Dr. Griffin in ATL.........

[Dewayne]

I hate to keep dwelling on this, but I called again today to ask some more questions about the size of Dr. Griffin's transplant sessions. The male tech said a "large" session, which is $10,000, consists of 1700 grafts and 3,000 - 4000 hair follicles.

 

Could it be that the 3,000 - 4,000 'follicles' is what you all are saying is a large session? He went on to say (again) that those 'large' sessions are "few and far between".

 

I would like to go with him as it's very close and I'm sure he does good work. But I've decided if I'm going to do it I'm going all in. I'm 42 and I might as well go all the way and get as much as I can get.

[Dewayne]

I hate to keep dwelling on this, but I called again today to ask some more questions about the size of Dr. Griffin's transplant sessions. The male tech said a "large" session, which is $10,000, consists of 1700 grafts and 3,000 - 4000 hair follicles.

 

Could it be that the 3,000 - 4,000 'follicles' is what you all are saying is a large session? He went on to say (again) that those 'large' sessions are "few and far between".

 

I would like to go with him as it's very close and I'm sure he does good work. But I've decided if I'm going to do it I'm going all in. I'm 42 and I might as well go all the way and get as much as I can get.

[thanatopsis_awry]

No -- we were referring to grafts, not follicles, in regards to what is or isn't a large session..at least I was, and I'm pretty sure everyone else was, as well.

 

It is all relative, of course; but, again, after looking at all your pics, I think Wong's 4k prognosis is MUCH more in line than the "very large" Griffin estimate.

 

A bit disconcerting, that, once again, it seems they are telling you that these "large" sessions are "few and far between"; if he is referring to their "1700graft sessions" that is stunning to me, to say the least; but, even if he is referring to sessions above and beyond that, it is ridiculous to say that they are few and far between.

 

AND, regardless of a numerical sessions sizes occurrance, all that matters is what is most appropriate and best for you...

[tranplant_dude]

I am surprised with what they were saying about large sessions. May be its because of their price that no one does more than 3K grafts with them

 

But I have seen the chart of their procedures in person. Med-large is 1300 grafts .Large session is 2000 Grafts and ultra Large is 3000 grafts

 

if you are not worried about the crown look, 2000 will make you happy..but if you can get 3000-4000 grafts with the same price, why not go for it?

 

I recommend you to go and talk to Dr.Griffin in person .Find out where the 1700 grafts will be placed and if you can get the density you need

[its752]

Dewayne, Nobody here is talking in terms of "follicles" but instead "grafts" and I can only go by what I've read about your degree of hairloss that if you do the 4000 grafts as recommended by Dr. Wong you would be happier with your hair sooner than having just 1700 done. Hopefully you won't end up going down the road of 3-4 smaller sessions over a longer period of time and the agony of waiting each time just to be see disappointed. Like most here, you would probably even get a second session after the 4000 just to do a touch up somewhere.

[kriss]

Dwayne, I had a consultation with Dr Griffin a couple of weeks ago. You should talk with him or a woman named Pat. Sounds like you maybe talked with Byrce.

 

Most DRs I have meet, and most posters are these sites, estimate each hair graft will contain anywhere from 1 to 4 hairs. On average, you can figure 2.5 hairs per graft. So if you do 1000 grafts you will get approx 2500 hairs.

 

Griffin prices his a little different. Most Drs have a price per graft, which may be different depending on how many grafts. Like $5 or $6 per graft for 1000 andthen maybe $4 or $5 for 2000 or more - for Strip procedures. Griffin does basically the same thing, but likes to calls his a Small, Medium or Large. Griffin is more expensive than anybody else I have consulted with.

 

It seems there are some other notable DRs who are either in Griffin's price range, or less. So even if I have to fly to them, it still may be a better deal. But money won't be my deciding factor. If I deemed Griffin the best, I will go with him.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Everyone,

 

I took the liberty of calling Dr. Griffin's office and spoke with a very pleasant woman in the office named Amanda.

 

She did confirm that Dr. Griffin does perform up to 3000 grafts (not hairs) in a single hair transplant session when appropriate for the patient.

 

Therefore the price breakdown provided for "very large" is really in between 2000 and 3000 grafts rather than just at 2000 grafts.

 

My best guess is that the statement made about patients only ever needing up to 1500 grafts was a misinterpretation somewhere down the line.

 

To see Pat's (our Publisher) detailed review of Dr. Griffin's clinic and observation of live surgery, click here.

 

I've also posted this on the following thread

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[Dewayne]

Twice!

[NervousNelly]

Bill,

 

 

This is still kind of strange isn't it? Does he set a price for a session that he deems very large? Does that imply that person A might pay $10,000 for 2100Fu and person B pays $10,000 for 3000fu? Do I understand this correctly or am I missing the boat?

[Bill - Seemiller]

NN,

 

Yes, I see what you mean.

 

When I spoke with Andrea, I didn't confirm the price breakdown, only that they did larger sessions up to 3000 grafts when appropriate for the patient.

 

I am sure that price for 2000 grafts is not the same as 3000 grafts. From my understanding, it does appear that they discount session sizes as they get larger.

 

Bill

[kriss]

I have his price sheet right here, it states :

 

X-small 600 FUs (1200+ Follicies) $4500

Small 800 FUs (1600+ Follicles) $5750

Medium 1000 FUs (2000+ Follicles) $7000

Md-LG 1300 FUs (2600+ Follicles) $8500

Large 1700 FUs (3400+ Follicles) $10,000

X-Large 2200 FUs (4400+ Follicles) $12,000

Max 3000 FUs (6000+ Follicles) $15,000

 

If it's not appropirate for me to post this info, pls moderate this post.

[Tara]

Hi everyone,

This is TARA from Dr. Edmond Griffin's office, The Griffin Center. I wanted to post a quick comment regarding this thread. I am not sure where the confusion lies, but in our practice large sessions are hardly "few and far between" as one person commented that he heard from our staff not once, but twice. I am not sure where the miscommunication lies, but this is simply not true. We recommend a session size, based on several factors: the amount of hair loss, a patient's goals and/or budget. Please feel free to contact us yourself and we will be happy to discuss this with any patient who is interested in our pricing and session sizing. Also, anyone can feel free to visit our website at www.griffincenter.com to see our patient before/ after pictures posted with the number of sessions and number of grafts they have had. You will see plenty of patients who have had greater than 1700 grafts in any given session. Also, our pricing is also listed in the FAQ section, as well as other information to help learn more about our practice.

Hopefully this is a help.

 

Tara @ The Griffin Center

 

Employed by The Griffin Center as a consultant/ technician for 11 years

[Bill - Seemiller]

Tara,

 

Thank you for contributing to this thread. I'm sure somewhere down the pike there was a misinterpretation as it is obvious that Dr. Griffin performs larger sessions of over 2500 grafts in a single session when appropriate for the hair transplant patient.

 

Thank you for the clarification.

 

I hope you will stick around and occasionally participate in our discussion forum as we'd love to have your input.

 

Kriss,

 

Where did you obtain this information? I didn't find this detail on Dr. Griffin's website. As long as it is accurate, it is certainly appropriate.

 

Thanks,

 

Bill

[Tara]

Thank you, Bill.

 

And yes, Kriss's pricing information is correct. Dr. Griffin believes in offering the patient a session size, as opposed to nickel and diming the patient for every single graft. As many of our previous patients will tell you, Dr. Griffin frequently goes above and beyond the sceduled session size, if the patient really requires more grafts than originally predicted. He is a very fair man, and is happy to work with patients to accomodate their budget AND meet their hairloss needs. Again, if anyone needs further clarification, please feel free to email or call me.

 

Thank you,

Tara @ The Griffin Center

 

Employed by The Griffin Center as a consultant/ technician for 11 years.

[Dewayne]

Gosh, they are probably going to be sticking stuff all in my head next week at my consult, as I'm using my real name.

 

FWIW, I'm not the most knowledgeable guy in the world about transplants, but I do have a college degree and work as a financial planner / stock broker, so listening and getting facts is part of my job. If I "misunderstand" something, it can mean big losses for me on security trades.

 

But anyway, I was looking at the website pics when talking with them so I knew it said large graphs. At least it's clear now.

 

Perhaps there's more than one dummy here...

[the B spot]

[Bill - Seemiller]

In my opinion, there are a number of different approaches to pricing.

 

Let's not start an argument over it.

 

Dr. Griffin offers pricing based on a session size whereas Dr. Shapiro (for example since B Spot posted on this thread) charges per follicular unit graft.

 

One is not superior over the other and pricing is certainly at the discretion of the physician.

 

From a patient standpoint, one may be attracted to one over the other depending on the circumstances. At least the patient has options.

 

Cheers,

 

Bill

[the B spot]

[Bill - Seemiller]

B Spot,

 

Using the words "nickel and diming" can have a negative connotation so I can understand the call to question. I imagine however, she meant "charging" which is what "nickel and diming" means.

 

But since you have asked Tara, she can answer for herself.

 

In my opinion however, given that you now represent Shapiro Medical Group, coming on a Dr. Griffin thread and starting controversy over word choice seems a bit inappropriate.

 

Bill

[the B spot]

Dr. Griffin believes in offering the patient a session size, as opposed to nickel and diming the patient for every single graft.

 

I don't get "charging" from the use of nickel and diming here.

 

Anyway, don't point this at me, I simply asked a question that you didn't give the clinic representative a chance to answer.

 

But in the interests of promoting patient education and informed choices, I withdraw my question.

 

Take Care,

Jason

[NervousNelly]

She obviously did make a poor choice of wording and I am sure that this is not what she meant. It does however make it look somewhat negative towards those that charge per graft, which is ofcourse the most common method. I am certain that Dr. Griffin does good work and has his patients best interests in mind.

 

Personally, I like the idea of charging per graft and believe charging by the session size is a little odd. We all know of several examples of good docs that produce more grafts that they don't charge for. I believe that that was the case with myself for example.(the day was a blurr)

[thanatopsis_awry]

Personally, FWIW, and I say this without even having formed an opinion on which pricing model is "better"....I found the nickle n' diming post -- it's syntax -- to come across as a bit defensive, and also aggressive towards other clinics that follow said pricing structure. I understand there were some miscommunications regarding Dr. Griffin in the thread; so, perhaps, this resulted in the said post.

[hairthere]

My first doc charged by area, not graft. BIG mistake for me. I ended up having no idea how many grafts i got. turned out i got roughly 600 and paid $7k. a doc can tell you he's going to do your whole hairline, but if he only plants 600 grafts and spaces them far apart it's gonna look bad. i'm not saying this is what griffin does, but it's not the ideal pricing system, imo...

[Bill - Seemiller]

B Spot,

 

It is unfair of you to say that I "didn't give the clinic representative a chance to answer". Is this not an open discussion forum? I have done nothing to prevent an answer.

 

In my opinion however, I do not believe she intended to offend anyone with her word choice; but I do agree that use of the words "nickel and diming" was of poor choice.

 

I took the libert of emailing Tara so that she can clarify her choice of words.

 

The bottom line is that every clinic has their own way to price surgery and as long as a clinic is upfront about it, there's nothing wrong with it. All patients will have their preferences.

 

Cheers,

 

Bill

[kriss]

I got my info from my personal consult with Dr. Griffin.

 

Heck, regardless of the DRs price structure, we don't really know for sure what they are charging. Just because a Dr says he did 2354 grafts doesn't mean he did. We're not counting them. But all in all, I think we can trust the DRs to be honest about how many grafts they did.