My HT experience with Dr Rahal

[wantego]

I have had some questions via PM and phone call in the past so I figured I would post about my HT experience with Dr Rahal. Now this post is not to promote anyone it is just my way to "demystify" the process. I have seen promotion posts for a different doctor on another board and I do not like those kind of posts. I'm just going to stick to my actual experience.

 

I arrived in Canada. Customs are really thorough there. My letter from Dr Rahal helped ease the process. I arrived in my hotel on a Monday. It was a national holiday called Canada. Despite the holiday Dr Rahal wanted me to call him on his cell phone when I arrived. That did impress me. We spoke briefly and we were ready to go for the next day.

I arrived at his clinic around 6:30am. Soon Adrian arrived and had me start on the paperwork. The paperwork was a bit intimidating but only took around 10 minutes. Next to arrive was one of the doctors assistants. She treated me very nice and put me at ease. I was then given some pain medication I believe. When Dr Rahal arrived we had a brief consultation. He took some measurements and explained to me what he planned to do. We then took some pictures. We then went in to the room that the surgery would be done. The doctors tech gave me a cereal bar and some gatoraid to make sure I did not have an empty stomach before my surgery. The doctor asked if I had any concerns and explained the process. I told him I had a pretty high pain tolerance so I was not worried about the pain. The doctor then gave me some pain reliever I believe via shots in my head. I'm not sure about that part. The doctor started making some incisions to remove the strip and to sew me up. I know this will sound strange but I did not feel any pain when he did this. In fact I did not feel much discomfort at all when he was cutting my scalp or sewing it up. The doctor then started to make the recipient sites. Once again I did not find this painful. The techs then started to go to work on the strip. They had 2 microscopes set up side by side to do this. The techs were very nice and offered to put in some dvds. The techs then started the process of inserting the grafts. I watched pretty much every episode of Seinfeld more than once during the long day. The doctors sister is a caterer I believe and she made me a very good turkey sandwich for lunch. The techs were often asking if I was OK. During the whole process I was attached to a medical machine that kept an eye on my vitals such as blood pressure. The only pain I felt during the process was near the end when the freezing started wearing off. The doctor came in 2-3 times to give me another dose of numbing in that last hour or so. After the procedure was done the doctor went over all the medications he was giving me as well as the paper instructions. He also gave me dinner that his sister had made for me. That way I could just go to my hotel and rest. Since I live far away the doctor had requested I stay some additional days. He scheduled follow ups during those days. I went in with an agreement for 4000 grafts. The doctor told me we got an extra 374 grafts. They gave me 124 grafts for free and I paid for the remaining 250 grafts. I was wearing a blue surgical hat the doctor gave me so my grafts were not touched by any sort of cap. The doctors office called me a cab and had it waiting for me when it was time to leave. They did that every day I was there including the follow ups. During the next days follow up the doctor showed me how to drizzle the vitamin e oil on my grafts and gave me some baby shampoo. The doctor and his techs seemed very nice during my visit. On my last follow up the doctor let me use one of their computers to confirm my plane flights. I also asked if I could have a few of those blue surgical hats. I really liked wearing them instead of a cap. He gave me 4 of them. I also received another letter to help me get through customs again. Thanks to the letter they did not even ask me to remove the surgical hat. In fact the lady at customs must have seen a lot of those hats because she assumed I was somebody she had seen before. So that is my actual HT experience. No fluff. No hype. So far so good. I'm very optimistic! If anyone has any questions feel free to ask me at any time. I will always give you a straight forward honest answer.

[wantego]

I have had some questions via PM and phone call in the past so I figured I would post about my HT experience with Dr Rahal. Now this post is not to promote anyone it is just my way to "demystify" the process. I have seen promotion posts for a different doctor on another board and I do not like those kind of posts. I'm just going to stick to my actual experience.

 

I arrived in Canada. Customs are really thorough there. My letter from Dr Rahal helped ease the process. I arrived in my hotel on a Monday. It was a national holiday called Canada. Despite the holiday Dr Rahal wanted me to call him on his cell phone when I arrived. That did impress me. We spoke briefly and we were ready to go for the next day.

I arrived at his clinic around 6:30am. Soon Adrian arrived and had me start on the paperwork. The paperwork was a bit intimidating but only took around 10 minutes. Next to arrive was one of the doctors assistants. She treated me very nice and put me at ease. I was then given some pain medication I believe. When Dr Rahal arrived we had a brief consultation. He took some measurements and explained to me what he planned to do. We then took some pictures. We then went in to the room that the surgery would be done. The doctors tech gave me a cereal bar and some gatoraid to make sure I did not have an empty stomach before my surgery. The doctor asked if I had any concerns and explained the process. I told him I had a pretty high pain tolerance so I was not worried about the pain. The doctor then gave me some pain reliever I believe via shots in my head. I'm not sure about that part. The doctor started making some incisions to remove the strip and to sew me up. I know this will sound strange but I did not feel any pain when he did this. In fact I did not feel much discomfort at all when he was cutting my scalp or sewing it up. The doctor then started to make the recipient sites. Once again I did not find this painful. The techs then started to go to work on the strip. They had 2 microscopes set up side by side to do this. The techs were very nice and offered to put in some dvds. The techs then started the process of inserting the grafts. I watched pretty much every episode of Seinfeld more than once during the long day. The doctors sister is a caterer I believe and she made me a very good turkey sandwich for lunch. The techs were often asking if I was OK. During the whole process I was attached to a medical machine that kept an eye on my vitals such as blood pressure. The only pain I felt during the process was near the end when the freezing started wearing off. The doctor came in 2-3 times to give me another dose of numbing in that last hour or so. After the procedure was done the doctor went over all the medications he was giving me as well as the paper instructions. He also gave me dinner that his sister had made for me. That way I could just go to my hotel and rest. Since I live far away the doctor had requested I stay some additional days. He scheduled follow ups during those days. I went in with an agreement for 4000 grafts. The doctor told me we got an extra 374 grafts. They gave me 124 grafts for free and I paid for the remaining 250 grafts. I was wearing a blue surgical hat the doctor gave me so my grafts were not touched by any sort of cap. The doctors office called me a cab and had it waiting for me when it was time to leave. They did that every day I was there including the follow ups. During the next days follow up the doctor showed me how to drizzle the vitamin e oil on my grafts and gave me some baby shampoo. The doctor and his techs seemed very nice during my visit. On my last follow up the doctor let me use one of their computers to confirm my plane flights. I also asked if I could have a few of those blue surgical hats. I really liked wearing them instead of a cap. He gave me 4 of them. I also received another letter to help me get through customs again. Thanks to the letter they did not even ask me to remove the surgical hat. In fact the lady at customs must have seen a lot of those hats because she assumed I was somebody she had seen before. So that is my actual HT experience. No fluff. No hype. So far so good. I'm very optimistic! If anyone has any questions feel free to ask me at any time. I will always give you a straight forward honest answer.

[Eman]

what percentage of the overall surgery was Dr.R in the room? I only ask as you said he came in 2-3 times in the last hour.

[wantego]

That is a good question. Please keep in mind my hour statement was just an guesstimate on the time. It was a long day and I did not watch a clock. I dont think I would be doing the question justice by guessing. I really was not paying much attention to who was in the room and when. Aldo recently had surgery with Dr Rahal so you might be better off asking him since his surgery was so recent. Sorry that I could not give you a more specific answer.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Wantego,

 

Thanks for sharing a detailed account of your experience with Dr. Rahal. I'm glad, but not surprised, to hear that it was a good one.

 

Your hair transplant photos on your weblog look great so far. It looks like you will have a nice dense look when your hair grows in and matures.

 

I look forward to following your progress and look forward to your continued participation on our forum

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[wantego]

Thanks Bill. I really enjoy this board so it was my pleasure.

[Byehair]

You picked a great doctor and your work looks like it wil really pay off.

You just can't seem to lose with Dr. Rahal.

[NW4recession]

Wantego,

 

Thanks for sharing. I was glad to hear about the surgical hats. As silly as it may sound, I have been worried about how to handle the whole hat thing on the flight home.

[wantego]

Originally posted by NW4recession:

Wantego,

 

Thanks for sharing. I was glad to hear about the surgical hats. As silly as it may sound, I have been worried about how to handle the whole hat thing on the flight home.

 

They are great in my opinion! Light as a feather and do not do any damage.

[justgrow]

wantego,

 

How mant techs were working on you? It sounds like only 2? I would seem like there would be more for the size of the procedure you had.

 

The work look great.

[justgrow]

that scar looks really nice by the way.

[justgrow]

sorry one more question.

 

How long were you in the chair and do you know on average how many years of experience the thechs had that were working on you?

 

ok 2 more questions

[Rahal Hair Transplant]

wantego,

 

Thank you for sharing your experience with our clinic - it was a real pleasure meeting you.

 

I noticed a few questions relating to this thread, so I thought I would add some insight.

 

Dr. Rahal does the surgical planning, strip removal and closure and creates the recipient sites to ensure correct angulation and placement - he also supervises the cutting and planting of the new grafts. During the planting process he is constantly in and out of the room ensuring the patient is ok. Often patients are asleep during this process and do not even notice.

We have 10 to 11 technicians on any case. we have a dedicated cutting room, so the patient may only notice few techs in the operating room. All the techs have years of experience in the industry. Some started with Dr. Rahal when he opened his hair transplant practice back in 1995.

 

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

 

Adrian

[wantego]

Originally posted by justgrow:

sorry one more question.

 

How long were you in the chair and do you know on average how many years of experience the thechs had that were working on you?

 

ok 2 more questions

 

Just Grow,

 

There were definitely more than 2 techs. I'm not exactly sure how many but I do remember at 1 point saw 2 techs working on the grafts under the microscopes, at least 2 techs working on putting the grafts in and 1 tech handing them the grafts. That would make at least 5 techs at once in the room. I also noticed another room with microscopes but I dont know if they were used during my surgery. The doctor also was in there at various times after he made the strip and the placement sites. I was in a chair not too much different than a dentist chair and I only have 1 "small" head. The techs were very nice to me.

 

I'm not exactly sure how long I was in the chair. I would guesstimate around 8-10 hours. I arrived before 6:45am and we may have got started by 7:30am-8:30am. I'm not sure what time I finished but probably somewhere around 5pm

 

I did not ask how many years the techs had. That is a good question but I did not think of several good questions before or while I was there.

 

Thank you very much for the kind words about the scar.

[wantego]

Originally posted by Adrian:

wantego,

 

Thank you for sharing your experience with our clinic - it was a real pleasure meeting you.

 

I noticed a few questions relating to this thread, so I thought I would add some insight.

 

Dr. Rahal does the surgical planning, strip removal and closure and creates the recipient sites to ensure correct angulation and placement - he also supervises the cutting and planting of the new grafts. During the planting process he is constantly in and out of the room ensuring the patient is ok. Often patients are asleep during this process and do not even notice.

We have 10 to 11 technicians on any case. we have a dedicated cutting room, so the patient may only notice few techs in the operating room. All the techs have years of experience in the industry. Some started with Dr. Rahal when he opened his hair transplant practice back in 1995.

 

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

 

Adrian

 

Hey Adrian. Thanks for answering some of these questions. I really did not pay much attention to how many techs were working at a time so I'm glad you were here to answer that question.

 

It was nice meeting you as well. Hopefully if we ever meet again I will have a lot of new hair to show you!