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HT Dr's in SoCal


HK500

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  • Senior Member

Sorry if I missed something but I have not been able to follow the discussions on a regular basis for the past few months.

I see Dr. Straub is not on the reco list any longer??? When did this happen and why? I did my first HT with him but I would love to hear more 3rd party opinions.

I see we continue recommending Dr's Meshkin and Kabaker. I have read about very few experiences with Dr Meshkin but positive if I recall and none with Dr Kabaker, I wonder why Dr kabaker is on the list.

Thanks for shedding the light.

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Hello Bill,

I thought I read something about Dr Meshkin a long time ago, but I am not too sure any more, maybe on another forum... Nothing on Dr Kabaker.

The reason why I posted on this topic is because of the recent surgeon exclusions.

I was always surprised to see Dr Straub recommended given the higher standard maintained here. I guess about one year ago more or less, it seemed to me that the site, it's members and reco'd Dr's took a very significant step forward, Pat was visiting many more clinics than he used to and demanded more accountability from surgeons as in regular photo, patient and complaint updates, then he enforced the rules with the Dr's who did not meet requirements much more quickly than in the past it seems.

I got mediocre results on my first HT (from Dr Straub), I consider myself very lucky that I had no complications and I would hate seeing other forum members or non members having bad experiences from unproven Dr's. In my opinion Dr's Meshkin and Kabaker may well be just that: unproven. Because I am located in SoCal I am picking on these two but I think there maybe others in different geographical areas who are recommended on this site without recently complying to our current standards of due diligence.

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Hello HK500,

I joined the network a few months ago and asked several members about Dr. Meshkin and a few others in so. cal. I ended up having my surgery with him a few months back and since everyone is so interested to know about him I feel it is good to give some feed back. The consultation was very personable, he seemed very professional and knew what he was doing. From the pictures I sawand all the articles he had written and the certificates(0n the walls) I felt comfortable to have the surgery with him(besides the fact that his price was half of the other guys I visited).

Anyways, the surgery went very smooth I was sleepling during the whole procedure and was very comfortable. I had a little pain the first night but after the second day It was o.k. I had 2000 FU done mostly in the front and some in the back.. its been 5 months my hair is coming out its very excititng to see the hair finally but its here. I have a followup appointment with him in 2 weeks and I may do another session to make it fuller. but my overall experience was very good I recommend him to whoever wants tohave it done. His staff was very helpful and friendly. One thing that impressed me the most was that first night he called me and asked how I was doing and went over all the instructions and medications which I thought was very nice and I don't think I would of got that personal touch from any other so called big shots in this area. Anyways if any of ou guys want to know more about my experience tell me I ll be glad to share it

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • Regular Member

hi Hk

sorry, I ve been busy at work and holidays and about the price structure its 3.50 per FU I am doing my second session by the end of Dec. I will update you guys when I get a chance..... how some of the guys get the time to be on this forum all the time is beyond me, do they get paid by the doctors to promote them? I wonder...hummm.... by the way I am very happy and recommend him highly,

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  • 2 weeks later...

I had several sessions with Dr Kabaker in mid to late 90's. He is a good man and has much experience in plastic surgery. each timne i was under his scalpel there was another doctor there learning from him. He did a couple of scalp reductions on me too. No real complications but I was not happy with the very round hari line he gave me. He used fillicular units of mini and standards (2-5 hairs each). Now there hair lines I see in many photos are single hairs and although I mentioned to him then that this is what I want in front he did his own thing and thus it shows that I have had work done on me. his prices are relatively high. In the next several days I am going for hopefully a final frontal revision hair transplant session to make mine more natural but have chosen a different Dr. to do this.

On Dr. Meshkin I have heard many good things and my brothers did one session with him and one of them in doing a second next week. His work is very very good but the density fromn his first sessions on my brother were very low although they had virgin bald heads and he could have done much much more in that session (my only critique of him). I almost went to himn too but he is in southern CA and I am in Northern Cal. One other thing is that he does two sessions/day (like Dr. kabaker) and I did not like that as he could potentially rush one work and not completely transplant all the harvested units (I sure hope this is not the case).

Anyway, good luck.

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  • Senior Member
His work is very very good but the density fromn his first sessions on my brother were very low although they had virgin bald heads and he could have done much much more in that session (my only critique of him). I almost went to himn too but he is in southern CA and I am in Northern Cal. One other thing is that he does two sessions/day (like Dr. kabaker) and I did not like that as he could potentially rush one work and not completely transplant all the harvested units (I sure hope this is not the case).

 

After reading this post and your other it sounds like you have had very bad HT experiences (scalp reductions, minis and micros, oh my!) and are looking at the wrong docs for all the wrong reasons.

 

Firstly, you never let travel determine what doc you're gonna see. If you won't travel to see a top HT doc then you really shouldn't be getting one.

 

Secondly, you say your brother had good esults with this doc then say he didn't get enough density. Also, a doc that needs to do multi sessions to get proper density most likely is not a top doc. Top guys are doing 2k and up regularly with no problem. Unless the patient decides this is what he wants, there is no reason to put yourself through multiple HTs. If the doc can't do a megasession he is likely inexpereinced or not that skilled

 

I hope someone else chimes in here to back me up so you can see you're making a mistake....

I am the owner/operator of AHEAD INK a Scalp Micropigmentation Company in Fort Lee, New Jersey. www.aheadink.com

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  • Senior Member

P.S. A megasession takes up to 8 hours. There's no way a doctor should be doing 2 surgeries a day if he's doing it properly...

I am the owner/operator of AHEAD INK a Scalp Micropigmentation Company in Fort Lee, New Jersey. www.aheadink.com

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Doing two hair transplant sessions a day for a physician with a large staff is not impossible depending on the session sizes and experience. Mind you I am not advocating this practice - but I know that elite physicians do it and do not "rush" either patient and still yield a positive outcome. Any more than 2 patients per day however, in my opinion (with the exception maybe of extremely small cases) would be problematic.

 

Xerexes,

 

Be sure to read the responses to your inquiry on your orignal thread posted here.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

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  • Senior Member

Bill, i agree it's possible, but if i'm spending $10k on a cosmetic surgery i want to know that my doc is concentrating his efforts and talents on just me.

I am the owner/operator of AHEAD INK a Scalp Micropigmentation Company in Fort Lee, New Jersey. www.aheadink.com

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  • Regular Member

Hi guys,

About traveling if you find a fine doctor inyour area you should go to him but traveling should not be the only factor in making your decision. To xerexses, if you have seen first hand Dr. Meshkins work I don'tget whatkeeps you from seeing him for your transplant. and regarding megasessions, not everyone has enough donor density, size and the same scalp elasticity to do 8000 Fu that some doctors claim they can do on everyone. If a doctor claims to be able to do megasession(5000 or more) on everyone he is lieing and be aware they only want your money. Dr. meshkin examined my donor for a long time before the procedure and took a big piece ear to ear to get the maximum number of grafts. My scalp was tight for a long time and I dont know how any other dr. could have taken more and eventhough I kept pushing hm for mor fu he was honest enough to tell me that my scalp was tight and if he took more I would have a bigger scar and lose hair in the donor area. Also, i bet those megasession dotors do only one hair fu to get more money since the amount of donor hair taken is basically the same. What ever technique he used I got more density and better natural result then some of my friends who spent alot more money on their procedure and had it done some where else. He spent quite a long time designing my hair line and was on hand during the whole procedure. They dinot comprimise on anything or I wouldnot go back. And while some doctors may not have staff to do 2 surgeris he has alot of experienced people working there and when I went for consults back in june all the doctors were doing 2 or more a day. and fal. I will have him take some pictures during the procedure so I can post before during and after.

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  • Senior Member

The problem is that we don't know how many grafts X has been proposed to get because I don't think X even knows. X has a lot more to learn about HTs and the process of picking a doc before he makes decision. That's why he should wait.

I am the owner/operator of AHEAD INK a Scalp Micropigmentation Company in Fort Lee, New Jersey. www.aheadink.com

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  • 2 weeks later...

HK500,

 

I recently had a 1,650 session with Dr. Meshkin and would rate him (1 - 10, 10 being the highest score) and his office staff as follows:

 

Pre-Op instructions, meds, etc...: 10

Surgical Procedure: 10

Post-Op: 10

 

I have had 2 prior sessions with other Doctors, 500 grafts in 1995, 1,500 in 2001, and then 1,650 with Dr. Meshkin in Dec. 2007. While the other doctors were leaders in their industry, they were not in Doctor Meshkin's league. Doctor Meshkin even called me himself the night of the surgery, and the following night to verify all was well.

 

I have one more session and then I hope to have a final product. This Forum lead me to Dr. Meshkin and I am greatful. I will not have to look further who will perform my final session!

 

Good Luck,

 

TimH

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