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About to put a deposit down for a HT with Dr. Glenn Charles today...advice


Gettinold

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Well, I'm about to bite the bullet after months of research, buy a plane ticket to FL (I'm in Ohio) and put a $1k deposit down to firm up a March 21st date, and of course having alittle case of cold feet. I've read good reviews of Dr. Charles, along with some, let's say, not good reviews..my main contact has been a patient advisor who I've been in contact with who leaves it up to me how many grafts I want (Dr. Charles looked at my pic and suggested ~1600 in the crown area, which is all I want done at the moment). Is this common? I was also looking into Dr. Shapiro in Hollywood FL, who seems to have a pretty good reputation, and is actually alittle cheaper than Dr. Charles (Dr. Charles is $3/graft while Dr. Shapiro is $2.75/graft)...basically looking for some advice and peace of mind here..dont want to get butchered or experience shockloss or any other horror stories I've read about, and definintely dont want to waste my monmey as I took out a small loan to pay for part of the procedure....

 

Alittle history, I'm 31, hairline is receding, but not too bad and rather slowly...want to get that done sometime in the future, but am more concerned about my completely bald crown area that I've had since my early 20's.

IMG-20111006-00096.jpg.4a6ae5dbda16d3204591ba61b3854b8e.jpg

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The fact that you are questioning your surgeon tells me that you are not confident in him and to me that is a big no no...when I picked my surgeon I was beyond confident in him and never looked back...that is how you should feel...granted you can be nervous in general which many are but you should never be nervous in your surgeons abilities and/or results. With that said perhaps you should do some more research and get confident with your surgeon who ever that may wind up being. Also don't go for a surgeon simply by the price bc you will pay for it later on if they don't yield the results you want and you will pay a lot more to try to fix it.

 

As far as "Dr. Shapiro" goes...never heard of a Florida doctor with this name...do you perhaps mean Dr. Shapiro in Minnesota? As they have a great reputation and go by the name of "SMG".

 

Bottom line...take your time with this and feel confident in your doctor...we are all here to help you out if you need more help and/or advice. Hope this helps.

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Thank you so much. I believe I may have the wrong Dr. Shapiro then, not the one discussed on here....it's not that I'm not confident in Dr. Charles, as most of the reviews, especially on this site are fantastic, but there are some bad ones out there, and honeslty, I think I'd get cold feet with any doctor...think I'm more scared of the whole thing in general

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I was scared too going into the whole thing because their are risks involved but I also told myself there are risks involved by not going through with it as I obsessed with my hair getting thin for sooo many years and it held me back so the risk was that if i did nothing how would this affect me going forward? So i felt that was an even bigger risk than going through a HT...the next step was feeling confident in my surgeon and having ZERO doubt in his abilities...to the point where I was not nervous at all...quite the opposite i was sooo excited sitting in the chair getting it done! This stems from confidence in the surgeon...you will know it is the right doctor for you once you meet them for a consult and/or phone consult. If there are some negative/bad reviews out there perhaps reach out to those people to pick their brains more as there are always 2 sides to a story or just consult with more doctors with better reviews...have you consulted with H&W...Dr. Rahal and SMG? They are great doctors with great results and reviews. Also read my write up about Dr. Rahal and that should take you through the whole process so you can become better aware of what is actually done. Let me know if you have any other inquiries!

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Gettinold

There is a Shapiro in Florida. You would be wise to stay away!!! The Shapiros Capelli are speaking of are Drs Ron and Paul( SMG) and they are top notch! There is no reason to be skeptical on Dr Charles. He is excellent!!! He regularly produces excellent results!! As for shockloss, donor or recepient, you WON'T know till after surgery. It's comeplety unpredictable. That's just something your gonna have to face and be comfortable with!!!

I went to Dr Rahal!! No doubts!! I was confident in my surgeon!! I was also scared of getting shockloss. However, I knew it was a possibility. Guess what. I got it! It's just part of it. Go in expecting for the worst and praying for the best!! Good luck

Newhairplease!!

Dr Rahal in January 19, 2012:)

4808 FUT grafts- 941 singles, 2809 doubles, 1031 triples, 27 quads

 

My Hairloss Website

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Dr. Glenn Charles is awesome! You will be extremely pleased!

Finasteride 1.25 mg. daily

Avodart 0.5 mg. daily

Spironolactone 50 mg twice daily

5 mg. oral Minoxidil twice daily

Biotin 1000 mcg daily

Multi Vitamin daily

 

Damn, with all the stuff you put in your hair are you like a negative NW1? :D

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Gettinold,

 

Dr. Charles is an esteemed member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians and an active member of this community. He regularly produces stellar results.

 

Drs. Ron and Paul Shapiro of Minnesota are also Coalition members. However, the Dr. Shapiro in Florida is not recommended by the Hair Transplant Network.

 

To view Coalition membership standards, click her.e.

 

In my opinion, you cannot go wrong with Dr. Charles but even he would agree that anyone considering hair transplant surgery should consult with a number of experienced and skilled surgeons before proceeding.

 

Best of luck!

David - Former Forum Co-Moderator and Editorial Assistant

 

I am not a medical professional. All opinions are my own and my advice should not constitute as medical advice.

 

View my Hair Loss Website

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Thanks for your replies everyone....I guess I just tend to be a pansy when it comes to doing anything like this...I'm going to call today to firm everything up, I have a good feeling I will be extremely glad I did this, and if I keep thinking about it I'll keep putting it off and just keep getting worse. I am still a bit concerned about shock loss though..how bad is it? Is it a noticible loss? Does it all grow back?

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Dr. Larry Shapiro in Florida is one of the worst in the U.S. in my opinion. Everything I've seen from him is terrible.

 

Flying out the next day is a good idea. You do not want to be flying one the swelling starts. As far as returning to work, it depends on what kind of work you do. It would be nice if you could take off a few days or a week. Grafts are usually fully secure at one week, and also by then the swelling should be gone.

Edited by RCWest

Finasteride 1.25 mg. daily

Avodart 0.5 mg. daily

Spironolactone 50 mg twice daily

5 mg. oral Minoxidil twice daily

Biotin 1000 mcg daily

Multi Vitamin daily

 

Damn, with all the stuff you put in your hair are you like a negative NW1? :D

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Dr. Charles is an excellent transplant surgeon. Make sure you've done your research and feel comfortable with your decision. However, I feel 100% confident endorsing Dr. Charles! Good luck.

"Doc" Blake Bloxham - formerly "Future_HT_Doc"

 

Forum Co-Moderator and Editorial Assistant for the Hair Transplant Network, the Hair Loss Learning Center, the Hair Loss Q&A Blog, and the Hair Restoration Forum

 

All opinions are my own and my advice does not constitute as medical advice. All medical questions and concerns should be addressed by a personal physician.

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Definitely don't go to Dr. Larry Shapiro. SMG is the clinic where Doctors Ron and Paul Shapiro are in Minneapolis and they are excellent. Dr. Ron did my surgey and i was confident cin my choice and very happy with the experience and outcome.

 

No need to be concerned about Dr. Charles.......he posts regularly here and produces consistent solid results. He would be a solid choice for you.

 

In the end you need to be comfortable in your choice, but it is very natural to be nervous.....everyone is. Good luck.

Surgery - Dr. Ron Shapiro FUT 6/14/11 - 3048 grafts

 

Surgery - Dr. Ron Shapiro FUE 1/28/13 & 1/29/13 - 1513 grafts

 

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/orlhair1

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Gettinold, you are lucky in that if your crown has been lost since your early 20's then it seems like you are losing very slow and you may be close to being done losing your hair. Your crown is pretty small, all things considered.

Finasteride 1.25 mg. daily

Avodart 0.5 mg. daily

Spironolactone 50 mg twice daily

5 mg. oral Minoxidil twice daily

Biotin 1000 mcg daily

Multi Vitamin daily

 

Damn, with all the stuff you put in your hair are you like a negative NW1? :D

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I sure hope you're right, the crown seemed to go quick, but the hairline crawled, honestly, I'm 31 now and I can tell a difference from pics from when I was 24 or so, but it's minimal...I've never been on meds, other than some natural supplements a few times, and figured the HT with a good doctor was the best option for "surefire" results...I'm sure Dr. Charles will be able to expand on more of this for me, but I do hope you're right

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Gettinold,

 

If you happened to read my post at all and thought anything negative of it, please don't. My experience was great and Dr. Charles is awesome..my problem with my procedure was that I did it too soon. If I would have waited about 6 months I would have gotten the results I really wanted to achieve because all of my dead hairs would have been gone and the graphs could have been a lot closer together. Im currently scheduling a touch up next month with Dr. Charles to fill in those gaps and align my hairline and I would not think twice about it!!

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