Question/Answer: How do I choose a hair transplant doctor?

[Bill - Seemiller]

Here's another one for you guys. Comments encouraged.

 

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How do I choose a hair transplant doctor?

 

This is probably one of the MOST important questions to answer once you determine that you are most likely a good candidate for a hair transplant. Of course, it is the doctor who should ultimately determine whether or not you are a good candidate and your best course of action...however, how do you select a doctor that you can trust?

 

The key to anything is research and education. Make educated and informed decisions based on knowledge and experience rather than gut and emotion. So how do you start your research...that is indeed a good question.

 

The internet is your best source of information that you can find and use...but be careful in your searches...not everything you read is true. So a few cautions: Be careful of marketing tactics that are obvious to some and not to others. Marketing tactics include:

 

1. Over generalizations on very specific items

2. Over-use of glowing positive words like "natural", "easy", "satisfaction" and "guaranteed".

3. Before/after photos that are:

a. Small and/or blurry

b. Taken from different angles

c. Taken in different lighting or surroundings (Camera flash plays an important role in trick photography...results can look better or worse depending on angling and use of the flash)

 

This site is a great resource to begin your research.

 

Here are some additional tips to help you with your research and encourage you in your journey:

 

1. I strongly encourage you to get involved in one of the hair loss forum communities. Post your questions that you have, read the responses and get to know people. You will not only learn something, but you'll realize that you are not alone in your journey. This makes it much easier to go through.

 

2. The more you learn, the better off you will be. When you are finally ready to consider selecting a doctor, I highly recommend researching the doctors from the Coalition of the Hair Transplant Network found here: http://www.hairlosslearningcenter.org/hair-loss-content...s/our_physicians.asp.

 

3. It is BEST, to do at least THREE consultations with doctors you feel comfortable with. The way you become comfortable with these doctors before you consult with them is by researching them first. Once you narrow it down to a few top clinics, choosing becomes a very subjective process. Choose the doctor that you feel suits you best. The links I've provided above (especially the forums) will give you a LOT of information on these doctors. The forums are a HUGE benefit because the posts come from REAL patients posting REAL results. It's best to follow those who are posting monthly updates and providing detailed accounts of their experience.

 

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Bill

[Bill - Seemiller]

Comments/feedback?

 

Bill

[rp1979]

Very good advice. Below is to complement with what you said:

 

These are the issues/questions that I asked myself when I was choosing among the coalition docs:

 

"How to choose a coalition doctor that is right for me"?:

 

1). Does the coalition doctor requires you to buzz down the recipient site? Buzzing the recipient site will give the doctor the most optimal condition to work, however excellent results can be achieved without doing this. Ask yourself if you feel comfortable with buzzing the recipient site.

 

2). Does the coalition doctor place grafts on the hairline himself (i,e. not the techician)? Excellent results can be achieved with the doctor not placing any grafts, however some would argue that it can make a difference if the doctor places the grafts through a final stick and place method. The majority of the coalition do not place grafts themselves, but some do such as the Shapiros, Keene, Glenn and Cooley (there might be more). Ask yourself are you comfortable with having the doctor not placing any grafts on your head.

 

3). If you are doing a consultation remotely or doing a phone consultation, are you able to speak or correspond via email with the doctor directly? Obviously doctors are extremely busy and thus most of the time you are corresponding with the consultant/patient educator, which is understandable. But I applaud those doctors who give out their emails to remote prospective patients and respond directly to them. If you cannot do an in-office consult and you are willing to travel for an HT, ask yourself if you are comfortable with not speaking to the doctor directly before BOOKING surgery. Part of choosing an doc is to see if you CLICK with the doctor, not from just seeing his work alone.

 

4). Will the coaltion doctor do a larger session on you if you want more grafts? Do you your research and you can accurately assess for youself how many grafts you need. If you truely believe that you need and WANT more grafts than what the doctor assessed, tell him this and see if he can accomodate.

 

5). If you want generic finasteride (Versus propecia), will the doctor write a prescription for you (assuming you are uncomfortable going to an online drugstore to get medication). Due to various reasons (eg. active ingredient distribution in pill), some doctors are uncomfortable precribing generic finasteride to patients. Do you research and see what is best for you.

 

6). Compare prices among coalition doctors. Theoretically choosing one doc from another coalition doc is like choosing between excellent and excellent. Some doctor will provide allowance for air fare and/or hotel stay. Ask if this doctor is THAT MUCH better than another doctor that warrants him to charge a bit more per grafts or for you to have to travel further away from where you live.

[Bayer]

Bill,

 

Excellent stuff.

 

The only thing I would emphasize more would the importance of not letting travel unduly influence the HT decision.

 

The coalition docs are somewhat geographically dispersed, which may intimidate some prospective patients. The mills have more locations and have convenient "office location lookups" on their websites.

 

The "handy location" or extra travel dollars should never be a criteria when making a decision this important.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Bayer,

 

I actually can hardly believe I didn't cover that. Good catch! I cant catch them all. I think I'll modify the document when I have time.

 

rp1979,

 

Nice additional list of questions. I'm not sure if I agree as to whether all of them are important when considering an HT doctor, however, it certainly does go to show that personal preference accounts for a lot.

 

I know your number 1 is very important for some people, whereas I am an advocate of shaving the recipient area, despite the inconvenience. There are plenty of posts on that including my own comments, so I won't comment here.

 

Number 2 has been debated by a few as well...to me, it's a personal preference thing. As to whether or not a better result would or could be yielded if the doc place the hairline, no such evidence exists.

 

Number 3 is definitely personal preference as well, but I do agree...it does speak wonders when the doctor takes time out of his/her day to do the consultations over the phone, in person, and via email.

 

Your Number 4 has been looked at as both a "pro" and a "con". Some believe that if a doctor would give you more grafts if you want it, then they must be trying to get more money out of your pocket. I am sure this CAN be the case, but I'm not convinced this is always true. The bottom line (and some may disagree with me here), is people always talk about maximum density and nobody wants a "see-through" hair transplant. The more grafts you get, the more density you will have. Some doctors will accomodate that if they can (still putting safety first) in order to help you achieve your goals. But a doctor should not only keep safety in mind first, but also do whatever is in your best interest whether it means conserving grafts for potential future need, or extracting the highest number of grafts possible.

 

Your number 5 and 6 are definitely gravy. it helps if your doctor will write the necessary prescriptions for you and also is lower in price. I wouldn't consider them a means to select a doctor, but certainly they are helpful.

 

Just my thoughts.

 

Bill

 

As always...additional comments welcome.

[rp1979]

Hi Bill,

 

You mentioned in your post to research doctors in the coalition. The intention of my post is more geared towards prospective patients who have already narrowed their selection to only coalition doctors, the best of the best. "Coalition doctors" being the operative word here.

 

Obviously if someone asked me if they should go to some unknown doctor versus one of the coalition doctor, that answer is a no-brainer.

 

I, for example decided, that I will select only from the coalition doctors so the next logical question is how to choose a COALITION doctor that is right for me?

 

For example if I narrowed my list down to:

 

Hassoun, Wong, Shapiro, Feller, Rahal, Rose, Cooley, True? Who is better? Then it really bowls down pretty much to subjective personal preferences, those of which I forementioned in my previous post.

 

Anyways just offering my two cents. I've learned a lot from this site as well as from veteran posters like yourself. THanks again.

 

-RP

[Bill - Seemiller]

rp1979,

 

Thank you for clarifying your post...that makes a lot of sense and surely does add more validity to it

 

Your "two cents" are appreciated...I'm glad you could contribute to the discussion!

 

Bill

[Hairfree]

Good post guys. I learned a lot on this forum and all of your experience and advice helped me decide which doctor is best for me at the time. One thing that everyone has to keep in mind is that if a doctor won't do mega sessions (3500 grafts or more) it don't mean that that particular doctor isn't as good as others. For example, Dr. Charles and Dr. Epstein have excellent Ht doctors and most cases they do not go for mega sessions. However, I know that Dr. Charles does place many of the grafts into the incisions himself and they both have great skills in creating hairlines. They have their own good reasons why they don't do large sessions. Bill can do a better job explaining that part than me.

 

You have to ask yourself. Are you looking to do this in one pass or with multiple HTs? Everyone's case is different.

[Bill - Seemiller]

I tried editing my post above...but since I can't...here is an important number 4 from above:

 

4. Do NOT let location determine which doctor you choose. Many people travel all over the world to see world renowned physicians/clinics because they are of an elite group. It's always best to choose a physician who has proven to achieve positive consistent results no matter where they are located.

 

Bill

[Relaxo]

So what are the pros/cons....if i don't do a mega session (3500 grafts), does that mean that i will have a "see through" HT for a while. And, post op, are people/co-workers gonna be able to tell i had something done...and if so, for how long (shaven/transplanted donor area showing little hairs).

[Bill - Seemiller]

Relaxo,

 

I recommend reading the following threads:

 

Will I ever be able to obtain a full head of hair with a hair transplant?

 

When will I look normal after a hair transplant?

 

I hope this helps.

 

Bill

[Dean]

Hi Can i just ask that when you post something eg. a comment to someone elses post , you go right to the very bottom and get lost - Surely your comments should go to the top otherwise you will get comments from years ago flagging at the top that no one wants to see anymore cos its old news

 

 

Regards

 

 

Dean

[Mr. GQ]

Originally posted by Dean:

Hi Can i just ask that when you post something eg. a comment to someone elses post , you go right to the very bottom and get lost - Surely your comments should go to the top otherwise you will get comments from years ago flagging at the top that no one wants to see anymore cos its old news

 

 

Regards

 

 

Dean

 

no system is fine as it is.

i think lot of us would agree.

 

use the quote feature to reply to a specific post from above.

[hairdoyle]

I will travel anywhere(i am in Ireland#)

 

Where is the best doctor for results/money

 

thanks