Review: Dr. Michael Vories @ Carolina Hair Surgery

[osumartz]

I am posting a review of my experience with Doctor Michael Vories at Carolina Hair Surgery in Charleston, South Carolina.

 

I thought for years about having an FUE procedure done. I am 32 years old and have been slowing losing my hair for about 15 years. Every man in my family has been bald by 21, so I was working on borrowed time! I decided to have the procedure done before I "needed" it. I wanted to avoid going very bald and then out of nowhere showing up with a big head of hair. I consulted with a few different institutions before deciding on Dr. Vories. The biggest factor for me was that he is the actual person completing the procedure. I don't want to discount other institutions if they have their techs do the entire procedure, because I'm sure they are great too. However, most of the places I consulted with used techs and only did a handful of procedures a month (usually less than 6 or 7). Dr Vories does these procedures about every day.

 

This resonated with me on several levels. One, he obviously knows what he's doing. Two, there is a certain amount of artistic ability in doing this procedure, especially for the crown. And three, being a doctor, he better understands how your body is going to react to things.

 

Surprisingly, his cost per FUE was actually lower than most of the other people I spoke to. Lately, he has very good reviews across the board.

 

I signed up for 4,000 FUEs over a two day period. I did not need 4,000, but I figured if I am getting it down, I might as well go for the gusto. Plus, he told me that I have enough donor hairs remaining that if I needed a "touch up" in a few years, I could do that.

 

I went in this past Monday and Tuesday for the procedure. Dr Vories and his staff were AWESOME. On Monday we spent the first half of the day extracting 2,000 grafts, breaked for a staff provided lunch, then spend the second half of the day implanting the hairs into my crown. I had breaks every hour, which was great. Expect your neck to be sore when you are taking hairs from the side of your head, so try to stretch beforehand! There was virtually no pain during the procedure. The only slight pain is when he injects you with the lidocaine. However, he uses a cool spin tool (like an automatic toothbrush) to help disapaite the feeling of the needle. If at any point during the procedure I felt anything, he would inject a little more juice! We finished up on Tuesday with the front of my scalp. Again, super easy.

 

The office has a big screen TV to watch movies while your FUEs are implanted. However, I had a great time just chatting with the Doctor and his staff most of the time. He does offer medication if you want to doze off or are in pain, but honestly, I was nowhere close to needing it. I'd imagine some people may need it for the pain, and that's ok, but it was really similar to going to the dentist. The other reason you may need it is if you panic easily and are nervous, which is also totally understandable.

 

Once I was done, I was given 2 prescriptions. One for a ibuprofen/hydrocodine pill in case of pain, and the other was a sleeping pill. I took the sleeping pill the first three nights (30 min before bed) in order to sleep soundly and so I didn't accidentally scratch my head at night. That stuff works great! I was OUT! I've taken a few of the pain pills, as needed, whenever I get a headache. I'd imagine the headaches are from the swelling. As of today (Friday) my face and head are HUGE. I text the Doctor last night to verify it is fine and he assured me that with the size of the procedure, it is to be expected. Hopefully it will be gone within 24-48 hours.

 

If you have been considering this procedure, please at least consult with Dr Vories. It has been a great experience so far! PLEASE ask me any questions and I'm happy to try to help. I know it is hard to get helpful reviews on this kind of stuff.

[Tav1]

Good for you. I strongly considered Vories for my 4,000 graft FUE, but for me, it came down to geography. Good luck and post pics when you can.

[biolizard]

I can vouch for the veracity of his experience with Dr Vories as I had a very similar experience as well. Overall pleased with my FUE experience.

However I will have to wait and see as the months pass by, to see how my actual results turn out?? I've been taking pics shooting videos and may do a YouTube video which I may link here.??

 

My one suggestion would be that I would have preferred they strongly recommended at least a full week off from work following this; not merely just a few days. (Ideally I now think you should get 2 weeks off if possible.). Being back to work after just a fews days was not at all feasible in my particular case. I had profound facial swelling and significant donor site pain from around day 3 until days 6/7. All within the normal postop boundaries following an FUE. It was my mistake to try and rush back to work so soon. Having to call in sick to work as a result nearly got me reprimanded. So I would highly encourage anyone to get as many days as possible away from work following these procedures. But that goes for all FUE procedures everywhere. I do realize a nice 'selling point' of the FUE is that it's less invasive, thus has a reputation of having a much more friendly recovery period. But ...... it's still surgery, and in my opinion you should do yourself a favor and not try to rush back to work in just 3-4 days.

[osumartz]

I hear ya, biolizard. However, I think a lot of it has to do with the person and the size of your procedure. I was lucky as I could work from home during recovery. I would not have felt comfortable going into work for at least 6 days post op. My face and head were just too big, haha. But I did get 4,100 grafts done. If I were to get another 1,000 done down the line for a "touch up", I feel like I would be ok to go into work after 2 or 3 days. But again, everyone reacts differently.

 

I'm not sure about you, but I was super paranoid for the first 5-6 days post op that someone was going to touch my head or that I would accidentally bump it. That along would make it worth saying home longer. That's a lot of money on top of your head!

[California]

Hi osumartz,

 

Congratulations on getting your HT done. You chose a very good HT Surgeon for your procedure. Dr. Vories has consistently demonstrated great results.

 

I wish you all the best. Please keep posting regular updates with pictures. Sharing your experience is always helpful for the fellow HT Patients.

 

Best regards,

California