A woman's perspective: hair transplants with Dr. Steve Gabel in Hillsboro, Oregon

[Kelly]

A few years ago my mother and I were talking about our hair. From an early age I had a very pronounced (call it 'pointy') widow's peak, and I was complaining about the incremental hair loss along each side of that peak over the previous two decades. I was really upset about it and my mother asked to see what I was talking about. I pulled back my hair and mom just laughed, "Well, you come by it honestly enough!" She then pulled her own hair back and showed me a mirror image of myself. I was mortified! Yet at some level I was also relieved...I no longer felt alone, and my mother and I grew even closer in our shared hairlines.

 

Well by 2004 I had become a slave to my hairline, the anxiety I felt had become unbearable. If there are any women reading this, perhaps you understand what I mean. Well I finally decided to do something about it. I began researching hair transplant technology. Boy did I!! As soon as I saw it was a viable alternative I also began saving money. All throughout 2004 I researched, educating myself on the latest techniques, learning the 'who's who' in the hair transplant field, made phone calls, wrote letters, had consultations. By early 2005 I felt I was ready to choose, but events conspired to delay my decision. I was living in Idaho at the time and in early 2005 I moved back to Oregon, my birthplace and home.

 

By then I had already chosen my surgeon: Dr. Paul Cotterill in Toronto. I chose Dr. Cotterill for three reasons: 1.) a better monetary exchange in Canada, more bang for the buck so to speak; 2.) I had a wonderful in-person consultation with him that totally sold me; and 3.) I met with a former female patient of his with a similar hair loss pattern as mine and saw with my own eyes the results of his handiwork. I was happily impressed, to the point I almost peed my britches, I could hardly wait my turn. I felt that he was my best choice. I had also had a virtual consultation with Dr. Wong (of H&W) in Vancouver, B.C. (another Canadian) but they wanted 1/3 again as much $$$$. I had consulted via internet and phone with the Stough clinic too and wasn't impressed.

 

Then an unfortunate turn of events forced me to relocate back to my home in Oregon. Hillsboro to be exact. (This is where the plot thickens!) I put my hair transplants on hold temporarily. Towards late 2005 I was once again in a position to pursue hair transplant surgery. Out of sheer curiosity I thought I would leaf through the phone book to see if there were any practicing hair transplant surgeons in the Portland area. After all, Portland is a pretty big metropolitan area, surely there must be someone.

 

Well as it turned out, there was someone. Emphasis on the 'one'. There was one, and ONLY one clinic listed: Dr. Steven Gabel in Hillsboro, Oregon, a Portland suburb. Hey wait a minute, I lived in Hillsboro!

 

Needless to say I was very curious and had to have a consultation with him. I made the appointment. We had a consultation. We talked. I went home and did as much research as I could about Dr. Gabel. I also studied his diplomas and credentials while I was in his office. I was pretty impressed. Really. And his price quote, while a little higher than Dr. Cotterill's when I factored in the exchange rate, was very attractive. I thought and mulled and thought some more. As if reading my mind, Dr. Gabel gave me a website of a former patient of his where I was able to see up-close photgraphic results of his handiwork. I was as equally impressed with Dr. Gabel's work as I was with the work of Dr. Cotterill. Now, I'm not an expert, nor a doctor, but I know good looking hair when I see it. And this patient had good looking hair. Lots of it. I thought about the expenses involved in traveling to Toronto, i.e. hotels, food, taxi fare, and air fare. I then calculated the cost savings in staying home and driving 3 miles down the road. Hmmm...Toronto or home?...Toronto or home?...HOME!! I called Dr. Gabel's office and set up an appointment.

 

To accommodate me, he made a Saturday appointment, which was awesome. I arrived early, around 7:00 am. We began immediately. First we discussed my desired hairline, which I was prepared for, and he drew a preliminary hairline. He didn't like it, so changed it a little, then I didn't like it and we changed it again. We persuaded one of his technicians to help out by showing us her hairline and we used her as a model to establish my temple origins. Finally, after reaching a satisfactory-to-me hairline, we were ready to begin. We walked into the surgery suite where I would spend the next 8 hours having the ultimate makeover.

 

There was little wasted effort or time. I was settled into 'the chair' to get my head all nicely numbed up. And I should mention that I have a high tolerance for pain, and I'm also an extremely patient and relaxed sort of person, so I didn't take any medication to help relax me. I was medication-free for the entire day. When I was numb, he took me over to the 'donut' table where I lay face down with my face in the donut hole and he excised my donor strip. I have to admit that hearing the slicing and stripping noises of that donor strip being removed was a little icky. I discovered that some sounds are amplified through the skull. After he was done suturing the back of my head, we went back to 'the chair'. Dr. Gabel began the arduous task of placing the incisions that would later receive those precious little hairs of mine. With each incision, his assistant ticked off the number on a hand-held counter.

 

As he was doing this, my donor strip was being dissected by his staff of 3 technicians. By the time Dr. Gabel was done preparing the receiver sites and cleaning up, the donor hairs were becoming available. Dr. Gabel personally placed the grafts for the first hour or so. Then they began a shift rotation between himself and his senior technician and his nurse. While the session was definitely long, it was made less boring by friendly chit-chat (I'm a talker), music (my choice!), and reading (I brought a book). If I was quiet for more than 5 minutes, Dr. Gabel was right there asking if I was OK?

 

We broke for lunch but other than bathroom breaks it was steady work. We finished about 5:00 pm. Where Dr. Gabel had originally estimated around 1350 - 1500 grafts, my final count was 2008!! We took photos, I called for my ride, and I received post-op instructions which I followed to the letter.

 

Thinking back now, it seems like a dream. Looking in the mirror I know it was not. From what I have gathered from other sources and websites and talking to other patients, my experience was pretty normal. I was told to expect all the new hairs to fall out, but I actually shed very little hair afterwards, not more than about 15%. My scalp was pretty tender at the donor site for a couple weeks, but I had no complications or unexpected reactions. My worst period of adjustment was waiting for the new hairs to fill in and grow to a managable length. I'm a very patient person but I had trouble waiting for my hair to grow...is there anything in the world so slow as new hair growth??

 

I'm now just past my one year anniversary. My hair is now mature, it has been through several trips to the beauty shop (color, perms, trims) and it is ab-so-lutely wonderful!! I can't begin to describe the joy I continue to feel every day when I'm in the bathroom fixing my hair. I know there are excellent hair transplant clinics and surgeons the world over, and of course we have many right here in North America. But to find such a competent Dr., by sheer accident, literally right next door, was surely a stroke of luck.

 

Dr. Gabel is an energetic and vibrant man. He enjoys nothing as much as talking about his work and ensuring his patients have as much information as they want/need. Obviously he loves his work and he enjoys helping people realize their goals. He listens as well as, if not better than, he talks. He seemed genuinely concerned in finding out exactly what it was I wanted. He is not averse to making suggestions, but ultimately it is his patients who make the final decisions...after all, it's their hair, not his. It is not only his enthusiasm and joy, but the pride he displays in his work and sense of ethics that helped me choose Dr. Gabel. All I needed was one wrong answer, one false statement, one crosseyed look, and I would have pulled up stakes and made that trip to Toronto. But I didn't have to, I was able to receive a very high quality hair transplant procedure right here at home.

 

Dr. Gabel's profile is available here somewhere (I'm sorry, I can't find it right now), and his website is www.nwshr.com (scheduled for updating this year sometime). If you're in the Pacific Northwest, you might consider Dr. Gabel...I think he's very good. You can see my photo gallery at http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/showthread.php?t=154367. Also visit my blog at http://www.hairtransplantnetwork.com/blog/home-page.asp?WebID=184 to hear some of my other thoughts on how my hair transplant surgery affected my life.

 

My advice to anyone doing research on hair transplants: take your time; use all available resources, not just the internet. Make trips if possible, ask for patient referrals, talk to people, write letters, get informed! Then make your best choice based on your knowledge and circumstances. If you do that, you will have made an unregrettable choice. Thanks for listening, and best of luck to you all.

 

Happy Camper

[Kelly]

A few years ago my mother and I were talking about our hair. From an early age I had a very pronounced (call it 'pointy') widow's peak, and I was complaining about the incremental hair loss along each side of that peak over the previous two decades. I was really upset about it and my mother asked to see what I was talking about. I pulled back my hair and mom just laughed, "Well, you come by it honestly enough!" She then pulled her own hair back and showed me a mirror image of myself. I was mortified! Yet at some level I was also relieved...I no longer felt alone, and my mother and I grew even closer in our shared hairlines.

 

Well by 2004 I had become a slave to my hairline, the anxiety I felt had become unbearable. If there are any women reading this, perhaps you understand what I mean. Well I finally decided to do something about it. I began researching hair transplant technology. Boy did I!! As soon as I saw it was a viable alternative I also began saving money. All throughout 2004 I researched, educating myself on the latest techniques, learning the 'who's who' in the hair transplant field, made phone calls, wrote letters, had consultations. By early 2005 I felt I was ready to choose, but events conspired to delay my decision. I was living in Idaho at the time and in early 2005 I moved back to Oregon, my birthplace and home.

 

By then I had already chosen my surgeon: Dr. Paul Cotterill in Toronto. I chose Dr. Cotterill for three reasons: 1.) a better monetary exchange in Canada, more bang for the buck so to speak; 2.) I had a wonderful in-person consultation with him that totally sold me; and 3.) I met with a former female patient of his with a similar hair loss pattern as mine and saw with my own eyes the results of his handiwork. I was happily impressed, to the point I almost peed my britches, I could hardly wait my turn. I felt that he was my best choice. I had also had a virtual consultation with Dr. Wong (of H&W) in Vancouver, B.C. (another Canadian) but they wanted 1/3 again as much $$$$. I had consulted via internet and phone with the Stough clinic too and wasn't impressed.

 

Then an unfortunate turn of events forced me to relocate back to my home in Oregon. Hillsboro to be exact. (This is where the plot thickens!) I put my hair transplants on hold temporarily. Towards late 2005 I was once again in a position to pursue hair transplant surgery. Out of sheer curiosity I thought I would leaf through the phone book to see if there were any practicing hair transplant surgeons in the Portland area. After all, Portland is a pretty big metropolitan area, surely there must be someone.

 

Well as it turned out, there was someone. Emphasis on the 'one'. There was one, and ONLY one clinic listed: Dr. Steven Gabel in Hillsboro, Oregon, a Portland suburb. Hey wait a minute, I lived in Hillsboro!

 

Needless to say I was very curious and had to have a consultation with him. I made the appointment. We had a consultation. We talked. I went home and did as much research as I could about Dr. Gabel. I also studied his diplomas and credentials while I was in his office. I was pretty impressed. Really. And his price quote, while a little higher than Dr. Cotterill's when I factored in the exchange rate, was very attractive. I thought and mulled and thought some more. As if reading my mind, Dr. Gabel gave me a website of a former patient of his where I was able to see up-close photgraphic results of his handiwork. I was as equally impressed with Dr. Gabel's work as I was with the work of Dr. Cotterill. Now, I'm not an expert, nor a doctor, but I know good looking hair when I see it. And this patient had good looking hair. Lots of it. I thought about the expenses involved in traveling to Toronto, i.e. hotels, food, taxi fare, and air fare. I then calculated the cost savings in staying home and driving 3 miles down the road. Hmmm...Toronto or home?...Toronto or home?...HOME!! I called Dr. Gabel's office and set up an appointment.

 

To accommodate me, he made a Saturday appointment, which was awesome. I arrived early, around 7:00 am. We began immediately. First we discussed my desired hairline, which I was prepared for, and he drew a preliminary hairline. He didn't like it, so changed it a little, then I didn't like it and we changed it again. We persuaded one of his technicians to help out by showing us her hairline and we used her as a model to establish my temple origins. Finally, after reaching a satisfactory-to-me hairline, we were ready to begin. We walked into the surgery suite where I would spend the next 8 hours having the ultimate makeover.

 

There was little wasted effort or time. I was settled into 'the chair' to get my head all nicely numbed up. And I should mention that I have a high tolerance for pain, and I'm also an extremely patient and relaxed sort of person, so I didn't take any medication to help relax me. I was medication-free for the entire day. When I was numb, he took me over to the 'donut' table where I lay face down with my face in the donut hole and he excised my donor strip. I have to admit that hearing the slicing and stripping noises of that donor strip being removed was a little icky. I discovered that some sounds are amplified through the skull. After he was done suturing the back of my head, we went back to 'the chair'. Dr. Gabel began the arduous task of placing the incisions that would later receive those precious little hairs of mine. With each incision, his assistant ticked off the number on a hand-held counter.

 

As he was doing this, my donor strip was being dissected by his staff of 3 technicians. By the time Dr. Gabel was done preparing the receiver sites and cleaning up, the donor hairs were becoming available. Dr. Gabel personally placed the grafts for the first hour or so. Then they began a shift rotation between himself and his senior technician and his nurse. While the session was definitely long, it was made less boring by friendly chit-chat (I'm a talker), music (my choice!), and reading (I brought a book). If I was quiet for more than 5 minutes, Dr. Gabel was right there asking if I was OK?

 

We broke for lunch but other than bathroom breaks it was steady work. We finished about 5:00 pm. Where Dr. Gabel had originally estimated around 1350 - 1500 grafts, my final count was 2008!! We took photos, I called for my ride, and I received post-op instructions which I followed to the letter.

 

Thinking back now, it seems like a dream. Looking in the mirror I know it was not. From what I have gathered from other sources and websites and talking to other patients, my experience was pretty normal. I was told to expect all the new hairs to fall out, but I actually shed very little hair afterwards, not more than about 15%. My scalp was pretty tender at the donor site for a couple weeks, but I had no complications or unexpected reactions. My worst period of adjustment was waiting for the new hairs to fill in and grow to a managable length. I'm a very patient person but I had trouble waiting for my hair to grow...is there anything in the world so slow as new hair growth??

 

I'm now just past my one year anniversary. My hair is now mature, it has been through several trips to the beauty shop (color, perms, trims) and it is ab-so-lutely wonderful!! I can't begin to describe the joy I continue to feel every day when I'm in the bathroom fixing my hair. I know there are excellent hair transplant clinics and surgeons the world over, and of course we have many right here in North America. But to find such a competent Dr., by sheer accident, literally right next door, was surely a stroke of luck.

 

Dr. Gabel is an energetic and vibrant man. He enjoys nothing as much as talking about his work and ensuring his patients have as much information as they want/need. Obviously he loves his work and he enjoys helping people realize their goals. He listens as well as, if not better than, he talks. He seemed genuinely concerned in finding out exactly what it was I wanted. He is not averse to making suggestions, but ultimately it is his patients who make the final decisions...after all, it's their hair, not his. It is not only his enthusiasm and joy, but the pride he displays in his work and sense of ethics that helped me choose Dr. Gabel. All I needed was one wrong answer, one false statement, one crosseyed look, and I would have pulled up stakes and made that trip to Toronto. But I didn't have to, I was able to receive a very high quality hair transplant procedure right here at home.

 

Dr. Gabel's profile is available here somewhere (I'm sorry, I can't find it right now), and his website is www.nwshr.com (scheduled for updating this year sometime). If you're in the Pacific Northwest, you might consider Dr. Gabel...I think he's very good. You can see my photo gallery at http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/showthread.php?t=154367. Also visit my blog at http://www.hairtransplantnetwork.com/blog/home-page.asp?WebID=184 to hear some of my other thoughts on how my hair transplant surgery affected my life.

 

My advice to anyone doing research on hair transplants: take your time; use all available resources, not just the internet. Make trips if possible, ask for patient referrals, talk to people, write letters, get informed! Then make your best choice based on your knowledge and circumstances. If you do that, you will have made an unregrettable choice. Thanks for listening, and best of luck to you all.

 

Happy Camper

[Pat - Community Publisher]

Kelly,

 

Great to have a woman share her perspective on this forum. We don't want this forum to be an "old boys" hair network. Congratulations on your outstanding results.

 

Pat

[HK500]

Great results Kelly.

Pat, is'nt it time for an update on your hair log, it's been about 3 months right?