Dr Pistone

[Jetsfan]

I had my first hair transplant on 4/11/11 with Dr. Pistone and his staff in Marlton,Nj. I found Dr. Pistone and his staff great. I was very relaxed and they talked me through each step, very comfortable environment hope the results are great. Surgery was approximately 4 hours ( two movies). I am returning on Monday to have staples removed. I have already been told that I will need a second procedure to cover the top of my head and thicken the front, hopefully this is all worth it and I will be happy with the results. Overall I was very happy with the treatment and honesty from Dr. Pistone and his staff.

[Shadow of the EMpire State]

Rookie mistake 101: never go praising the doctor for your "experience" at the clinic. That's irrelevant. Transplants pay off on results. That's all that matters. Wait for yours before you go praising your doctor lest you find yourself having to eat your words a year from now.

[Blake Bloxham]

Jets,

 

Congratulations on your procedure. I hope you'll keep us updated as the results mature. Good luck!

[kathie47]

I'm glad you had a good experience. Keep us updated!

[Jetsfan]

Will do, will also post some pics, have some now but they are ugly looking scabs.

[Thehairupthere]

Those types of photos showing scabs are very important to display as well

[Cuervo]

Started losing early around 21. Went in at around 34 to see Pistone - do not recommend which is why I'm creating this account. I learned of his tactics AFTER the procedure (of course) because you see the results. Who CARES of the courtesy of the staff, how polite the guy is, where he went to medical school - if the results blow, then it was not worth it.

 

Basically, his practice committed FIVE TREMENDOUS no-nos of hair transplantation which most people simply do not understand or appreciate.

 

1) he used larger grafts (micro-minis) even though he was supposed to be a FUT guy. How do I know? Well, I have access to a camera to see the head and you can see larger grafts! I went to see another doc (Brandon Ross) who said I had larger grafts like mico-minis which is not really the standard nowadays. What this means is his staff spent LESS time cutting the strip and he spent less time making incisions (for placement of the graft) because there were less grafts because they were bigger. So, less work, but more or equal money. So, he used micro minis which I did not want.

 

Here's how you thwart that. If you must use Pistone (don't recommend) go in there with a camera and a pic of your scalp and you know how many follicles you have per sq cm, etc. Something like a smartphone would be fine, I think. Make it clear YOU ARE EDUCATED. Make it clear you have a friend, Rocko, who's a surgeon and he's going to look at the incisions later on to make sure they're single follicular units. "Hey, doc, how many grafts do you think we'll get in here because my friend works over at CHOP and she's a surgeon. She says she'll stop by in a few days and she says she'll count the grafts to see how many I got...and can tell if there's multiple follicles per graft." YOU SAY THIS and YOU WILL IMMEDIATELY GET RESPECT because you will cease being an idiotic patient like this guy thinks you are. You will cease being an ATM machine for this guy and he will probably feel the pressure to do the right thing: single follicular units. (OF COURSE he will say this is what he does, BUT it's NOT!)

 

2) he used staples!!! Unbelievable. I thought it was pretty clear that with a cosmetic procedure you would never use staples - wow! so much for intuition. But nope, this guy used staples. Even sent me home with a staple removal kit!! Staples result in LARGE SCARS. And I have a massive one. The next transplant guy was like, "Whoah!! Who did THIS??" God forbid, you use a few minutes extra to suture the inside and the outside. God forbid!! GO MONEY. So, tell the guy: "I want to make sure you do not use staples at this reputable practice because that's for butchers." They'll thread you - if they say they will use staples, run!!

 

3) He uses techs to insert the hairs (or is simply incompetent)!!! Lord, there's a few things a hair transplant practice must do well: cut the graft into follicular units, poke the little holes, and then insert the grafts into the little holes. Who cares about buying you lunch?? When I went to the next guy Brandon Ross, he showed me many grafts right at the hairline!! that were "indented" or ingrown meaning they were placed in such a way that they were BELOW the surface of the skin. This results in a graft that looks pretty bad. It should be even with the skin so it looks natural. So, either Pistone was DRUNK, HIGH, or he used incompetent techs to do this and went off for a smoke. I was OUT like a light so I didn't see who inserted the grafts. ASK, "hey doc, who does the actual insertions of the grafts because I understand that constitutes the practice of medicine and I want to make sure it's an MD who does this not a tech..." (I understand inserting grafts is a skill that techs can do in some states so maybe my complaint can be watered down to "I had inferior techs insert my grafts...")

 

4) He does not do his own consults. I know this is common - but in general, see the doc who is going to do you - if you get a tech/some other person, this is points off for that doc.

 

5) LIED about the graft numbers: this is related to number 1 above. Of course, if they do a micromini graft in their head they might think there's like .... 4 follicular units so they might equate that to four grafts even though its ONE graft and tell you it's FOUR. This is a lie. I had them counted by three different people: 789, 817, and 830. He said I had over 1500 grafts!! BULL! And yes, I paid for more grafts. So, would you go to this guy?

 

I'm not spending much time praising Brandon Ross in La Jolla, but I should: he is a cool un-cocky guy who sits with you for the consults. He gives you what you ask for. He calculates accordingly. He doesn't do larger micominis and he uses stitches! THIS should be the gold standard. Pistone does not meet this so I cannot recommend him. Brandon Ross charges a flat rate of $3 per graft and there's no room to cheat because whatever strip you get will get cut down to whatever native number of follicular units there are. You get billed for what's harvested and he has natural results - my result looks so much nicer AFTER Ross went in and fixed up my ingrown hairs that Pistone did. Go Ross, Boo Pistone.