Dr. Rahal questions...

[vincehair]

Hey does Dr. Rahal do only one patient a day and how much of the work does he do himself?

[vincehair]

Hey does Dr. Rahal do only one patient a day and how much of the work does he do himself?

[Bill - Seemiller]

I trust that a Dr. Rahal patient will respond however, it is my understanding that in most cases, he works on only one patient per day unless 2 patients come in for smaller sessions.

 

Dr. Rahal harvests the donor strip and makes all recipient incisions. I believe the technicians place all the grafts. How much he is in the room during that part of the procedure, I'm not sure.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[vincehair]

Thanks Bill,yeah Rahal seems to be A+. Not sure how i feel about techs placing all the grafts tho. hmmm

[Bill - Seemiller]

vincehair,

 

You do realize that it is common practice for the technicians to place all the grafts in most clinics right?

 

A few surgeons get involved in that part of the process, but this seems to be more of the exception than the rule.

 

Part of a surgeon's responsibility is to oversee and ensure all the technicians are up to par and first-rate trimmers and planters.

 

If technicians cutting and planting was a problem, those clinics who perform hair transplant regularly would have a number of dissatisfied patients.

 

I'm not trying to change your point of view - just informing you that this practice is normal.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[Smoothy]

You very rarely see a good reputable doctor take more than 1-2 patients a day. If they do alot of the work, they do not have time for more than 2 and if it is not a mega session. Some want the money and have their nurses do most of the graft placements while they are in other rooms harvesting, ect. I've even heard of one clinic where the doctor had his nurse do the receipiant site incensions??? All he did was harvest the donor strip, nurse closed incision, other nurses disceted (which most nurses do this), main nurse created recipient site incisions and implanted disceted grafts, the doctor just came in periodically to look at placement ect.--- AVOID this type of practice.

Its not reasonable to think of even the best doctor doing every aspect of the HT but you want one that handles the harvest as that is extremely important as well as donor closure due to scarring. Also, the surgeon should do the receipient site incisions and placements.

IN MY OPINION>

 

SMOOTHY

Shapiro

Propecia/Rogaine

MSM/Saw Palmetto

Nioxin Shampoo

Zrii Daily

[Rahal Hair Transplant]

vincehair,

 

We work on one patient per day on most days. The only exceptions are if we have two smaller cases or one case plus scar revision.

 

The large size of our team of (10-12 technicians) allows us to do large sessions 4000-5500 grafts, without compromising quality or speed.

 

It is a common practice for the technicians to divide the grafts and to plant them. The key is to have well-trained, dedicated and experienced staff (in years not months).

 

We have constant feedback between Dr Rahal, the planting staff and the cutters as we tailor each individual surgery to that patient's specific hair characteristics.

 

The initial part of surgery of planning, hairline design, medications, strip removal and recipient site preparation are all done by Dr Rahal.

 

The planting is then done by the technicians with close supervision by Dr. Rahal through out the day.

 

As most clinics will also share that a technicians duty is to prepare and place those grafts, that technician will become better and faster than the physicians.

 

So for patients considering surgery they should understand that it is a team process and every link in that chain has to be as strong.

[kman]

Hey vincehair,

 

I had my procedure in March with Dr. Rahal and I believe I was his only patient that day. He did have 2 patients scheduled for the following day but still had time to see me for a post op checkup before flying.

After consultationj with the Doctor he gave me the meds and needles and harvested the donor strip and made all the recipient sites. I then had 3 great techs plant the grafts(and several more harvest the strip), but the doctor came in throughout the day to monitor my progress and report on how the graft harvesting was going. Dr. Rahal is definately "hands on" and would be an excellent choice. I am 4 months now and it looks like this will be it for me but if I had to get another HT there's no question I would go back to Rahal.

[vincehair]

Adrian ,Bill ,& Kman thanks for the replies. At the start of this thread i was just trying to figure out how much if any of the graft placement Dr. Rahal did. I wasn't in the dark to the fact that many Ht Doctors do not do all or most of the planting. Believe me i have researched the hell out of Ht's. Dr. Rahal has a great track record and i would feel very comfortable having him AND his techs work on my mellon

 

At the same time i know some doctors do their fare share of planting,especialy in the hairline. I believe feller places a good amount of grafts himself correct? I also like Dr. Wolf and know for a fact he does a great percentage of graft placement himself.

 

As long as the Techs are well trained i'm fine with them doing their job. I know a lot of guys want their chosen doctor being there the whole surgery,not going back and forth. Eases the nerves i'm sure

[omviki]

If most of the work is done by technicians then how would you rate the art of the doctor?

[kman]

Not trying to discount your concerns. It's a nerve-wracking time leading up to a decision on who you let loose on your head.

FYI, I had my hometown doc (not Rahal) place grafts in my first HT and I was happier with the result from Rahal's clinic with his highly trained techs planting the grafts on my latest HT. I think the skill of the physician comes into play with the strip harvesting and the making of the recipient sites so they mimic your existing hair angle, etc. Also, if you are doing a larger session you want those grafts in your head as quickly as possible (IMO)to improve the graft survival rate odds. Sometimes that necessitates several people at once working on your head planting grafts. I'm not suggesting Rahal isn't monitoring the planting closely and if I recall accurately(i was drugged up) i remember him planting some grafts near the end.

If you're not having a mega session and you go to an elite physician, it's not a bad thing having the doc place the grafts...but it's not necessary for an outstanding result.

This is all subjective but I wish you all the best, whoever you choose.

[Bill - Seemiller]

If most of the work is done by technicians then how would you rate the art of the doctor?

 

The "art" of the physician is in making the incisions which ultimately determines the placement, angulation, and orientation of the transplanted hair. Insertion (planting) into recipient sites is highly important and delicate, but it's the creation of the incisions that determines the placement and direction of hair growth.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Bill