New member

[hairadv]

Hi folks, I am new here and thinking about a hair transplant.

 

Can you give me some suggestions about how to find the right surgeon ?

 

I live in Reno, Nevada, and I found two surgeons on your list who practice in N. Calif.is that what you suggest ?

 

Also, if you can give me some suggestions about how to best use this site, that would be really appreciated.

 

Thanks.

[Hairy Godmother]

hairadv:

Welcome to the site!

This site is full of information that can help you decide whether or not transplantation is right for you and can help you locate a physician. My advice to you is RESEARCH! And I mean RESEARCH all aspects of the procedure, the doctor, the post op, etc.

Most on this site are here to help, so feel free to ask for it....

 

PS-Please keep in mind you can get great results all over the world, so may I suggest when doing your research, do so without too much consideration of travel. Best of luck to you

[Eman]

Look at the top left hand corner of this screen and click on the FIND A PRESCREENED SURGEON.

 

Then listen to what Jessica has to say...do your research and do not let your location dictate where you go!

[hairadv]

Hi Jessica and Eman,

 

Thanks very much for the welcome and advice.

 

Looking at this website I have already learned a lot more about the surgical procedures than I know before.

 

There is a Hair Club doctor in Las Vegas (Dr. Roy Jones) and Sacramento (Dr. Eric Holzer). Does anyone know anything about these doctors ? I did not find much on the website about them.

 

I have not thought much about the travel issue, but I think you have a good point, perhaps I need to rethink traveling for this procedure.

 

Also, I did not realize how much surgery was needed in the donor area. The pictures look like this is major surgery. Is this because the scalp is stretched out to cover the donor area. It looks like severe scarring could occur, is that common ?

 

Thanks.

[Forrest Gump]

hairadv, although it is tempting to do the surgery with a local doc, sometimes it might be beneficial to search around irrespective of geographical location.

 

If you do the surgery with a top-notch doctor, chances of having a prominent scar is extremely low. I have seen pictures of post-ops where the donor scar is hardly noticeable.

[hairadv]

Thanks for your advice Forrest Gump.

 

I am scheduled for an assessment with the Hair Club and none of those surgeons are on your list.

 

Are there things I could learn from this assessment or should I just cancel it ?

 

If so, what are the main things I can learn ?

 

Thanks.

[Hairy Godmother]

hairadv:

Please understand I have your best interest in mind when I say this...

You need to do WAY MORE research before deciding and personally I wouldn't schedule a consult unless I was fully aware of all the choices I have. Sometimes when you go somewhere for a consult you may not even see a doctor and you could get the wrong impression, information, etc. But while you are at your consult you are excited, ready to get going, and the next thing you know you are signed up for surgery with a non-refundable deposit. WOAH!

Look at before and afters, talk to previous patients, watch a live surgery, talk to the doctor that does the procedure, and get several opinions. Be sure you understand all the methods available to you. There are different donor extraction (harvesting) methods, different planting methods, different closures, different healing processes (post op), etc...

Most on this site will tell you the same.

WHATEVER YOU DO - DO NOT JUMP INTO THIS PROCEDURE.

[hairadv]

Hi Jessica,

 

Thanks for the thoughtful response. I agree you are right, I need much more education in this area before I would go ahead with a hair transplant. One of my thoughts was to go this preliminary session to learn more about it. I promise I will not make any committments to go ahead with the procedure without getting your approval .

 

Thanks for the summary of all the different procedures available. Is there somewhere on the site where these different procedures are described ?

 

I have already changed my thoughts about having the surgery done locally. I can understand why forum members suggest looking nationally. This makes sense. It does make the whole process more complicated, but I can easily see how it makes sense.

 

I also did not realize how serious the surgery is in the donor area. When I see the after pics, that is quite enlightening.

 

I have a lot to learn. Thanks for your suggestions.

[hairadv]

Hi again everyone,

 

I decided to keep my appointment with the Hair Club today, and I thought I would post some of my impressions and try to get some feedback from you.

 

My appointment was at a small office here in Reno, Nevada. The consultant did a fairly quick exam. She took 4 pics with a camera and then some pics with a portable microscope, she said was a 50x magnification. She did a nice job of explaining the procedure to me and went over a couple of phamplets that she gave me to take home.

 

She asked me a few questions about how extensive the degree of coverage that I would like and answered all of my questions. I will come back to these later.

 

The two doctors that are in my region are: Dr. Roy Jones, Las Vegas, and Dr. Gaffney, Orange County, CA, does anyone know them ?

 

She told me that I could either do 2,500 - 3,000 grafts or 5,000 grafts. The cost for 5,000 grafts would be $17,750.

 

Dr. Jones will be visiting Reno on Sept. 1, so I made an appointment to meet with him.

 

I feel that I am still in the early stages of my research.

 

Any thoughts ? Thanks.

[hairadv]

Hi Again everyone,

 

Well, I kept my appointment with Dr. Jones at the Hair Club today and I did learn a few more things:

 

1) He measured my hair density, and it is 175 hairs / sq. cm

 

2) He thought I would need multiple procedures, he said the first should be 2,000 grafts. He said I would need a second and maybe a third procedure.

 

3) So I do have another question now. I know some doctors are now doing transplants with more grafts. I have heard of over 4,000 grafts in one procedure. If a doctor can do that would there be any reason to still do two procedures at 2,000 grafts each. Which approach is better ?

 

4) He said he would transplant to the front of my head, so he would leave the open space toward the middle and back.

 

So now I am at the next step of my research. Given where I live I would like to get a consult with 1-3 more surgeons in one of the following cities: San Francisco, Los Angeles, or Sacramento.

 

Any suggestions how to proceed ? Does this make sense ?

 

Thanks.

[Guest wanthairs]

hairadv----

 

Ive been on this website for several years now. If you have extensive baldness, go and get a consult from Hasson and Wong. It can all be done online. They have probably the highest number of provable cases which are nothign short of amazing transformations. I myself have had one procedure with them which I needed after a first failed hair transplant with someone else.

 

Also the prices you have been quoted are a rip off.

[Am0986]

Warning do not go to hair club! look at my 1,500 graft procedure on my blog!! Rip off and the grafts were all singles!!!! Go check out a doctor on this site. Dont go to hair club its not the place for a good hair transplant trust me! Dr. Gaffney personally did mine and it sucked!

[hairadv]

Originally posted by wanthairs:

hairadv----

 

Ive been on this website for several years now. If you have extensive baldness, go and get a consult from Hasson and Wong. It can all be done online. They have probably the highest number of provable cases which are nothign short of amazing transformations. I myself have had one procedure with them which I needed after a first failed hair transplant with someone else.

 

Also the prices you have been quoted are a rip off.

 

Hi Wanthairs, I am not planning on doing a transplant at Hair Club, my impression is that their business is really aimed at hair pieces and the transplants are not state of the art. Given that situation, I would have expected better prices, and I suspect I could negotiate them to a lower price, but I would rathter get a top notch transplant.

 

I took a look at Hasson and Wong's webpage and it is impressive. They seem to be experts in high (numbers) graft transplants. Is there other information that you can give me about them ?

 

Also, I noticed in going back to your earlier posts that you had a transplant with Dr. Epstein. Can you tell me about your experience with him ? And did you have and later procedures ? Also, I do not see Dr. Epstein listed on this forum, can you tell me what your thoughts are about that ?

 

Thanks for your suggestions.

[hairadv]

Originally posted by Am0986:

Warning do not go to hair club! look at my 1,500 graft procedure on my blog!! Rip off and the grafts were all singles!!!! Go check out a doctor on this site. Dont go to hair club its not the place for a good hair transplant trust me! Dr. Gaffney personally did mine and it sucked!

 

Hi Am0986, thanks very much for responding. HC cites Dr. Gaffney as one of their leading surgeons, so if you did not receive a good transpl. that is very concerning.

 

The picture that you posted is very helpful for my understanding, and it leads to a few questions:

 

1) What year was your first transplant ?

2) If I understand correctly, all of your grafts were single hairs. Dr. Jones explained to me that each graft is a follicular unit, meaning from 1-3 hairs, and it seemed that he was saying that this is the standard procedure in today's technology. Were your singles done before this was the case ?

3) I noticed your recent transplant was done with Dr. Meshkin. Can you tell me what your experiences have been and why you selected him ?

 

Thanks.

[thanatopsis_awry]

Wanthairs can give official confirmation if he sees this thread, but he went to Hasson+Wong as a *repair* patient after having been to Epstein, who is no longer associated with this site. I believe Epstein's yield was estimated at a putrid 30% for Wanthairs, and the follow-up care, from what my eyes could see, was quite poor (read: arrogant).

 

Your best bet is to consult with a variety of clinics.....look at their results; compare the quality, clarity, and transparency of their results; evaluate the graft recommendations you receive, and compare them doctor to doctor; etc. Selecting a few from the Coalition list of this site is a fine place to start, and Hasson+Wong should certainly be in the discussion.

[hairadv]

Originally posted by thanatopsis_awry:

Wanthairs can give official confirmation if he sees this thread, but he went to Hasson+Wong as a *repair* patient after having been to Epstein, who is no longer associated with this site. I believe Epstein's yield was estimated at a putrid 30% for Wanthairs, and the follow-up care, from what my eyes could see, was quite poor (read: arrogant).

 

Your best bet is to consult with a variety of clinics.....look at their results; compare the quality, clarity, and transparency of their results; evaluate the graft recommendations you receive, and compare them doctor to doctor; etc. Selecting a few from the Coalition list of this site is a fine place to start, and Hasson+Wong should certainly be in the discussion.

 

Hi Thanatopsis, thanks for the reply. This is the first time I have seen a number on yield, other than what I was told by Dr. Jones at HC. He told me the yield should be 90% or higher on a transplant. So the 30% that you quote is a huge difference.

 

So what should one expect for yield from a transplant, is 90% reasonable or high ?

[thanatopsis_awry]

I believe a reasonable expectation would be 97-99%. 30% is, of course, horrendous, but it frequently happens at poor clinics.

[hairadv]

Hi again,

 

Could you please give your thoughts on FUE vs. strip extraction ?

 

Thanks.

[thanatopsis_awry]

You need to assess the following through a lens of what the difference in scarring means to you, and how many grafts you want to extract. Strip is better for getting more grafts, FUE is better because if you don't deviate from FUE you will never have to contend with a strip-scar.

 

FUE is also more expensive, but that should be a non-issue, or the last thing to consider.

 

If you're cool with doing ~1500 grafts in your session, I would likely be inclined to go the route of FUE. Yield and such is still more of a question with FUE than strip, so it's especially imperative to only go to the absolute best, who will do you right in every sense of the word.

 

If you have mild or moderate loss I think FUE is great. The main drawback *I* personally would find, would be if my present-day loss could be better tackled by strip and get me to where I want to be in much quicker time. If you can play a game of "catch up" and/or knock off some modest loss and see what happens going forward, I think FUE is ideal.

[hairadv]

Thanatopsis, thanks again. In my visit with Dr. Jones he said I would need about 5,000 grafts. And I think I have a lot of hair loss. So if I was to have FUE it seems like it would take about 3 sessions to do 4,500 grafts.

 

You mentioned the focus of the choice between FUE and strip is on the scar. But it seems like if I understand the differences, FUE might also offer an advantage with respect to scalp laxity because with strip they would need to draw the scalp together. Is that the case ?

 

Thanks.

[thanatopsis_awry]

Well, yes and no. Yes, you do have to contend with scalp laxity with strip -- basically in regard to how many grafts can get harvested in a session. This laxity issue is not present in this way w/ FUE. However, you can *still* get more grafts in a single strip session, laxity or no laxity, at least in regard to yourself as a virgin scalp. As such, an aggressive way to go about harvesting your donor might be to go the route of strip -- strip yourself out -- and then move on to FUE which has greater flexibilities in where you can harvest from.

 

If you need ~5k grafts, I truly wouldn't go the route of FUE. Even *good* FUE is still far more variable in regard to yield/outcome than strip; and personally, I think limiting the # of times you need to go the route of FUE is safest. You'd be needing 3 sessions of FUE just to begin approximating that 5k number.

 

With the right doc, the right scalp (and taking it upon yourself to do "scalp exercises") that 5k number may very well be met in one session; and, if not one, then assuredly in two, and after one you will have a very nice cosmetic change.

[Drew35]

Originally posted by hairadv:

Thanatopsis, thanks again. In my visit with Dr. Jones he said I would need about 5,000 grafts. And I think I have a lot of hair loss. So if I was to have FUE it seems like it would take about 3 sessions to do 4,500 grafts.

 

You mentioned the focus of the choice between FUE and strip is on the scar. But it seems like if I understand the differences, FUE might also offer an advantage with respect to scalp laxity because with strip they would need to draw the scalp together. Is that the case ?

 

Thanks.

 

Hasson and Wong consistently do more than 5,000 grafts in1 session than any other clinic.

 

If you need that many grafts than FUE is not for you and you can be "one and done" with H&W.

 

Do an online consultation with H&W.

 

 

Go to HassonandWong.com and look at their amazing videos:

 

http://hassonandwong.com/hair-transplant-videos.php

 

 

When I max out my donor, via strip, I will then go with FUE, but when you need that many grafts strip is the way to go in the beginning.

 

Good luck!

[hairadv]

Drew, thanks for the suggestions.

 

That is the second suggestion to consider Hasson and Wong, they must have a great practice.

 

Is the main issue that they do large numbers of grafts ? Surely it must be overall quality as well. But can you give a few specific points that they excel in.

 

I believe they are in Vancouver, BC. Any issues about Canadian medical system ? I guess since it is elective surgery it doesn't make any difference ?

 

And I notice that they do US consultations in Seattle and Portland, interesting.

[hairadv]

Thanatopsis, thanks again. I had not thought about strip followed by FUE, interesting idea.

 

Can you also give me some examples of the excellent aspects of Hasson and Wongs practice. It will help me understand more generally what to look for.

 

Thanks.

[hairadv]

I just noticed this description of lateral slits on Dr. Feller's website.

 

It points to two things:

1) This looks like a state of the art procedure, and

2) It looks like an acknowledgement of how ahead Hasson and Wong are.

 

Am I interpreting this correctly ?

 

Thanks.

 

 

When you are discussing the most modern and effective techniques of hair transplantation one must include a discussion of lateral slits. This innovation was created and introduced by Dr. Jerry Wong and Dr. Victor Hasson of Vancouver Canada and was ignored for years until the introduction of custom cut blades (see dense packing) and procedures exceeding 2,000 grafts in one session (see megasessions).