My ht with Dr. Alexander

[Guest]

Hello everyone! I had 2,660 FUT strip with Dr. Alexander on Thursday, 5/3.

I would like to thank the contributors on this forum who helped me make a wise decission on choosing a HT doc. Without this forum I would have probably ended up at a mil or with a non coaltion Doc.

Instead, after years of research (I had almost done it 15 years ago) I found this forum that ultimately lead me to Dr. Alexander.

 

After reading countless Surgery reviews I pretty much knew what to expect.

I was plesantly surprised that it was less tramatic then I had anticipated.

In fact, I didn't even know the strip was removed!

 

Dr. Alexander & his tech staff are very proficient at what they do & kept me comfortable & relativly pain free.

I dozed in & out while Dr. A made his lateral slit incisions using custom cut blades. I felt no pain during this process.

 

After lunch the techs ( who are all hotties! ) came in & began the long & tedious process of placing the grafts while the other techs continued trimming & preparing my grafts. They mentioned how the grafts were being accepted nicely into the incisions. That was good to hear!

Dr, A came in throuout the process to monitor the progress & to make sure I was comfortable & pain free.

I highly recommend Dr. Alexander & would like to thank him & the Technicians/Staff, Karina, Sabrina, Toby, Michelle & Nicole for a truly great experience.

Check out my immediate post op pics!

 

So here is the final count.

1 hair units = 706

2 hair units = 1802

3 & 4 hair units = 152

Total of 2660 grafts

[Guest]

Hello everyone! I had 2,660 FUT strip with Dr. Alexander on Thursday, 5/3.

I would like to thank the contributors on this forum who helped me make a wise decission on choosing a HT doc. Without this forum I would have probably ended up at a mil or with a non coaltion Doc.

Instead, after years of research (I had almost done it 15 years ago) I found this forum that ultimately lead me to Dr. Alexander.

 

After reading countless Surgery reviews I pretty much knew what to expect.

I was plesantly surprised that it was less tramatic then I had anticipated.

In fact, I didn't even know the strip was removed!

 

Dr. Alexander & his tech staff are very proficient at what they do & kept me comfortable & relativly pain free.

I dozed in & out while Dr. A made his lateral slit incisions using custom cut blades. I felt no pain during this process.

 

After lunch the techs ( who are all hotties! ) came in & began the long & tedious process of placing the grafts while the other techs continued trimming & preparing my grafts. They mentioned how the grafts were being accepted nicely into the incisions. That was good to hear!

Dr, A came in throuout the process to monitor the progress & to make sure I was comfortable & pain free.

I highly recommend Dr. Alexander & would like to thank him & the Technicians/Staff, Karina, Sabrina, Toby, Michelle & Nicole for a truly great experience.

Check out my immediate post op pics!

 

So here is the final count.

1 hair units = 706

2 hair units = 1802

3 & 4 hair units = 152

Total of 2660 grafts

[Bill - Seemiller]

Follica,

 

I'm glad to know that we have been able to help you in your research that eventually led you to Dr. Alexander. He does quality work. I'm going to go look at your post op photos after this.

 

I'm glad to know that the surgery was close to "pain-free".

 

After lunch the techs ( who are all hotties! )

 

LOL...I'm glad you were able to be visually stimulated to get your mind off surgery

 

Bill

[Guest]

LOL, It does help make the experience more pleasant!

[Middleson]

Congratulations folica,

 

Looking forward to seeing the pictures. I recall not being aware the donor strip had been removed during my own surgery (and I was kinda dreading that part).

 

A good surgeon can make all the difference in the world!

 

Happy healing.

[the B spot]

Is the technician Toby a girl or a guy?

 

I just want to make sure I understand your "hotties" comment.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Middleson, Yeah I thought the strip was going to be the hard part!

 

LOL B! Yes Toby, she is a little cutie!

[DonnaB]

Now I know why my day didn't go as well in Alexander's office and why I wasn't as relaxed--

I am not a guy so did not have quite the pleasure of the staff that you did :-) :-)

They were all very competent and the technique impeccable though! Only two weeks out from mine also...

[Scarred4Life]

Gentlemen:

This is S4L coming to you live and in person on a mission to save humanity from HT. I found this post and thouhgt to copy and share it with those who might have missed it. No I don't believe it, it can't be, really, someone other than the bitter S4L who got the shaft!! Huh, hard to believe.

 

Greetings all. I have read this site and others for some time now and have decided to share my experience and deductions. In my early thirtys I began to notice that my hairline was beginning to become somewhat transparent. I was into the music scene (metal) and had long hair and to me it just didn't look as good even though the recession was minimal. After doing some research, including this site, I decided to go with one of the featured doctors, Dr. Edwin Epstein. After a consutation with the doctor it was determined that I had about 2.5 cm of recession with about 20-25 thinner native hairs per sq. cm within this area. The doctor recommended a small procedure of just 300 fut.s to thicken things up. Other doctors I had consulted recommend much more, but doctor Edwin Epstein seemed much more sincere, and his personal website looked much more impressive. That with the fact he was featured with the many esteemed doctors here cinched the deal for me. So in May of 2003 I had my first procedure and received 383 fu.s into my hairline. The whole process took less than 2 hours, I didn't even have time to finish watching the movie the doctor was kind enough to put on for my comfort. The whole operation was painless, even the numbing, and I was impressed at how quickly that I had healed after the procedure. Unfortunately, this is where the accolades end. After nearly one year this minor procedure had not just minor, but negative results. Not only were the existing hairs shocked away to never return, but less than 50 new fu.s apparent. In another consultation with the doctor he had expressed his disappointment and offered another larger procedure at a discount. After consideration and consulting with another clinic familiar with Dr. Edwin Epstein, I had agreed to what I was told would be a final procedure. On June of 2004 I had a second session in which I received 1105 fu.s into the same area and even a little above. Nearly a year after this second procedure the results were quite bleak. I have coarse nearly black hair and a lighter complexion, the dreaded combo for hairline transplantation. With that said I now have about 10 fu.s per. sq. cm. of thick black hairs going across my entire hairline by 3 cm. high. No matter how I style my hair I cannot entirely hide this bizarre new look. I have since cut my hair short and wear hats, something I have never done before, to hide this. Also the fact that nearly 1000 of my donor fu.s were MIA, more that likely KIA, has added to the trauma. I had initially done about two months of research with multiple resources before my first procedure. In the three years since my last procedure I have learned you cannot do enough research. I will be posting photos soon and will be happy to field any futher questions.

 

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Occam's Razor, April 27, 2007 07:22 PM

[Bill - Seemiller]

This is S4L coming to you live and in person on a mission to save humanity from HT.

 

Yes Scarred...please save me from this new head of hair that I have and make me bald again

 

Bill

[tkerr22]

Congrats fellow patient of Alexander. Am glad your experience went well. I can't personally remember all the techs except for Sabrina, but I do remember them all being very cute! More importantly I am glad your procedure went smoothly. I know you will be satisfied.

[Guest]

LOL Donna! Yes it helps to be relaxed.

So how are you doing 2 weeks post op?

Healing nicely I'm sure!

Yes they are very good & of course no procedure is a walk in the park.

But your past that now & now you have something great to look foward to!

 

Tker, thanks for your input & support. I am very pleased with the procedure.

I am ready to put this recovery process behind me & grow some hair, I am estatic!

[NervousNelly]

Folica,

 

Glad to hear you had such a great experience. Sounds like it wouldn't be a bad place to just go and hang out. You shouldn't have documented how great a time you had with all the cute techs, B spot will be there regularly now--just to evaluate the office ofcourse.

 

Heal well and keep everyone posted.

 

NN

[Guest]

Thanks Nervous, It's good to see you haging out once in a while in putting in your two cents, what a bargain!

Yeah I realize now that B spot is a Dog!

He heard the word hotties & he is like what? Hotties, where??

Aren't we all dogs guys??

[Manko]

Not to digress, but I believe scarred4life has had a traumatic experience, I do also think that he should at least get a revision of the scar. I know he visited Dr. H and he was appalled by the good doc's recommendation that he get another HT. In my opinion, I think it would be highy unethical if Dr. H agreed to remove the strip, toss the valuable hair, and then sew up S4L with a much improved scar. Maybe S4L would be happy, but it seems like a strange end result. S4L's scar is one of the worst I've ever seen, so I can definitely understand his jaded approach. I think if I was in a similar spot I would probably do the same and warn as many people as I could (anonymously of course). However, all of his posts come across as "worst case scenarios" and a Chicken Little type of speech. Good luck to you, S4L, I hope you find whatever it is you're looking for.

 

Manko

[Guest]

I decided to go with one of the featured doctors, Dr. Edwin Epstein.

 

Jefferey epstein is a coalition Dr.

I don't think Edwin is.

 

Manko, yes everyone does feel bad for S4L.

And alot of people here have tried to give him sincere advice. Of course he is understandably gun shy now. The only problem is he keeps coming back to try to "save" other people from suffering his own fate.

As I had stated in another post, A hair transplant should be a calculated risk.

This is when all possible senarios have been pondered & the person is armed with all the knowledge they can absorb regarding a ht.

To take a quote from the above story that S4L fished up,

quote: "I had my first procedure and received 383 fu.s into my hairline."

That to me is not a calculated risk.

If you have a decent head of hair & you want to play around with your hairline you are taking an undue risk.

Someone who is 50 yr's old & is a NW 6/7 & goes to a proven Doc armed with knowledge, is taking a calculated risk.

A scar revision would need to be researched until he feels comfortable enough to do it.

Best of luck to you S4L! You couldn't save any of us so save yourself!

[Gorpy]

Congratulations on you HT Folica. That looks very nice. I'm glad to hear things went well for you. Also, thanks for posting pictures and your detailed hair counts. It appears you had very few 3's and 4's.

 

Did Dr. Alexander talk to you about your transplant density? As the official HDE I already know your approximate density. Just wanted to hear what the doc says.

[Guest]

Gorpy, Thank you for your comments. I have been waiting for you to chime in!

The Dr. discussed my density as we were preparing for surgery, although not in detail.

So please do tell me my approx density. I know it's not high by any means.

Not to mention I have fine hair. So I know I will half to be patient to achieve final results.

[Gorpy]

Folica,

 

I estimate you covered an area of around 70 sq cm. Spreading your 2660 grafts around that gives you around 40 per/cm2. It appears your hairline is loaded with a bit more that that (maybe 45).

[Guest]

Gorpy,

So is that appropriate density considering I am 49.5 years old? Or will i want to take a second pass in front?

Thanks for the density calculation. It's good to have an engineer on board!

[Gorpy]

You know, it's difficult to say. It might be just fine for you. I'm now 51 years old. I had less density than that (30 per) on my first (although I had a little more existing hair). So it just depends on your desires (not a reference to the Alexander staff ) and expectations.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Manko,

 

Whether or not Scarred4life will get a scar revision is up to him of course. I think right now he is too tainted by his past experience and won't let another HT doc touch him.

 

Folica,

 

I will confirm that Jeffrey Epstein IS a coalition doctor and Edwin Epstein is not. It's important to be clear on this when people are asking about Dr. Epstein. I only learned somewhat recently of Dr. Edwin Epstein. There has also been some confusion since there are now three Dr. Shapiros. Only 2 (Dr. Ron and Dr. Paul) are from Shapiro medical group.

 

Oh and...I'm also glad to hear that these "hotties" are women .

 

Bill