dr. epstein

[paris_caine]

hey guys, would it be possible to either email or talk to some of dr. jeffrey epstein's patients in the new york area.

also, any negative experiences with dr. epstein?

 

thanks.

[paris_caine]

hey guys, would it be possible to either email or talk to some of dr. jeffrey epstein's patients in the new york area.

also, any negative experiences with dr. epstein?

 

thanks.

[Smoothy]

Call Dr Epstein's office-- most surgeons have patients that you can call and talk to as well as see pics of results. I'm sure Jeff does the same.

[Guest]

Hello,

I was one of Dr. Epstein's patients in July of 2004. He is awesome, would recommend him to anyone. Very little pain because he uses a special "Wand" that I believe he invented. In fact I slept through most of the surgery having 2400 grafts. Most of all the grafts came in very fast once I went through the one two month transition. I use propetia and Rogaine daily, they have been a huge help in restoring my new hair and also making my crown area come back completely.

[fedup77]

Hello; I had a transplant with Doc Jeffrey Epstein in April 2004 and I am absolutely happy with the results so far.If you do a search, you can read about my experience, which was top notch. I would highly recommend Doc Epstein.

[Guest]

I had my 2780 Graft HT with Dr. E on 11/11. You can read my comments in this section. Feel free to send me an email with any questions/concerns. I usually come to this forum once a day, but will gladly reply to your emails.

[paris_caine]

thanks a lot guys. i have just started my resarch in all earnest, so wish me luck. would be great to actually meet some of his patients. in time, i guess.

[notsohairy]

I had my surgery with Doc E in July. I live on Long Island and go into the city once a week. Call Roxy and ask her for my number. I'll be happy to talk or meet with you.

[paris_caine]

thanx.

she gave a me a list of referrals. not sure if your name is on the list. who do i say i am asking the number of?

[paris_caine]

hi there notsohairy, i was wondering how to get in touch with you.

[Female_Hair_loss]

It looks like there are only men here, but I hope you can help. I am at the stage of seriously considering going to Dr. E. for about 1300 grafts for my pretty serious hair loss. I am a woman (duh--read my screen name) and the last time I had a transplant, I had permanent hair loss.

1. Is Dr. E. as good as he seems to be (I am ignoring the comments on his site--they will obviously be positive)?

2. Has anyone had permanent shock loss?

3. Do the grafts grow? Many doctors put grafts that don't grow or fall out soon after growing.

4. Does anyone have scarring in the donor area? Are there dark-skinned HT patients, because we tend to scar more easily.

5. Are there any WOMEN here who will be willing to chat about Dr. E., and his success/regrowth rate with women?

 

I am 37 years old, and have been living in a hell of plummeting self-esteem!

 

To the men here: bald is sexy in men. Really.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Femal_Hair_loss,

 

Welcome to our community.

 

For starters, you'd probably be better off posting these questions in a new thread as you will get more feedback.

 

However - Dr. Epstein is one of our coalition doctors. Each of our coalition doctors must meet and maintain a high level of standards in order to keep their membership.

 

Personally, I have seen a good amount of his work posted on this forum from various patients and believe he does quality work.

 

Be sure however, to do your own research and look for real patients of Dr. Epstein viewing their before/after photos. You can use our find feature of this forum and search for Epstein. There is up to 5 years worth of data you can sift through.

 

Unfortunately I am failing to remember her alias but rather recently another female patient went to see Dr. Epstein. I'm sure if you use the find feature you will most likely find her among others.

 

Regarding shock loss, I recommend reading this hair loss Q&A Blog.

 

All surgery will leave a scar though in the hands of an elite physician scarring should be minimal. Read more about scarring here.

 

There are certainly other women here but you are right...this board is dominated by mostly men. Hopefully some women will respond to you but I do recommend creating your own thread and/or seeking out other women by using the "find" feature.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Bill

[Hair2day]

Dr Epstein sub-specializes in female hair loss and transplantation.

[Guest wanthairs]

female......

 

I am 4 months post op from Dr. Epstein. Everything has gone well so far as I can see. I remember seeing many many pics of female patients in hisoffice. He apparently has quite a good reputation working with women.....

[EmuSteve]

Ah, we have something in common then.

 

=)

 

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[lisa]

I used Epstein 4 months ago and am pleased. He did 1500fus and I did not suffer any shock loss as of yet. He was very professional. I took 1 valium before the procedure and the only pain was the needle to numb the scalp.Unfortunately, I will have to go back for more work because although he did the temple area and bangs, I still need more in the crown area. I was only there for approx 3 hrs and slept most of the time.Let me know if you want to speak with me.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Lisa,

 

Thanks for sharing a bit of your experience.

 

Feel free to create a hair loss weblog in order to share your experience and photos with us.

 

We hope you'll continue to participate in our discussions.

 

Bill

[Female_Hair_loss]

I did go ahead and get a procedure done with Dr. E., primarily because I realized that no amount of research will really allow me to know a surgeon. Knowing myself, I knew that I could easily spend years reading everything each renowned HT specialist has ever written and still have doubts.

 

In regards to the procedure, I will wait a while to comment on my overall experience. I am still in the "my forehead is swollen, my head is numb, my scar hurts like hell" phase. I don't know quite how to shampoo my hair because i am terrified of washing away the grafts. So I am tired and cranky, is the best way to put it.

 

Also, I just read "Felicity"'s exchange of words with Dr. E. and Bill in another thread, and the tone of that exchange bothered me quite a bit. I think Felicity should have been allowed to speak her mind more openly. It seemed that she was not allowed to say anything negative.

 

Billero,

Are you and others on this forum remunerated by the "coalition doctors"? That is, will negative posts about these doctors result in the member being hounded?

 

I know that I am coming to this forum as someone genuinely stricken and depressed by my hair loss. I want honest and completely heartfelt reactions and responses. And I want to be able to give back similar responses.

 

Anyway, if this is a completely OPEN forum, then I will be happy recount my experience for others--especially women.

 

For now, I hope some of E.'s female patients will hold my hand as I go through the post-procedure process? When will the scar stop hurting? How long will my forehead remain swollen (it's not too bad, but the swelling is there)?

 

wanthair and Lisa,

May I PM you?

[Guest wanthairs]

female hair loss.....

 

of course you can PM me.....

[Bill - Seemiller]

Female_Hair_Loss,

 

I think Felicity should have been allowed to speak her mind more openly. It seemed that she was not allowed to say anything negative.

 

I'm not sure what you are talking about. Felicity was perfectly welcome to share her experience and I said nothing to indicate the opposite.

 

Let me start by saying that this is a completely open forum and all experiences whether positive or negative are allowed to be shared.

 

But by posting your experience publicly, you open yourself up to any and every comment that comes your way. I don't know why you are saying you think Felicity was hounded. You are obviously reading a very different thread than I am.

 

What you have to understand is, when a negative experience is brought to the forums, many members and ghost readers start to draw conclusions that are often false.

 

That is why in moderating the forum, I try to make sure a fair case is presented which gives both patient and doctor a chance to share their side of the story.

 

I hope this helps clarifies my position.

 

How doctors are recommended here is no secret. You can read more about how we admit physicians into membership here.

 

 

Bill

[Female_Hair_loss]

Bill,

 

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my post. I appreciate it. I think we both read the same thread, just with different perceptions, that's all. I didn't know that this forum is partially funded by the doctors (so much for my research abilities) recommended here. However, now I have a better understanding.

 

===

 

wanthairs! Thank you for letting me PM you. From your siggy, I can tell that you had your HT about 9 months ago, and you had a lot more grafts put in than I. How is your growth coming along? Were you pretty thin before your HT? Have you been using Rogaine? When did your grafts fall out? Are you feeling nervous at all about what hair you may or may not have growing back?

 

Sorry for all the questions--feel free to answer only what you like and when you want. I am nervous of losing the hair that had already existed. In my first HT procedure, I had permanent shock loss, and that was harder than losing the hair I was going to anyway. But this time around, I am also of the POV that I will stop stressing about my hair loss if this doesn't turn out well, and will just put on a wig and try to get on with my life.

 

----

 

My Epstein Experience (a few days post-procedure): pros and cons mixed in together

 

1. An excellent team. I was very nervous, and the skilled women (the splicers and planters, as I called them in my head) are truly wonderful people. They were very kind and gentle. They listened to my every request, to my every motion of concern. I felt comforted and comfortable. As a woman, I think I really liked being in the company (for 6+ hours) of very caring women because I felt that I could be vulnerable (because I felt vulnerable) and because they let me be vulnerable. The overall atmosphere was calming.

 

2. The party treats, aka the meds, after the procedure are a terrific touch. I didn't get that after my first procedure, and it was nice to have all the necessary medication nicely packaged and given to me with clear instructions. I was in a city where I didn't know anyone, and the last thing I would have wanted would have been to try and get prescriptions filled.

 

3. Dr. E. is definitely a professional. I liked how happy HE sounded about the amount of grafts they were able to get from my donor site, even though I couldn't care less once I was in pain! But the fact that Dr. E. felt happy enough about it to mention the total number of grafts to me TWICE showed his care for his work. I care NOW, but I didn't during the procedure, but I can now see how nice a touch it was for Dr. E. and his team, for that matter, to care that much.

 

4. I wish I had insisted a bit more strenuously about the area that I really wanted filled in more. I am fairly certain that I will not get another procedure done--the stress, the cost, the everything is too much for me--so I wish I had gone in with a better articulated plan of what I wanted the outcome to be. (Note to others: Be sure to do that).

 

5. Dr. E.'s response time on emails before my procedure was phenomenal. I communicated with him for months on end, and he patiently responded to every question. By the time I flew in, I was out of questions to ask him in some ways (I still wish I had insisted on his filling in parts of my head rather than others). He answered all my questions in detail beforehand. I know that I will have more questions on hand if I have another procedure.

 

6. The surgery time was changed at the last minute by Roxy at 9:00pm the day before the surgery. Not cool. I was supposed to go in between noon-2:00pm, and I had my shuttle set for that, and then I got a call at 9:00 or 9:30pm and told to come by 7:15am. When I was concerned about finding a shuttle service for that time (I stayed at a hotel not recommended by the office), Roxy sounded very annoyed--which I found very annoying. So my recommendation would be that patients confirm their surgery time ahead of time and expect to have that time remain set. It is stressful enough as it is to get into an unfamiliar city all by yourself and to try and steel yourself for a long day ahead without having the schedule be up in the air until the last minute.

 

7. Overall, an impressive and professional team. I recommend them for their service--at this point. I will hold off on recommending Dr. E on his credentials until after I see what kind of growth I get.

 

8. I know that there are some people who fly in for the procedure and then fly out the next day, well, I have no idea how people do that. For those of you who may find this more overwhelming, I recommend that you fly in a full 12 hours before the procedure to get acclimated. I also stayed in Miami the day after the surgery, and i had my hair washed late in the day. I think it is worth your time to catch your breath. Also, if you, like me, get a lot of fluid injected into your skull , then expect a LOT of swelling--even if you follow all the instructions.

 

I am happy to answer any questions!

[Female_Hair_loss]

Oops, I do have a couple of questions, and I am not sure where to post them, so they are going to go here:

 

1. How long before I can shower normally (that is, allow the shower water to hit my head normally)?

 

2. How long did many of you wait until you started shampooing normally (instead of gingerly ?)

 

3. How long before I can start brushing my hair?

 

4. When can I expect the scabs to start to loosen and fall?

 

I have instructions on when I can expect these to happen, but they don't seem realistic. Are people brushing their hair in 3-4 days for real? Or are there patients who really started heavy weight lifting 7 days after a procedure?

[Bill - Seemiller]

Female_Hair_Loss,

 

Thank you very much for sharing your experience. I'm glad you had a good one. Dr. Epstein does quality work.

 

I do recommend however, that you start your own thread and share your experience and photos (if you are willing) as you will get more attention than posting on a thread somebody else started. You can do this by clicking "New" and then "Discussion" or "Photo Album" (if you are going to share photos).

 

How many grafts did you end up receiving?

 

To answer your questions:

 

Firstly, it is always best to follow the post-op instructions provided by your doctor as there are varying answers to these questions.

 

1. Typically by day 3 or 4 it is ok to let the shower water hit the head normally (assuming that it is not a high pressure shower).

 

2. This question is hard to answer because though I started to shampoo and gently touch my scalp by about day 4 - I believe working up to "normal" washing should be gradual especially because some people work their hair and scalp more vigorously than others. By day 7-9, resuming "normal" washing techniques good - but don't be overly agressive.

 

3. You can brush your native hair at any time but be careful not to touch the grafts. It is best not to comb or brush the grafts until at least day 9 or when the scabs are gone (whichever comes last).

 

4. There are techniques you can use to assist the scabs come off if done with caution and care. Scabs typically fall off with this type of assistance in about 8-12 days.

 

People should not start lifting heavy weights 7 days after the procedure. See Sports/Fitness After a Hair Transplant.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Bill