Personal consultaion and same day surgery

[mmhce]

After having on-line evaluations with a surgeon, is it advisable to have a personal evaluation and surgery on the same day?

 

Should one allow a day to assimilate the information of the personal consulation?

[mmhce]

After having on-line evaluations with a surgeon, is it advisable to have a personal evaluation and surgery on the same day?

 

Should one allow a day to assimilate the information of the personal consulation?

[Eman]

You can do a number of things.

 

Many of us have phone conversations/consults with the doctor. It is nice to receive the email with the estimate and what the doctor thinks needs to be done, but it will be more beneficial for you to call and set up a phone interview as well. Write down any and all questions you may have and the approach you would like to take based on your needs.

 

Another route would be to go and meet the physician personally for a consult. It is hard to do for some of us as the doctor may not be that close--thus the phone consult. But you need to do whatever makes you most comfortable.

 

I personally did the phone consultation after receiving the email. I went the day before my surgery to meet personally witht the doc and discuss hairline/density and such. That way I could spend the evening thinking and coming up with any other questions/concerns that I may have the day of surgery.

 

Hope this helps.

Eman

[mmhce]

So you did not have surgery the same day as the consultation.

 

Don't you need some time for the surgeon to examine your scalp and hair, for donor hair and follicular density, scalp laxity, etc, and do some tests before doing the surgery?

 

Doesn't this take up time and thus making it difficult to do the surgery right after consultation, because the doctor is still waiting on results from the lab?

 

What might be the most imperative questions to ask the doctor during the personal consultation, having asked almost all the questions one could think of before?

[Dewayne]

Originally posted by mmhce:

So you did not have surgery the same day as the consultation.

 

Don't you need some time for the surgeon to examine your scalp and hair, for donor hair and follicular density, scalp laxity, etc, and do some tests before doing the surgery?

 

Doesn't this take up time and thus making it difficult to do the surgery right after consultation, because the doctor is still waiting on results from the lab?

 

What might be the most imperative questions to ask the doctor during the personal consultation, having asked almost all the questions one could think of before?

 

I emailed my pics, did a phone consult the week before, and then an in-person consult at 7 a.m. By 7:30 he was taking out the donor.

 

I'm not aware of any lab tests.

 

Ideally, I would think the afternoon before would be the best consult time. But, with a pro I think they can size you up pretty quickly. I had researched so much that I knew just about everything I needed, and the only question was to dense pack the front 1/3, or spread it over my whole head. We went with the top 2/3.

[Eman]

I had my phone consult earlier in the year after receiving the online consult email from Adrian (the consultant at Dr. Rahal's office).

 

The pre-op consult was the day before surgery. That is where Dr. Rahal examined my dome and went over my options.

 

I did have blood work done a month prior to surgery. Some docs require it, while others do not.

 

Do research here on the forums, see what you like/don't like and come up with a game plan in terms of achieving your HT goals. Are you looking to add density; Are you looking to create a new hairline; Are you looking to fill in the crown; Temple work; Repair work; FUE; FUT?? Once you begin formulating your goal(s) you will come up with pertinent questions. And if you need help with specifics, let me know.

 

What doctor are you planning on going to--if I may ask?

[mmhce]

I will have FUT strip. I am looking to recreate my hair line and add density to the top and front 2/3 of my scalp. I have been advised that the crown can be maintained with finasteride and minoxidil which I have been already applying since late 2004. I had initial increase in volume/density, but that had waned since the ending of 2007/beginning of 2008 and I decided to have surgical intervention. I started losing hair at age 16, but I believe that my hairloss has stabilised for the past few years. I am 29 years.

 

I have been also advised that 2000-3000 grafts (6000-7000) hairs should give me a satisfactory result.

 

I plan to go to Dr. Alba Reyes Sagiv in Dominican Republic, as Thinman123 had done.

[mmhce]

Here are my pics:

 

http://i493.photobucket.com/albums/rr293/mmhce/PICT0007.jpg

http://i493.photobucket.com/albums/rr293/mmhce/PICT0012.jpg

http://i493.photobucket.com/albums/rr293/mmhce/PICT0020.jpg

http://i493.photobucket.com/albums/rr293/mmhce/PICT0030.jpg

http://i493.photobucket.com/albums/rr293/mmhce/PICT0031.jpg

http://i493.photobucket.com/albums/rr293/mmhce/PICT0032.jpg

http://i493.photobucket.com/albums/rr293/mmhce/PICT0048.jpg

[mmhce]

Dewayne,

 

"I emailed my pics, did a phone consult the week before, and then an in-person consult at 7 a.m. By 7:30 he was taking out the donor."

 

So half an hour was all you needed to iron out whether "to dense pack the front 1/3, or spread it over my whole head."?

 

"I'm not aware of any lab tests."

 

What about your cardiogram if you are over 35 yrs.?

 

And blood tests?

 

Didn't you have both or just the blood test?

 

 

Thanks.

[Dr. William Lindsey]

We definitely prefer to meet all patients days or weeks before a transplant. Some folks fly a great distance to get to the office, and before they schedule anything, I like to review pics online, and discuss by phone what they should expect, even the possibility that they may not be a candidate when they arrive. (On occasion someone may look dramatically different than their pics would suggest. We had a female patient a few years ago that was using her college pictures on online dating sites, but in real life she was 50 years old! So nothing beats a face to face consultation).

 

Fairly commonly, we discuss a plan based on online pics, and then have the patient fly in the day before the procedure. We have a nice hotel and pharmacy within a short walk of the office. The patient comes over, we finalize the plan, and surgery is the next morning.

 

For people who have to travel, that is a great option.

 

I see a fair number of unhappy patients who went to a national chain company, never met the doc til the day of surgery, then got what a salesman suggested; rather than what a doctor might have offered as an alternative.

 

Dr. Lindsey McLean VA

[Bill - Seemiller]

mmhce,

 

In an ideal world, it's a good idea to have an in-person consultation with your selected surgeon before the procedure. However, this isn't always possible if you are selecting a surgeon from a distant location.

 

For both my second and third hair transplants (2 different surgeons), I met with my surgeon for the first time the day of surgery. I had a number of email and phone correspondence with each clinic, but didn't get an in-person evaluation by the doctor until the day of surgery.

 

Now, there is a possibility that if you plan to fly far away for surgery, and the doctor evaluates you, he could tell you that you aren't a good candidate and refuse to operate. Though it would be for your own good if this is the case, it may be very upsetting to hear since you planned your life around it.

 

This is why it's idea to meet with your surgeon first if at all possible. But it isn't always necessary.

 

All the best,

 

Bill