Female Hair Transplant Patient - Dr. Epstein

[sandyh]

I just wanted to let the ladies out there know that I had a transplant procedure done with Dr. Jeffery Epstein in South Florida and it went great! His staff is absolutely amazing, it's bad enough to be losing your hair, but to be a young woman...it is devasting. Dr. Epstein made me feel confident that we can take care of this and his staff just made the whole experience so much easier to bear. I had it done last week and will see him again in 10 months. I can't wait to see the results. Dr. Epstein really never pushed anything on me, he made sure I had all my doctors test for everything that I had "found on the internet" that it could be and told me what he could do when I was ready, well, it took me about 4 months, but then I decided to do it and I'm glad I was able to have such a compassionate doctor and nurses to see me through it.

[sandyh]

I just wanted to let the ladies out there know that I had a transplant procedure done with Dr. Jeffery Epstein in South Florida and it went great! His staff is absolutely amazing, it's bad enough to be losing your hair, but to be a young woman...it is devasting. Dr. Epstein made me feel confident that we can take care of this and his staff just made the whole experience so much easier to bear. I had it done last week and will see him again in 10 months. I can't wait to see the results. Dr. Epstein really never pushed anything on me, he made sure I had all my doctors test for everything that I had "found on the internet" that it could be and told me what he could do when I was ready, well, it took me about 4 months, but then I decided to do it and I'm glad I was able to have such a compassionate doctor and nurses to see me through it.

[PB]

I'm glad it went well. Did you find out why you lost hair? Are you likely to lose more hair?

[Island Girl]

sandyh,

Congratulations on having it done! I had a 2000 graft HT done in Philadelphia on January 13. It's been a long road with lots of ups and downs but at 5+ months now, my hair is finally becoming actually THICK on top! All those months of waiting are finally paying off! You are right...to be a woman who is loosing her hair and very thin on top IS devastating! I would recommend a HT to anyone who is bothered that much by the cards that nature has delt us. The really great thing is that the hair that was transplanted will be there forever since the hair from the donor site is programmed to never fall out!

[sandyh]

Thank you for your support! It is so hard being a woman and losing your hair. As for the reason...my dermatologist did a scalp biopsy and what came back is that I had androgenous alopecia, which was explained to me as basically, female pattern baldness. It is hereditary. I was confused at first b/c both mom and daddy have full heads of hair and they are in their late 60s. But my mom reminded me that my grandmother had thinning hair, I just didn't remember.

I'm praying very hard that this works, I am truly encouraged though by what I have read about the transplants. God Bless!

[angel706]

Congratulations, sandyh! I also had a hair transplant on Feb. 9 (more than 1500 FUTs) with Dr. Lehr in OKC. It's been a long road from there, but around 3 months I started seeing my first sprouts and now, at almost 4 1/2 months, things are starting to thicken up a bit. It's really exciting to watch the progress!

 

You're right. Hair loss bites especially hard for females, as the culture expects our hair to be our "crowning glory." My loss was a recession at the temples, though I have gobs of hair everywhere else.

 

I wish the best for you during the months of waiting ahead. Happy growing!

[Guest]

How brave you all are. I've been reading this site for a couple of years now and still unsure which way to go. I just also wanted to ask you if you had strip surgery or not and what was your experience with it.

[sandyh]

Thanks for all the support again. I look so forward for continued growth. I'm not too sure what "strip surgery" is but if it's when they take a strip of the back of your hair, that is what I had done. That part is the part that hurt the most after it was all said and done, I had about 30 stitches, but my husband said that Dr. Epstein did a great job, once it totally heals he said you won't be able to even see the scar as he did such a thin line.

Another quick question...have any of the ladies used toppik? Dr. Epstein gave me a small bottle and I like it, I was wondering what you all think about it...is it worth getting the bigger bottles?

 

Sandy

[desperate for help]

Hi,

I'm glad to hear about your sucessful surgery. I'm considering having a procedure done by Dr. Epstein and have been searching for females who have had the procedure done. If you don't mind me asking, how many grafts did you have? I'm trying to ascertain how many grafts females typically have.

[Guest]

Have any of you girls tried using Minoxidil?

I know you can't use finasteride as it's a male hormone thing but minoxidil works differently. If you did, was it successful.

Do any of you have pics?

 

Good luck with it girls, losing hair sure sux being a guy. I guess it's even worse for a girl.

 

Sandyh, what is female pattern baldness?

Is it mainly in the same area of the scalp as men's hairloss?

 

I had my HT in Thailand by Dr. Pathomvanich. Im very pleased with the result. He uses the latest methods with Tricho closure of the donor area. He also specialises in creating female hairlines on the many "LadyBoys" here. (no,he doesn't do the other parts of their transformation).

He is about half price of Dr's in USA. You could combine a holiday in the Land of Smiles and at the end of it get a HT for about the same price as a HT back home.

[angel706]

sandyh, I had really good luck using Toppik. I discovered it when I was going through my big postpartum hairsheds, and would use it for 3-4 months until my hair started growing back in. I find if you use it with a fairly light hand, you get really nice results. Shake on a little at a time, then kind of fluff it through so it blends/ahderes to your native hair. It takes a little practice, but it's pretty easy to use once you get the hang of it. I went through 3-4 of the medium-sized bottles and considered it money well spent.

 

brianf, female pattern baldness is similar to men's in that it's genetic, but the look of the pattern is usually different. Men get the thinning temples/crown that can eventually lead to full baldness on top, while women usually see more of a diffuse thinning that can either be limited to the top of the scalp or can affect most of the head. However, they usually retain their hairline.

[sandyh]

To "desperate for help", like I said earlier I had a great experience with Dr. Epstein, I would recommend him wholeheartedly. Initially, he said he would do between 900 to 1000 grafts, it ended up being a little over 1200 grafts. I'm healing up nicely, just starting exercising and everything again. Now as for the hair growth and stuff, I guess now only time will tell.

To "Brianf", I have used minoxidil and I saw a little change, but nothing dramatic, I have to start using it again now that the procedure is over, I actually started using it again yesterday. I have to do it every other day because if not it makes my scalp too itchy.

Female pattern is not as pronounced, at least in me, as it is in men, but it's pretty much the same thing, thinning hair at the front of my scalp and a little on the side, but like I said that is how it was on me.

I'm glad you had a good experience overseas! Maybe I can visit Thailand after all this is over, I heard it's beautiful!

God Bless!!

[sandyh]

To "angel", thanks for the feedback on the toppik. Did you buy that attachment to kind of "spray" it on? I just saw it on their website. Also, by "fluff" do you comb it through or using your fingers? Thanks!!

[Guest]

Sandyh,

I used to get an itchy scalp and dandruff with minoxidil but I started using nizoral (actually,an aftermarket equivalent at half price)shampoo about twice a week and in between that a good moisturising shampoo and conditioner about twice a week. After a couple of weeks the itchyness and dandruff stopped.

Now with this routine I use minoxidil every night before bed without a problem.

And yes, Thailand's a great place for a holiday.I'm sure you'd like it.

[angel706]

Hey sandyh,

No I did not buy the spray attachment. I just shook it on. I will say that if you need it at the hairline, it might be worth the extra small investment to buy the "hairline" comb I've seen in their catalog. I used my fingers to fluff it through, but I imagine you could use a comb, too. You just need to do something to help it distribute/settle/attach to the hairs. It kind of helps it to "disappear" into your native hair.

 

You're welcome! I've noticed there are lots of threads on Toppik in the "shampoos/sprays/concealers" part of this forum. You might read through those when you have the time. Best of luck to you!

[sandyh]

To "angel" and "brianf"...thanks for the feedback and advice! It's nice to know that you are not alone in this struggle!

Sandyh

[Island Girl]

sandyh,

I received a 2000 graft HT from NuHart Hair Clinic near Philadelphia on January 13. It has been a long road, but after almost 5 1/2 months the top of my head is so thick with hair that I want to do cartwheels! I had my doubts in the beginning when I lost so much of the pre-existing hair to shockloss but it all came back. All the transplanted hair is now about one inch long and I am so happy with it. I have used the Toppik and it's a pretty good product. I have tried a couple of other ones prior to the HT and was not really impressed. Toppik is about the best thing to use in my opinion.

[mil]

Who did you go to in Phila?

Thanks

 

 

 

Originally posted by Island Girl:

sandyh,

Congratulations on having it done! I had a 2000 graft HT done in Philadelphia on January 13. It's been a long road with lots of ups and downs but at 5+ months now, my hair is finally becoming actually THICK on top! All those months of waiting are finally paying off! You are right...to be a woman who is loosing her hair and very thin on top IS devastating! I would recommend a HT to anyone who is bothered that much by the cards that nature has delt us. The really great thing is that the hair that was transplanted will be there forever since the hair from the donor site is programmed to never fall out!

[Felicity]

I had an eyebrow transplant done by Dr. Jeff Epstein and it looks terrible. I would never recommend him to anyone. The hairs grow in the wrong directions and it looks worse than it did before I went down. And I lost some natural hair too. I get no answers from him either as to what to do or why it happened. He was hardly in the surgery except to put the slits in the brows and then come back at the end to check on it. I wish I could go back in time...Do not recommend him for eyebrows. Maybe he is better at scalps.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Felicity,

 

I am sorry that you are disappointed with your procedure.

 

Though I can certainly empathize with you, digging up old threads to warn people not to go to Dr. Epstein looks bad.

 

Have you contacted Dr. Epstein about your dissatisfaction? If not, I encourage you to do so directly. However, if you feel that posting your story publicly is more appropriate, you are welcome to do so. I encourage you to start your own thread and share your experience rather than posting on old threads and we will do our best to help you.

 

However, it is only fair that Dr. Epstein be notified so he is able to share his side of the story. Because of this, I have notified Dr. Epstein of this thread so he can respond.

 

That being said, Felicity, Dr. Epstein is bound by patient confidentiality. He will need your permission to discuss your case openly (without revealing your name). In order to remain fair, I encourage you to give him permission to discuss your case (without revealing your identify). You can contact him directly or feel free to PM me.

 

I believe that Dr. Epstein performs state of the art hair transplantation. Those who use the "find" feature of this community will find many outstanding reviews and testimonies to his work. However, I am sorry to hear of your disappointment. If there is anything I can do to help, let me know.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[Guest wanthairs]

WOW

 

Felicity......very sorry to hear about that. It sounds worrying to me as I still waiting on results of my hairtransplant with Dr. Epstein......For the most part they have been good at returning my calls with any questions I have had......please keep us posted on any developments in your case as we all need to know the good and the bad......

[Jeffrey Epstein MD, FACS]

I feel it is essential that I reply to "Felicity's" post, to clarify the situation. It was actually the moderator Bill who brought this post to my attention, out of concern that I have the opportunity to protect the reputation that has taken me almost 15 years to achieve.

First, I and my office manager Roxy have been in consistent communication with this patient. She has my cell phone number 305-310-6361, my email address jsemd@foundhair.com, and we have discussed her situation with her, the content I prefer not to share with the public. Let me say that I have offered to do whatever it takes to help her to feel happier with her results, but the fact is, unrealistic expectations are difficult to overcome- despite the fact that I do my best to explain to all my eyebrow transplant patients that the transplanted eyebrows are not perfect, but for just about all of the 130-plus patients on whom I have performed this procedure over the past 4 years, the procedure has made them very happy. In fact, around 10% of the eyebrow procedures I perform are reparative, so I have extensive experience in what can go wrong. But as I said, keeping in mind realistic expectations are essential to having a happy patient.

Also, it is simply not true that I was not actively involved in this procedure. I made every one of the recipient sites, did some of the planting myself of the grafts (assisted by my designated eyebrow subspecialty "team" of assistants), made sure all of the grafts at the end of the procedure were in the proper orientation, and, as with all of the cases we perform, made all the final adjustments/refinements at the end of the procedure with the patient able to see the results.

 

I am so sorry that "Felicity" is disappointed. I do not settle for having less than very happy patients, and have been taking all of the exhaustive steps to taking care of this.

 

Jeffrey Epstein, MD, FACS

www.eyebrowtransplantation.com

[Guest wanthairs]

Well,

 

this sounds much more balanced, and more to the type of experience I have had with Dr. Epstein...I guess in any business it is impossible to please 100% of clients 100% of the time......

 

Thanks Doc !!!

[Bill - Seemiller]

I have been in touch with both parties privately regarding the specifics of this case and have made my recommendations. I hope and trust that a satisfying resolution will come from this in one way or the other.

 

Dr. Epstein,

 

Thank you for attending to this matter. You do certainly have an impeccable record of producing state of the art hair transplantation and the reflection of patient posts on this community reveals this.

 

I do hope however, that a satisfactory resolution will come from this.

 

Felicity,

 

Dr. Epstein has offered to help you through this situation. Keep in mind that this help is being offered to you at NO CHARGE!

 

My personal recommendation is to give him the chance to help you. I believe him to be an ethical and reputable doctor of high caliber which is why we he is a coalition member with a large number of satisfied patients. Experiences and testimonies from real patients can be found using the "find" feature of this community.

 

Of course, it is your choice as to whether you will allow him to help you or whether you select another hair restoration physician. Either way, I do hope that you get the help you are looking for.

 

Bill

[Felicity]

This is Felicity-your unhappy patient. Your clarification of the situation has some errors and I felt that I needed to respond. When I had the appointment, you only spend maybe 10 minutes in the consultation room with me and told me hardly nothing about the procedure. This is a serious procedure and has alot of maintaining that a patient does afterward. I was only told that I would have to trim the hairs once a month and that was it. Nothing about the risks, like that your natural hair may fall out or that the hair would not look like natural hair. I knew that there was an occassional hair that may grow wacky, because I read that on the information sheet. I did not think that the majority of them would grow wacky. It is just a constructive criticism, but you should educate the patients more before they plunge into the operating room.

 

The fact that you have discussed the matter with me is really not totally accurate. I asked many times what to do, and you said to pluck them out if I did not like them. You said to use gel if I did not like them. Well, I bought every gel known to mankind to try to calm them down and then I tried hairspray, but it is very difficult to mat them all down when most of them go in wacky directions, and then you cannot sneeze if you have them matted down or they come loose. I then went to trimming them shorter, and now I have hired a cosmetologist to trim them for me because they grow so wacky and I can't stand doing it myself and I have thrown out my makeup mirror because it is too depressing to look very closely at them. Having you say to pluck them and gel them is not exactly assistance. When I wrote and told you that if I pluck, that would be taking out half my eyebrow, and I needed another solution, I got no answer. Roxy has emailed me several times to come down, but it does not give me a warm and fuzzy feeling to get on the plane and fly down when I have had no feedback on what to do. Then I lost alot of natural hairs in the procedure. I would gladly go back to the way I was prior to the operation because it looked 100% better. But, I can't because I lost alot of natural hair. I have sent you my pictures in the past and you said they were coming along nicely and did not seem to acknowledge my issues-like looking like I had a cowlick because the bottom hairs grow straight down and the beginning grow straight out, etc. So, that did not give me a warm feeling either. I asked about why I lost my natural hair and you said you did not know. I never expected perfection and I was not looking for an unrealistic outcome, as you seem to indicate. I was just looking for hairs growing in the right direction and having my gaps and arches filled in. And looking better than I did when I went down. If you do 10% reparative procedures, how come you could not offer any ideas as to why all of this happened? You say you have an idea what could go wrong in these things. Well, a little communication goes a long way. It is frustrating sitting here looking at these eyebrows every day with no answers. Yes, you did draw the eyebrow shape and you did make the slits to put the hairs in and may have started the planting of them yourself but you only popped in a few times and yes, you did check them afterwards. Maybe you should explain this to people - that these assisants are very knowledgeable, and that we are in good hands, etc. I guess I expected the doctor to be in the room most of the time. That is not really my biggest gripe. But I want the forum to know that I am not unrealistic. My pictures look horrible and I never dreamed they would look worse then when I went down. You have to understand that it is a very deflating feeling to know that I have to live with this for the next 60 years if I live to be in my 90's. Because they grow so weird, I have to keep them pretty short and then they look stubbly and the bottoms just stick straight down so there is not much I can do there except cut them practically to nothing. Then I cover up my cowlick and the wackiness with eyebrow pencil. Yes, I know that you offered to put more hairs in for free, but I am not thrilled to go through this again with you.

I think every logical person would see my point. I know I will be looked upon as a major complainer and I really am not usually a complainer and am a realistic person. I just wanted the forum to know that they need to be proactive and not believe everything they read. They need to do their research because their doctor will not always give them all the information. And when you ask for recommendations of doctors, you only will get happy patients. So in this forum, maybe people can be more aware of things to look for before they do a transplant. And sharing their

experience with a doctor is what this forum does. I notified you that I posted about you on this forum - so I want the forum to know that I was not trying to be sneaky. I was informed by the editors of this forum that I should discuss the gripes with you and tell you about the forum so you can have equal time, and I did that. I am truly sorry to the forum that I posted on here without telling the doctor first, but I did not know I needed to until it was brought to my attention. I am not trying to ruin your reputation, only sharing my experience. The fact that my experience was not good and that I wish I had not done it is not my fault. I wish I could post a glowing report. Apparently, from what you say, your patients are all happy. If they are, I am truly happy for them because I want everyone to have a good transplant. You do have a good reputation on this forum. There isn't many postings on people that had eyebrow transplants on this forum, which is unfortunate. So...if I am the only unhappy patient, then I guess I was the unlucky one to have a lousy result. The cosmetologist that I hired to trim my eyebrows each week thinks they are wacky too-this business does facials, hair, makeup, eyebrow permanent makeup, etc. and they have people interested in eyebrow transplants-but I cannot, in good conscience, send anyone to you. I am sorry, but I cannot. I am not imagining things, because the girls that work in there feel bad for me that the hair is so wacky and ask me if anyone can fix it. I really, really do wish I was happy. It is nothing against you personally, and I wish you good success. I am not out to smear your name. My hope is that something can be learned by this experience and that my name will not be mud from now on. Maybe it was a mistake to post on the forum in the first place, but I did it out of pure motive-to warn people that these things don't always turn out so great. You have to sympathize with the fact that I am stuck looking worse than when I went down. You seem like a nice man, from the brief time that we spent together, and please know that I am not being vindictive when I explain my experience and outcome. But to say that you discussed the situation alot with me is stretching the truth a little, as I have outlined above.