who is the best among these Doctors

[totallybald]

hey guys,

 

Recently, i have been checking this forum on daily basis and found it very helpful. thank you guys for sharing your experiences and a special thank you to whomever started this board.

 

i decided to undergo a hair transplant procedure and i am kind of lost as to which doctor to go with. could you guys help me out with this. i am thinking of the follwoing doctors:

 

Shapiro, Bernstein, DeYarman, Keene, Epstein, Limmer, and Scott Alexander.

 

how would you guys rank them? or advise me who delivers real good results. i am interested in the ones who deliver the most natural- looking / undetectable results. i am looking forward to hearing back from you guys.

 

thank you so much

[totallybald]

hey guys,

 

Recently, i have been checking this forum on daily basis and found it very helpful. thank you guys for sharing your experiences and a special thank you to whomever started this board.

 

i decided to undergo a hair transplant procedure and i am kind of lost as to which doctor to go with. could you guys help me out with this. i am thinking of the follwoing doctors:

 

Shapiro, Bernstein, DeYarman, Keene, Epstein, Limmer, and Scott Alexander.

 

how would you guys rank them? or advise me who delivers real good results. i am interested in the ones who deliver the most natural- looking / undetectable results. i am looking forward to hearing back from you guys.

 

thank you so much

[troy]

I also would include rose and charles to that list. And talk to all of them. I think people need to find the right doctor for themselves. I believe if you talked to all of them you would know who to use, you can email them and send them pictures of your situation and go from there. good luck

[MrJobi]

Hi

 

Check out Dr. Robert True as well as he did my 2 procedures. Just do some research on here as well. Here is a great link below. I don't think you can say there is a "best" doctor. Many have great skills and artistic ability. You have to be comfortable with the person.

 

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/hair-loss-doctors.asp

[GuitarPlayer]

I would really study all of their before and after pictures and see if you can widdle it down to your "Top 3." Especially study pictures that are similar to your degree of hair loss, hair color, hair texture, etc. Then consult with those three and see who you like best.

[totallybald]

Thank you guys. You all make perfect sense. I am trying to resort to those who have experience or have heard of other people's experiences since the actual result of this procedure is to be seen well into the future. i could feel very comfortable with a specific doctor, but the actual results will not be up to standard.

 

i do realize that it is difficult to rank those doctors, but in your opinion...who, among them, delivers natural looking results? if they all do then just confirm it. If some of them are less great than the others then just point them out please. again, thank you so much :-)

[Guest]

totallybald,

I don't know much about some of the docs on your list. Others, I have heard nothing but praise for them. I would suggest having consultation with all of them and see what they say. If you're not close to their office, I'm sure you can set up an email/phone consultation. Ask the docs if they have any patients that you can meet in person. Until you see the work in person, you won't truly know what you're getting.

 

btw- I am a patient of Dr. Hasson's and I would highly recommend talking to him or Dr. Wong. I have met several other patients of both of theirs, and they really do produce excellent results consistantly. I'm not saying that the other docs on your list don't do that, but it's always worth checking out all of your options before pulling the trigger.

[Gorpy]

I would say, from a pure "naturalness" point of view, Dr. Keene. That is why I went with her.

[hairworthy]

I think as long as this forum exists we'll have this same old debate. There is simply no answer to that question. Go for the surgeon you feel most comfortable with, after indeed looking at his before/after pics, talking to him, maybe meeting some of his patients and so on. I had my HT with Dr Hasson but I would have felt equally comfortable having it with Dr Wong, Dr Shapiro, Dr Epstein, Dr Rose, Dr Feller, Dr Keene, Dr Seager and a few others. They are all on the IAHRS list, which by the way now includes Dr Armani. First time I see him there. Wind of change?

[Pat - Community Publisher]

Hairworthy,

 

While there are many excellent doctors who are members of the IAHRS some of the members do not use microscopes for preparing the grafts and many others do not have the capability of doing sessions of ultra refined follicular unit grafting.

 

In my opinion, the standards for what is now truly state of the art have evolved higher in the last few years. To recoginize this higher bar of excellence the membership standards for the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians were raised to a very demanding standard (click here to read these standards).

 

This past spring when this new and higher standard was implemented six clinics were not invited to have their memberships renewed. This did not mean that they were not ethical or performing good work, they simply had not moved up to the highest standard possible.

 

The Coalition would become a meaningless and irrelevant club if its membership standards did not rise higher as the standard of care rose higher.

 

In my opinion the membership standards for the IAHRS do not require members to preform hair restoration at truly state of the art standards. Thus if you have a membership ranging from outstanding to not even using microscopes, what does this "standard" mean?

 

Based on these standards, many of the IAHRS members would not qualify for membership in the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians. In fact, some of the IAHRS members were not offered to renew their membership in the Coalition when the membership standards were raised.

 

As we all know, when it comes to physicians careful selection is critical. This applies to choosing a physician for surgery or for membership.

 

Not every outstanding physician is a member of the Coalition. But in my opinion every member of the Coalition is truly outstanding.

[hairworthy]

Thanks for your views on this Pat. There are several docs on the IAHRS list that I've never heard of, hence I can't comment, but you will probably agree that most, if not all of the "top names" are there (they are on your list too). The fact that such lists exist is probably a good thing anyway, it helps narrowing down the number of docs that do outstanding work.

[totallybald]

hey everyone,

 

Everyone I have asked so far (on this board or elsewhere) had the same answer...go with the one you feel most comfortable with. i checked out all the online galleries of the surgeons and they all seem to deliver equally good results (but pics are not that reliable i guess).

 

it is a very tough call. i am more inclined towards going with Shapiro, Hasson, Konior, or Keene. i have not made up my mind yet, but i will keep you guys posted.

 

please feel free to provide insight as we go along. i would always appreciate that. the problem i have now is that i moved out of the US (it is a job thing), and it seems i won't be back anytime soon. so, face-to-face consultations are out of the question. that is why i would have to rely on others to provide direction. thanks.

[troy]

Why dont you Email all 3.

[Guest]

Troy,

 

I was really impressed with your hair transplant photos and your positive attitude. I am allot balder than you and in need of a hair transplant ASAP. I have put it off for so longer mainly due to being scared that I will wind up looking worst or be too self conscience to go back to work. I would really prefer that no body knows at work if I were get a transplant. Also with a family of five to the support it never seems to be a consideration in the family budget. I was wondering if you could give me a hint what a hair transplant with 2,376 grafts costs? I think I would need at least 2500 grafts for my first procedure. My e-mail address is giarc33@comcast.net.

 

Thanks,

 

Craig

 

 

Originally posted by troy:

I also would include rose and charles to that list. And talk to all of them. I think people need to find the right doctor for themselves. I believe if you talked to all of them you would know who to use, you can email them and send them pictures of your situation and go from there. good luck

[hairworthy]

Originally posted by giarc:

I was wondering if you could give me a hint what a hair transplant with 2,376 grafts costs? I think I would need at least 2500 grafts for my first procedure.

The average price for this type of procedure is $3 per graft.

[totallybald]

Hey Troy,

 

I e-mailed the 4 of them and got similar replies. Only Hasson recommended a slightly higher number of grafts (just slightly); otherwise, it was all the same. that is why i cannot make a decision. if all of you guys think that all 4 deliver undetectable results (comparable in quality, or better yet of the same quality), then i think i cannot go wrong.

 

yesterday, i read on another board that Shapiro does not necessarily deliver the expected results...has any of you guys heard bad things about him? thanks.

[Guest]

I've never heard any bad things about Shapiro. In fact, everyone that I've ever seen that went to him was ecstatic about their results.

[troy]

I live very close to shapiro medical and have talk very extensivley to them about who they are, Matt Zupan is extremly passionate about what they do, and short of words. After going through my procedure I trust Shapiro group and would use any of the Docs there. They have been great as well for answering questions post op. I have had no bad expirence with them at all. I know the B spot also not to long ago had a ht with shapiro and is a freequent visitor on here. Gorphy had Keene and has been very happy with her. I know when I was first researching I wanted the best doc also, I know dont believe that there is a best doc, but rather elite group of top docs and you cant go wrong with any of them in that group. One thing that did help me immensley was meeting a former patient of my doc, after seeing his results in person my anxioty turned to excitment. Its a lot different looking at before and after pictures and seeing the real deal in person. Good luck with choice.

[Pat - Community Publisher]

In my opinion, when you are comparing the very best hair transplant surgeons you are really comparing excellent to excellent. This does make it tough to choose. But on the other hand that God for such a dilema.

 

As for Dr. Shapiro's reputation, I encourage anyone who is curious about his reputation to simply click on the "Find" button on this forum and enter "Shapiro". You will find over 1800 matches that link to posts about his going back over 5 years. In all my days online I can't recall virtually anything negative every being said about him or his clinic. But the accolades are overwhelming.

 

I encourage everyone to use the "Find" feature on this forum when researching a particular surgeon (make sure the "search only this forum" check box is unchecked so the entire forum is searched). The five plus years of posts about physicians and topics on this forum is an incredible wealth of real first hand information.

 

Best wishes, Pat

[Gorpy]

One thing I have noticed after researching this subject for quite some time now is that certain doctors have certain "styles". By that I mean they will follow some similar patterns with their work. They might be very subtle differences, but they do exist. For example, if you like Shapiro's hairlines, don't expect to go to one of the others and get that type of hairline. As mentioned above they are all excellent, but with subtle differences in their styling characteristics. Your best bet is to meet with them in person. Doctors have more pictures at their offices that they don't put online. Meet with some patients. That will help the decision become clear.

[totallybald]

Gorpy,

 

that is a very good point, i never considered that. thank you for pointing it out.

[the B spot]

TB, you have posed an interesting question here my friend!!!!!! I think most of the members here are hesitant to endorse one doctor over another, simply because at one point several respected members began working for this or that clinic, and rabidly endorsed their doc/employer. Obviously, you can see how the internet is a powerful marketing tool, and how "shills" (as they are called here) could sway newbies one way or the other. I myself carefully combed through this website and others in order to get to "know" several ht doctors. I cannot tell you how many phone consults I had What I was looking for was an industry common, you know, information that kept comming up, over and over again, without prompting. As I would like to consider myself a pretty logical guy, several names popped out (to me) :Shapiro, H&W, Rose, Feller, and Konier. I immediately disregarded Konier, simply because his consultant (Tom, I think) refused to negotiate a reasonable price, and would not budge from almost 5.00 per graft. I personally did not have him as high as Shapiro,Hasson, or Wong,(pretty close!) but his office was the closest to my home (40 min). I then called H&W, and I was impressed by their "style" and confidence. Seeing Jotronics results helped as well. In addition, they were more than willing to negotiate a flat rate price, which really impressed me as well, as they are not hard up for customers. I felt the same about Dr. Shapiro, who seemed to be everywhere at the time. I know this is going to piss a few off, but here goes: In MY estimation, Dr. Shapiro creates the best hairlines in the entire industry, period. By that I mean his patients receive the best hairlines as individuals, not a cookie cutter template. This is not to say that a drastic difference exists between Shapiro and other dr.s, just an observation. For example, I think the best doctor in the world at one pass density is Dr. Hasson, and the best crown work is done by Dr. Wong. That does not mean each is substandard in other areas, just an observation. In addition, I am not casting dispersion on other clinics, just my opinion as an informed patient. Many long time posters feel that a HT is a last choice, and a conservative approach is best. We are not hairloss forecasters, and should keep that in mind when we embark on this journey. I had 3100 grafts done and I will go for another 3000 to 3500 in july-august. This should leave me with 1500 to 2000 for any future work that is needed. I like this approach, and that coupled with Shapiro's hairlines, made the choice easy for me. TB, ultimately, the choice is yours, so weigh all of these factors, and then make a decision and feel proud that you are joining a brotherhood of individuals that will not just accept baldness standing-up

 

PS: I would appreciate it if anyone has any negative comments concerning this post, to please actually read it, and then read it again before you reply. Thanks

[totallybald]

hey guys,

 

after giving it some thought, i am down to either Shapiro or Epstein. any last words of advice?

 

thanks.

[dhuge67]

After looking at that IAHRS list, I'm just glad my doc is on it.

[super8mm]

I live in Portland, Oregon. One of the local dematolgists recommended Dr.Dow Stough in Arkansas. Do anyone have any information about Dr. Dow stough? Please let me know.

I never had a transplantion. I am planing my first one. I dont mind travelling anywhere in US. Its a cliche, but I want to go to best doctor who cares about his patients. I am having a hard time to find a one, any help is appreciated.