Epstein, Feller or Bernstein

[Mohsin Raja]

Hello Everyone,

 

Thank you for all those who take the time to answer out inquiries. I am interested in about 1200-1400 grafts and will be travelling to NYC from Boston given the reviews I have read. I am considering Drs. Jeff Epstein, Allan Feller ot Dr. Bernstein. My questions are

 

1) Which one is preferred? Dr. Bernstein seems to be a bit more expensive (8400 compared to 7050 for Dr. feller). Cost is not an issue but if all three are equal then might save some $

2) Should I go for FUT or FUE? I still cant tell which one is better.

3) Would I need to be on propecia given the experiences out there.

 

Thanks in advance

 

Mohsin

[Mohsin Raja]

Hello Everyone,

 

Thank you for all those who take the time to answer out inquiries. I am interested in about 1200-1400 grafts and will be travelling to NYC from Boston given the reviews I have read. I am considering Drs. Jeff Epstein, Allan Feller ot Dr. Bernstein. My questions are

 

1) Which one is preferred? Dr. Bernstein seems to be a bit more expensive (8400 compared to 7050 for Dr. feller). Cost is not an issue but if all three are equal then might save some $

2) Should I go for FUT or FUE? I still cant tell which one is better.

3) Would I need to be on propecia given the experiences out there.

 

Thanks in advance

 

Mohsin

[thanatopsis_awry]

Hey Mohsin,

 

My initial inclination would be to go the route of FUE, given the # of grafts you think you need, and assuming you are willing to pay the premium on $-cost. The recovery for FUE is superior to FUT, and the impact of visible scarring would be much improved. Some questions:

 

How old are you? Is your loss hairline work, or crown/vertex, too?

 

If your work would be on your crown, e.g., getting on propecia for a solid 6+months could be wise; especially, if the area isn't totally barren, the miniaturize hairs of a thinned region have a reasonable shot of becoming terminal and strong by way of the propecia.

 

Either way, I'd heartily recommend Dr. Feller. He would also be optimal if you wanted to go the route of FUE.

[Mohsin Raja]

Thanks for the prompt reply. My hair loss os from middle of the top towards the crown. I am 34 and had consultations with Bosley and MHR but have stayed away from them ever since given the reviews. I do not respond well to Propecia or Rogaine and am using the Laser comb.

 

Mohsin

[hair_care]

I had my procedure done with Dr Feller about one month ago and am extremely happy so far. 1200-1400 is a relatively small session and Dr Feller would easily be able to do an FUE session on you. Set up a consultation with Dr feller and get his opinion.

[thanatopsis_awry]

Hmmm....what do you mean by "don't respond well"? Like, side-effects, or you just don't think propecia works? Much of the time propecia will simply be preserving what hair you have left; at best, it can reverse miniaturized hairs and induce re-growth. It can often take upwards of 12+months of consistent use to truly be able to gauge whether it will work for you or not, too.

 

Of course, you don't *have* to be on propecia to get your HT; it's just a factor you would need to discuss w/ Dr. Feller or whomever.

 

Def set up a consult w/ Feller....his office can get super-busy, so you might want to talk to Spex on the forum, too. He's very knowledgeable and very friendly, no-pressure kinda guy.

 

I'd ditch the laser, personally.

[Mohsin Raja]

Regarding propecia, yes it were the side effects. Heck no procedure or result is worth taking suc a side effect

 

I would try to locate spex and contact him.

[Guest wanthairs]

Mohsin,

 

If you dotn take proecia or rogaine, your hair is just going to keep falling out and you will need numerous procedures over the years. You will end up chasing baldness...You need to seriosuly reconsider. Out of the three docs you chose, Dr. feeler by far has the most verifiable cases on this particular website....

[Mohsin Raja]

Well I would give rogaine another shot if I do go thru HT. Frankly, I just gave up on it. The only good news I think is that I have faced baldness in the same area for the past 8 years and it has been very slow.

[ccexxp1]

I am a fan of Dr. Bernstein. I think although you have named other qualified Dr's and options, whom I consulted with as well, I felt that Dr. B has a solid reputation, is a pioneer in this arena, and was my first choice. Of course, I don't know your exact situation, and mine included extensive repair issues (done really, really well-takes a while though) so my best suggestion is that you speak with all Dr.'s and go with whomever your are more comfortable with. Good news; all 3 are good and have produced good results. Better news, at least for me, I no longer have that all to familiar "pluggy" look and have an unembarrassing head of hair. Still thin, but natural looking. Final 2000 H/T will help out the thinness for me, I can't wait, it's scheduled for October, 09. Feel free to "pm" me if you have any specific questions about my circumstance. Happy hair hunting...

[TC17]

I also like Dr. Bernstein's work a lot. However, he charges $6 per graft for strip, and $12 per graft for FUE! Even though I really like what I have seen of his work, I would not even consider visiting him because of his high price. If cost is truly not a factor for you, I would visit Dr. Bernstein. Of your list, he is my personal favorite.

[hair_care]

Doctor Bernstein certainly has a reputation for doing impressive work. The only problem I have with Dr Bernstein is that he tends to be way to conservative when planning a HT and rarely does more that 2500 grafts or so in a single session, this is good sometimes but I feel a doc should be able to maximize the number of grafts he can do on a patient without of course irresponsiblt front loading a young patient.

[TC17]

I agree, but also disagree with you hair_care. Dr. Bernstein certainly has a reputation for being conservative, but I'm not troubled by that at all. The fact is that hair loss is uncertain. Because we are undertaking a significant risk with our future appearance, the prudent man should should be overly cautious when planning a procedure. Unfortunately, when you have doctors who are by comparison far more aggressive, Dr. Bernstein's approach is difficult to get behind. With that being said, I completely agree that for a doctor to be mentioned as great, he MUST be able to transplant more than 2,500 grafts in a single session when appropriate. It does seem very strange that even in older, less risky patients, Dr. Bernstein seems to stick to the lower graft numbers. He may have a very good reason for doing so, and in 10 or 15 years, his conservative approach may be shown to have been the correct approach. Only time will tell I suppose.

 

I did read on his site that the reason he has not undergone a transplant is because he is not a good candidate because of his level of balding and his thin donor. I would guess that that has something to do with his conservative approach. I am sure that at age 25, 35, 40, etc., his donor would have been able to support a number of grafts for transplant. Yet, at age whatever, he is no longer a candidate. What then would have happened if he had undergone the transplant at a younger age? Just because someone does not show miniaturization in the donor at the present does not mean that it will not occur in the future. Again, only time will tell if people are making a mistake by going under the knife in the face of such uncertainty.

 

*also, other than what I feel is extreme cost, the other issue with Dr. Bernstein is that he very rarely posts top down and back of the head examples of his work. without those, it is extremely difficult to accurately gauge his work.

[PD]

Mohsin,

 

you should post some pics... more often than not, we underestimate what we need, at least thats how it looks to me..

 

Originally posted by hair_care:

...without of course irresponsiblt front loading a young patient.

 

hair_care, i am glad you said that... it seemed like 90% of patients (or the doctors) here are pretty aggressive.. dont know how young the patients are. I wonder if people consider how its going to look, 10-20 yrs down the road if hair loss continues, if they are prepared for more procedures, thats ok, but those talking about get everything done single session..i am not so sure.. i tend to think "single session" is a myth, for most cases anyways...

 

I wonder if there someway to say with some certainity that hair loss has stabilized. for eg. something like "if one hasnt had any visible hair loss for the last 3 yrs, then there is 80% chance he/she wouldnt lose any more..." wishful thinking, perhaps!!!