My Experience and Dr Epstein

Aaron F · April 10, 2008

Dear Forum Members,

Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Aaron and I have worked in the hair restoration industry for more then 10 years. I recently accepted a position with Dr Jeffrey Epstein as Chief Administrator and Development Officer. During my career I have worked with more then 20+ doctors and have seen well over 75 different doctors' work first hand. My goal for posting on this forum is to be able to share my experiences and offer advice with forum members in hopes of educating and perhaps offer a different perspective. Below is some of my personal and professional history.

I was lured into the hair industry because of my personal hair issues. I started losing my hair at a young age. My first attempt to remedy the problem was to use a hair piece, which I did for three years. Due to my age I was able to wear a hair piece with a style that did not reveal my hairline and because of that no one had any idea I was wearing a hair piece (at least they didn't say it...) As time passed I felt less and less comfortable wearing my hair piece so I starting looking into alternatives. This is when I found the world of hair transplants. At that time I was living the Tampa Bay area and had gone through consultations with 3-4 local doctors. I found a doctor I felt comfortable with and scheduled my 1st procedure. This was in 1997. I had 550 micro and mini grafts placed in the front 1/3 of my head and I started to use Rogaine and quartering Proscar (before Propecia was FDA approved). I was so happy with my results that I approached my doctor asking to work with him. He offered me a job and I spent 3 months following him and his business partner around learning the business from the ground up. At the completion of my 3rd month the doctor's business partner died. We then agreed I would assume all the non-medical daily operations for the practice. I held that position for almost 4 years before I decided I wanted to have a bigger roll in the hair industry.

I interviewed with Bosley, Nuhart, and MHR. I received offers from all 3 and choose to accept a position with MHR in Philadelphia. Ultimately, I was responsible for the oversight of Philly, NY, and MD offices. I was working with MHR for less then a year when one of the MHR doctors made me an offer to move to help him start his own practice. After 2 years with this doctor, I was recruited by Hair Club with the responsibility of developing and running their hair transplant division. When I started with them they had 2 docs and when I left we had just brought on our 9th doc.

When I left Hair Club, I left the industry completely feeling frustrated and needing a change. I took a position as Vice President of Operations for a luxury fitness company located in NYC while still living in Florida. The position required me to travel every week to NYC. After my wife gave birth to our twin girls I decided that I did not want to be apart from my family every week.

This now brings us to the current. Having spent the majority of my professional career in hair and feeling reenergized I made contact with some of the top hair docs. I offered my services and experience, which includes oversight of daily operations, website development, administrative and database management, financial management, negotiating vendor pricing, and practice development. (Yes, I have done about everything in the hair industry except pick up a scalpel.....) I was contacted by and met with a good number of doctors, one of those being Dr Epstein. Before I agreed to work with him I visited his office 4 times. On 3 of the 4 occasions I changed into scrubs and spent the day with him in the O.R. I was not going to work with anyone but THE BEST at this point in my career. I wanted to make sure the work was the best and the patients were treated right. I'm sure some of you are going to read this and dismiss some of what I'm going to say because of whom I have worked for but I ask all of you to keep an open mind. My years of experience have taught me not just want to do, but more importantly, what not to do as well.

I would like to share some of my observations from my visits with Dr Epstein and why I decided to work for him:

"?? He is extremely caring and passionate about his patients, staff, and his results.

"?? He has more staff per patient than any hair doctor I have seen.

"?? The results from patients during follow up visits and his photo albums are extremely impressive. He is a true perfectionist.

"?? The staff is experienced, friendly, and most importantly cut and placed grafts very well. All the grafts are kept moist with saline, on graft coolers, and handled with care.

"?? I counted 15 microscopes

"?? He does not have a television in the O.R. for the patients. When I asked him why he told me he wants to make sure that the patient and staff communicate during the procedure

"?? His recipient sites and artistry is very impressive

"?? He takes the time to call each patient following their procedure

"?? He personally answers all of his email

These are a few of the reasons why I choose to get back into the industry with one of the best hair docs. I look forward to helping others through this site and please contact me with any questions.

Aaron F · April 10, 2008