their own. We would only proceed with offering FUE when we could produce FUE grafts equal to or greater than the quality of our FUT grafts. Now you just don't wake up one day and say you want to perform industry leading FUE. The extraction is only part of the equation and the years of experience with FUT play a prominent role. This case is an excellent example. How did this result turn out to be so good? Well, aside from being able to harvest perfect grafts via FUE which we will assume is a given at our clinic, the proof is in the post-op photos. Has anyone marveled at how good they are and what they reveal? Precise control of angle, direction and orientation of the transplanted grafts. Every hair lines up parallel with the others. High uniform density. Look closely at other post-op shots ( if anyone will show this clarity) and compare. You may look long and wide to try and find a replica elsewhere. Do you think some clinics don’t have the right camera to take clear close-up shots that have this detail? Or, would this type of transparency and compare expose the fact that the level of refinement is quite different? You decide. Besides the unquestioned skill of the surgeon and staff, technique, attention to the finest detail and artistry are all necessary in producing this kind of result. Let's also give credit to the lateral slit (inventor Dr. Wong) and the custom sized blade cutting device ( inventor Dr. Hasson). And hairline design you say? Very important, as always and thank you for recognizing it! I think hairline design can often be an overlooked component. Without a great design, the result will suffer no matter how good the grafts are and how well they are planted. And thank you to all who care to take notice all of these components that are necessary to produce the best result! Thank you for the comment and question MarkyH!
-
I met with Dr. Wong two years ago. Great guy, I agree he’s very good.
-
After going to great lengths to cosmetically conceal my hair loss, I've began to seriously look at HT's. I wanted to consult with the forum here to see what is realistically possible for high Norwood cases. I've been letting hair loss really get me down and I would be happy with even moderate coverage to use hair fibers with. NW6 - Pics included in a prior thread. Standard NW6 pattern but I have many miniaturized hairs on my crown. I'm managing my expectations of what I could realistically expect even with maxing out my donor. My donor hair is somewhere between thick and fine and hard to categorize. It is curly when grown out. I have never taken medication for hair loss. I'm not entirely sure what Fin, Min, etc. could even do for me as I have been bald for 6+ years. I would of course be open to starting Fin, Min, etc. prior / following a HT at the request of the Dr and would include supplemental things like Dermarolling and Nizirol Shampoo, etc. as well. It appears that for advanced hair loss, that FUT is the preferred method for the initial transplant, followed by FUE down the line. With that being said, I am looking primarily at clinics in Turkey due to my budget. It appears that all perform only FUE. The FUT scar doesn't bother me as I've never cut my hair short. On the opposite end, I would be open to having a large FUE to achieve moderate density all over, and have SMP after for a density fill in. Questions: Could I achieve identical results with a large session FUE? (5,000+ grafts) as opposed to FUT? Ideally, I'd love to have a large FUT performed by Hasson & Wong for optimal results, but they are a bit outside of my budget! What clinics in Turkey are the best for transformative cases? I've seen some promising results from Erdogan, Eugenix, and Dr. Cinik on the forum, but wasn't sure if there was a general consensus. -
Any Dr. Baubac Reviews?
Melvin-Moderator replied to bandersnatchi's topic in Hair Restoration Questions and Answers
Hasson and Wong are fantastic at FUE take a look at @SprayPaint his results are absolutely remarkable and also @Legend007 As for Dr. Baubac, I really can't say anything about him, as I don't know his work personally. Some other posters have brought up some concerns, you may want to look in to it a bit further. -
This Vancouver-area patient in his mid-30’s came to Hasson & Wong in order to address his thinning hairline and frontal zone. Dr. Hasson and his team successfully harvested 3,000 grafts during a single FUE procedure to rebuild a new hairline and add density to the frontal zone. 300 of these grafts were singles, 1357 were doubles and 1343 were 3-4 hair grafts. His donor density was good and hair texture about average. These photos were taken approximately 13 months post-op.
-
Undoing (reversing) A HT
otfrom to replied to otfrom to's topic in Hair Restoration Questions and Answers
Thank you for putting things in perspective again, truly appreciate your perspective here, I am not doing anything rash, all in all things still look good and I will certainly approach visit with Dr. Rahal with an open mind. I am trying to be a bit wise here and think about my appearance from a long term perspective, to try and put things in perspective for you guys, i did not get a huge amount of grafs (less than 2k), so at this point I would like to remove the thick spaced out hairs that are at the very front that are not too too far away from my real hair line anyways ONLY IF there is no downside to this procedure, I am also trying to book with Hasson and Wong for a consultation to get a second opinion. -
Need help deciding what to do.
Tbcruz replied to Tbcruz's topic in Hair Restoration Questions and Answers
I’m really having a tough time deciding. Hasson and Wong responded and said 2k fue which means $16k. They also said I could do fut which would be $10k. Flight would be around $400. Dr. Keser said 1k fue which means $3.5k +$1k (flight) = $4.5k Dr. Bloxham suggested around 1k fut 1,100-1,250: $8,250 1,300-1,500: $8,800 1,600-1,750: $9,750 2,000-2,250: $10,750 those are his prices about the same as Hassan and Wong for fut. no flight for him since I’m 30min away. -
I recently had a skype interview with Dr. Wong. Nice guy, made me feel at ease, said all the right things. I felt comfortable with him, and am pretty close to booking a procedure with him. I recently googled H & W, and quite a few horror stories online. Stories about patients being double booked, surgeons disappearing during procedures, aggressive sales tactics. This is my second, and most probably, last procedure. Not sure if i will recover if i botch this by selecting the wrong surgeon. Been there, done that. I need some advice from all the wonderful people here. How are Hasson and Wong viewed in the hair transplant community? Am i in good hands? Should i stick to someone in the States? Thanks. Really counting on some feedback.
-
Hasson & Wong negative reviews
zach0786 replied to zach0786's topic in Hair Transplant Experiences and Surgeon Reviews
As i stated at the onset of this thread, i had a skype consult with Dr. Wong and felt very good about it. However, after waiting this long, a video consult just wont cut it. Plus, i am curious to meet Dr. Hasson also, and he doesn't do video consults. Booked a consult with both. Flying from New York. Their rep, Chris, was very helpful in working with me so i could see them both same day. I have no doubt Dr. Konior is great, and we have emailed back and forth, but the guy is just so freaking busy. Getting a consult can be hard enough. I haven't closed that door, but leaning towards H & W, unless i get a really bad vibe after the in person consults. Wish me luck:-)
.thumb.jpg.65ac3fe3c78112107d0f5cc023e6656a.jpg)
