RMD12345 Posted January 17, 2005 Share Posted January 17, 2005 Can anyone recommend a reputable doctor in the Philadelphia area who does good hair transplantation? I did have consultations already at the big 3 clinics - Bosley, Medical Hair Research and NuHart. Bosely seemed the most professional and expensive, followed by MHR and NuHart. Bosley and MHR wanted to do about 2500 grafts on me and NuHart recommended only 1500. Who do I believe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMD12345 Posted January 17, 2005 Author Share Posted January 17, 2005 Can anyone recommend a reputable doctor in the Philadelphia area who does good hair transplantation? I did have consultations already at the big 3 clinics - Bosley, Medical Hair Research and NuHart. Bosely seemed the most professional and expensive, followed by MHR and NuHart. Bosley and MHR wanted to do about 2500 grafts on me and NuHart recommended only 1500. Who do I believe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member HairBeThere Posted January 17, 2005 Senior Member Share Posted January 17, 2005 Who do you believe? Hard question to answer, but you are about to get a lot of reponses to this... I wouldn't believe any of them!! They are all "Hair Mills". Avoid them all!! You want to goto a private clinic that is recognized by many of this forum posters and readers. I personally don't know Philly area off hand, but you should consider possibly traveling a slight distance. N.Y. has some great HT physicians. Do not goto any of those that you mentioned!! Good Luck!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMD12345 Posted January 17, 2005 Author Share Posted January 17, 2005 Thanks HairBeThere. I think that's what I wanted to hear. After reading posts on this forum, I'm not doing anything yet, but to check it all out much deeper than I already did. Going to the hair mills at least gave me something to compare. I'll have to look for private clinics with a good reputation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member HairBeThere Posted January 17, 2005 Senior Member Share Posted January 17, 2005 good choice!! They are good for comparison, as long as you don't consider them as an option!! You'll find your answer when you do some research.. That I'm confident in! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member JacobS Posted January 17, 2005 Senior Member Share Posted January 17, 2005 RMD I was going to recommend earlier that you go with the one with the best TV spots however I thought that a little too sarcastic. HBT is on the money. There are a couple of regular posters from Philly who will assist, I'm sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r20926 Posted January 17, 2005 Share Posted January 17, 2005 RMD, Drive up the NJ Turnpike and visit Dr. Feller (he is located in Great Neck, NY www.fellermedical.com), he is the best in the area and one of the best in the world. Those others you mentioned are butchers aviod them at all costs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill - Seemiller Posted January 17, 2005 Share Posted January 17, 2005 Hi RMD...I just saw this post so I thought I'd chime in. I went to see Dr. Theodore Katz on September 30th, 2004 and am now 3.5 months post op. At this point, I would surely recommend him for the following reasons: 1. He is very professional and cares about his patients (my perspective of course) 2. He is very honest and open about what he can and can't do for you, making you see what is realistic and possible, etc, which also means he won't do any work on you if he feels you are not a good "candidate" for a HT. 3. My scarline even at 3.5 months is virtually undetectable and unnoticeable even when my hair is shaved down to a 1 clip. 4. My hair seems to be growing in nicely from what I see from the 1600 grafts I received (800 in front and 800 in back). Feel free to look at my pictures in the photo section under Bill. I can't speak for Dr. Feller, but I do know he has a great reputation on the board, so I am certain he is also a good choice. As far as who to believe on the number of grafts, I'm not sure on that one...seeing pictures might help a little bit for even users on this board to be able to help direct you on how many you might need. The one thing that I don't like, although I understand the concept of it, is that Dr. Katz will only do max 1600 at a time, as some Docs are very conservative that way. You would have to ask him what his theory is on that again, but I know megasessions risk greater shock loss, etc. My opinion would be to have a couple consultations, one with Dr. Katz, and one with Dr. Feller, and perhaps a few other recommended Docs and see which one seems right for you. I feel that my opinion of Dr. Katz will be more accurate and forthcoming when I am at about 6 months and I'm really noticing the thickness of the growth etc. Like I said, I am enjoying seeing my new hair come in, but it's not fully grown in or thick yet, so I can't determine whether or not I am fully satisfield. But for this point in the game, I am as satisfied as a waiting man can be for his HT to fully grow in. I started noticing growth coming in at about 2.5 months which seems to be a bit early as everyone is different, but that was very exciting. Unfortunately, Dr. Katz seems to be not very well known on this forum. In fact, I believe I am the only one who has ever posted on this board that's actually had an HT from him...no wait, I think I recall one other who posted positively. There have been a few skeptics and downplayers with opinions of Dr. Katz for whatever reason, I don't know whether they are founded or not, but I do know that anyone who posted negatively did not have an HT with Him. So to me, their opinion was unfounded. Nonetheless, I hope my rambling of a post has helped a bit. Hope this helps, and I hope to hear from you soon! Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member arfy Posted January 17, 2005 Senior Member Share Posted January 17, 2005 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>I feel that my opinion of Dr. Katz will be more accurate and forthcoming when I am at about 6 months and I'm really noticing the thickness of the growth etc. Like I said, I am enjoying seeing my new hair come in, but it's not fully grown in or thick yet, so I can't determine whether or not I am fully satisfield. Good answer. I think it is responsible of you NOT to recommend Dr. Katz except based on issues besides results (like you did). A lot of people think it can take a year (or more sometimes) for a transplant to mature, so be patient. Dr. Katz' dislike of "megasessions" is old school and possibly out of date, but on the positive side if he thinks he gets better results with limited sessions then he is to be commended for working 'within his strengths'. However 1600 grafts is a small or medium-small session by the standards of today's few top doctors. It may be more efficient to do larger sessions as there is some loss (waste) of donor hair whenever removing the donor strip. Obviously you can't have an unlimited-size session but it is fair to say that many doctors are going well above 2000 grafts with ease. On the other hand, your satisfaction with the size of your donor scar "might" be based in part on your doctor keeping a limit on graft numbers. I don't mean this as a knock against Dr. Katz, so I hope it doesn't come off that way especially if his motivation is to protect his patients. The bottom line is that you are satisfied, that would make me happy too. I just wanted to point out that 1600 is considered a "low ceiling" by some, and that the theory that going higher is dangerous or counterproductive should not hold true, with an experienced doctor. However consistency counts for a lot (!!!) and maybe Dr. Katz feels he is playing it safe and protecting as many patients as possible this way. That's a "good thing" as Martha Stewart would say. To the original question... It's not surprising that you were impressed with your visits to Bosley, MHR and NuHart, because these big franchises specialize in salesmanship (and less so in impressive results). You can do much better, just realize that it is hard for a rookie to figure out which clinics are good and which clinics are not so good. Stick around, start reading the rest of the website, ask questions, etc. Hair transplants aren't like getting your tonsils removed, where there's basically one way to do it and only one final result. You would be wise to look for a doctor who could be called the best in his field and travel to see him, not unlike you might travel to get the best HEART transplant. It's unlikely that a world class HEART transplant can be found at the local mini-mall (althouigh some guys are lucky to live close to a great doc). Since your hair is the first thing people notice about you, and since you will live with your hair transplant results for the rest of your life (for better or worse), I recommend you take your hair transplant as seriously as a heart transplant. I recommend that you find out about the "all-FU" transplant (read the article "Best Procedure" ) which is the most natural looking approach. The clinics you mentioned do not use the best procedure, at least they didn't in the past... maybe that has changed. If so they are new to that technique. Ask any doctor if they do an "all-FU" procedure, and if they use stereomicroscopes to dissect the donor strip (not magnifiers, I mean real binocular microscopes as pictured in the link I gave you). Ask any clinic to show you the microscopes (in action, if possible) and if they don't use them or don't generally believe in the all-FU approach, look elesewhere. What you don't want is a "mixed graft" approach (called Vari-grafting at Bosley) where large numbers of Minigrafts are used behind the hairline. Even though Minigrafts are not as natural looking as an "all-FU" transplant, these franchise clinics rationalize that "only the front hairline needs to look completely natural". (In my opinion, the WHOLE HEAD needs to look natural!) But Minigrafts are faster for the big clinics than the "all-FU" approach, so they make more money by choosing the faster less-natural-looking approach. i would read up before making any further appointments, so that you can ask good questions during your visits, and make informed decisions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill - Seemiller Posted January 17, 2005 Share Posted January 17, 2005 Hi Arfy, Thanks for the comments in regards to my opinion post. Yes, what you say appears to be true amongst many "veterans" that 1600 is a small number of grafts based on today's standards. I seemingly agree based on the research, but I'll be honest: I did most of my research about that after I had the HT, however, I am still convinced that my HT will turn out well since the results are coming in, etc. What are Dr. Katz's reasons? I'm not particularly sure, but I do believe he has the best interest of his patience, which of course, I know you are not saying that. Your advice is good advice...do the research first, I agree. I'll be able to say for sure in about 4-6 months I am sure if I am completely satisfied or not, recognizing of course, that 1600 grafts will not give me a full completely thick head of hair, which is why I plan on going back for a second one. I will probably also check out Dr. Feller when i do a second one just to get more than one consultation, etc. If I like Dr. Katz work, and I don't need more than 1600 grafts for a second procedure, I will most likely go back to Dr. Katz. Good luck in your decision RMD. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Robert_ Posted January 17, 2005 Senior Member Share Posted January 17, 2005 For anyone looking for qualified hair transplant physicians around Philidelphia: Dr. Katz Dr. True and Dr. Dorin Dr. Feller Dr. Beehner Dr. Haber -Robert ------------------------------ Check out the results of my surgical hair restoration performed by Dr. Jerry Cooley by visiting my Hair Loss Weblog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMD12345 Posted January 18, 2005 Author Share Posted January 18, 2005 Thank you all very much for your input. I'll take the advice and hold off until I read some more and definitely check out some of the recommended doctors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member EastCoast Posted January 18, 2005 Senior Member Share Posted January 18, 2005 I wasn't very happy with Dr. Gallagher. His work is terrible. E-mail me and will tell you all the facts about GMG group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robs Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 Who in Pittsburgh ??? can anyone recommend a good doctor for H/T in the pittsburgh area ? I do not want to go to one of the "Mills" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now