Just got a consultation & quote, is this reasonable?

[HairLoss916]

I'm 27 years old and right now I have norwood type I hair loss and want to get a hair transplant to restore my hairline and restore some slight thinning in the middle.

The surgeon said I would need 800 grafts at a cost of $4500. Does this seem reasonable?

Also I am a bit worried about the donor scar. He says it won't be noticeable after my hair grows back and there is nothing to worry about. Typically what does the scar look like for 800 grafts?

 

[s.a.f]

No one should ever get a strip hair transplant for less than 3000 grafts. Keep researching.

 

[HairLoss916]

I'm sorry but what do you mean by strip hair transplant? I'm new to this stuff.

And why do you say I should not get less than 3000 grafts? Wouldn't that be overkill for my level of hair loss? I'm just getting a hairline restore from norwood type I and a density increase in the middle of my hair. The surgeon said to restore the hairline by it self I would only need 400 grafts. The other 400 is for the middle of my head.

 

[smoothhead]

hairloss916, what saf si saying is that why would u get a strip scar on ur head for just 800 grafts when u can do FUE's and call it a day for now, he meant only to go the strip way if u need 3000 graphs or more. what if u want to shave down low it will be obvious...if you go for fue u wont have a strip scar because they will take each follicle out individually. you should think about it and dont rush since u r new to this whole transplant ting. i know a whole lot about it trust me i ben tru 10 hair transplants and 3 scar revisions. countless dollars and still thin. for fue its appx 10 dollar per graft u wont regret trust me dont strip ur head for 800 grafts or u will regret this in time to come

 

[HairLoss916]

hairloss916, what saf si saying is that why would u get a strip scar on ur head for just 800 grafts when u can do FUE's and call it a day for now, he meant only to go the strip way if u need 3000 graphs or more. what if u want to shave down low it will be obvious...if you go for fue u wont have a strip scar because they will take each follicle out individually. you should think about it and dont rush since u r new to this whole transplant ting. i know a whole lot about it trust me i ben tru 10 hair transplants and 3 scar revisions. countless dollars and still thin. for fue its appx 10 dollar per graft u wont regret trust me dont strip ur head for 800 grafts or u will regret this in time to come

I think the surgeon said he will be using FUEs, are you saying here should be no scar if he is using FUE?

Why are you saying I will regret it? Did you transplants not go well? Are the scars a lot more visible than you were lead to believe?

 

[Petchsky]

What Doctor did you have a consultation with?

Certainly don't rush in to anything... you got any pics?

 

[Nene]

If you don't know the difference between FUE and strip, and why getting a strip procedure for 800 grafts is a bad idea, you need to do A LOT more research before you consider hair transplant surgery. Not trying to offend you, but this could ruin your life if you don't know what you're getting into. Read up on these forums and you'll learn all you need to know.

 

[HairLoss916]

What Doctor did you have a consultation with?

Certainly don't rush in to anything... you got any pics?

Dr Efrain Gonzalez in Rocklin, CA. Do you know anything about him?

 

[HairLoss916]

If you don't know the difference between FUE and strip, and why getting a strip procedure for 800 grafts is a bad idea, you need to do A LOT more research before you consider hair transplant surgery. Not trying to offend you, but this could ruin your life if you don't know what you're getting into. Read up on these forums and you'll learn all you need to know.

The thing is, I am not sure I am getting a strip procedure. I thought he said it is FUE, but I'm going to call him tomorrow and get that cleared up and why I would need a scar.

How can a hair transplant ruin my life???

And I am reading these forums and doing research, that why I posted the thread.

 

[Shma]

No one should ever get a strip hair transplant for less than 3000 grafts. Keep researching.

Sarcasm?

 

[smoothhead]

hairloss916, let me giv u a little explanation of the difference between a strip also called FUT and a FUE. FUT means follicular hair transplant whereby the doctor cuts the back of ur head and remove a strip of donor hair which is then divided into individual follices which is then transplanted to the receipient area. with this procedure u will have a scar for life no doubt. the size of the scar depends on the experience of ur Doctor. Now the FUE means follicular unit extraction whereby the doctor take a small biopsy like punch and remove individual follicle from ur donor and then transplant it to ur balding areas. u will not remain with a linear scar with this method however u will hav a tiny dot where the hair has been remove wchih is almost not visible unless u clean shave ur head. IMHO u will be better off if u go for the FUE method which even though a little more expensive will be work out best for u in the future if u want to buzz cut ur hair. I was naive like you when i started my journey and wish i did otherwise. My hairtransplant was inteh most part successful some i did not get great results but am satisfied as of now. The problem i have to live with and with much regrets is the scarring at the back of my head which is horrible but will soon get it revised by a good Doctor. for now i use dermatch to cover it. i hope u make the best decision. Call ur Doctor and let him explain to u if its FUE of FUT. i think u r getting confused by them. please dont rush into a hair transplant until u fully understand it a bit more. Dont get me wrong its great but u have to do ur research. N that Doctor i never heard of him. Be careful brother...PS jus advising

 

[Nene]

If you don't know the difference between FUE and strip, and why getting a strip procedure for 800 grafts is a bad idea, you need to do A LOT more research before you consider hair transplant surgery. Not trying to offend you, but this could ruin your life if you don't know what you're getting into. Read up on these forums and you'll learn all you need to know.

The thing is, I am not sure I am getting a strip procedure. I thought he said it is FUE, but I'm going to call him tomorrow and get that cleared up and why I would need a scar.

How can a hair transplant ruin my life???

And I am reading these forums and doing research, that why I posted the thread.

Well, the fact that you saw a hair transplant surgeon before you even knew about the different methods just had me a bit concerned. Like I said, I'm not trying to offend you, i'm just looking out for a fellow hair loss sufferer. Where is Dudemon? You send him a PM, he will explain exactly how a hair transplant can ruin your life.

 

[HairLoss916]

Hi dudemon

I really sympahize with your story and I'm sorry that you had a very poor experience with hair transplant. It sounds like most of your ills were from having it performed by a bad hair transplant surgeon. That's exacly what I am on here doing research and not under the knife yet. I want to make sure that my hair transplant surgery is done correct the first time.

I already have been searching the internet for reviews of my doctor and I have no found any. I'm sure he is new in the field, but he (claims) that he had had multiple hair transplant surgeries and his hair looks perfectly fine (I couldnt tell he had hair transplants and I saw no scar at all). After looking up Dr Umar and watching his introductory youtube video I can tell he is a high class hair transplant doctor, I will be calling his office tomorrow but I suspect he is backed up for years.

Now that I know about FUE and how it leaves no donor scar I am wondering why the surgeon I went to didn't recommend FUE, maybe his office does not know how to do it.

Thanks for the information and I will definately not be jumping into this. Do you have any other recommendations for doctors that are in Sacramento or Northern California? If needed I can just fly to Los Angeles but again I am worried that Dr Umar might be extremely backed up.

 

[HairLoss916]

Hi dudemon
Thanks for the information and I will definately not be jumping into this. Do you have any other recommendations for doctors that are in Sacramento or Northern California? If needed I can just fly to Los Angeles but again I am worried that Dr Umar might be extremely backed up.

It's good you are beginning to realize that this is a "lifetime committment" and you will have to live with the results of an hair transplant for the rest of your life...good or bad. hair transplants are permanent, and that can be either a good thing or a bad thing, as in my case.

As far as in Sacramento, or Nor Cal...NO, absolutely not! NONE!

IMO, STAY AWAY FROM ALL OF THEM THERE!

The only one worht considering is Rassman, who sometimes does a few surgeries at his San Jose clinic. however, he is mostly at his LA clinic (which may be in Beverly Hills...I think :dunno: )

But he isn't nearly as good, IMO, as good as those others I listed for you in my previous post above. I've also recently heard about a few guys on other websites (Hairtransplant.net I think) who have had crappy results from Rassman. He is also more expensive than most.

Umar is very careful when choosing his hair transplant patients. He is pretty ethical as far as I know and heard, and will consider an hair transplant as a "last resort" for his patients. I've even heard about him talking guys out of hair transplants...now that's pretty ethical if you ask me.

I am considering Umar for my 4th and final hair transplant.

Hmm, I find it hard to believe that there are no good hair transplant surgeons in northern CA, there are 15 million people here. Is there any websites where you can type in a doctors name and see the reviews? Maybe I won't go with the doctor in Rocklin but I want to look at other norcal doctors reviews.

Do you know what makes a good canidate for hair transplant as far as Umar is concerned? As far as hair transplant being a "last resort", aren't there no other options for male pattern baldness? Honestly if Umar refuses me for hair transplant for some reason I might look else where even if it means a lesser quality doctor and a donar scar.

 

[HairLoss916]

Man you really paid the hair transplant industury as a very dark one... I had no idea. You see all these great before and after pictures on the internet and it makes you think it's fairly straight foward.

And I'm also suprised at how many people you know that has gotten the "plug" type hair transplant. I specifically asked my doctor if they used plugs and he said no they insert individual hair per folicle so your hair line is 100% natural. I'm going to check with him again though.

 

[s.a.f]

No one should ever get a strip hair transplant for less than 3000 grafts. Keep researching.

Sarcasm?

err no. :dunno:

And hairloss916 you need to understand that this is'nt like getting a haircut or buying a suit. There are 1000's of people who will offer transplant surgery but it is a very specialised feild. In reality there are just a handful of Drs in the world who are real experts in this.
These guys have built up a reputation by producing 1000's of consistant results. This in turn leads to recommendationsd on sites like this and their reputation spreads.

However the vast majority of clinics are simply cosmetic surgeons 'having a go' at it. These guys probably perform a hair transplant every other week and will do a half assed job.
The biggest mistake anyone can make is to 'go local' if you're going to have it done go to the best there is even if it means getting on a plane. As far as hair transplant's go either do it properly the first time or dont do it at all. Take it from me I like Dudemon have paid a heavy price for rushing into this. Before you undergo any surgury you should become an expert on this subject and be sure that the surgeon you choose is one of the few 'big name' hair transplant surgeons. Keep reading on here and you'll soon understand.

 

[Boondock]

No one's yet flagged up the other elephant in the room here.

This guy's young, and has only NW1 hair loss. The hair transplant is desgned to fill out the temples.

Nothing wrong with that, but it's by all accounts a riskier strategy than fixing up a fully receded NW5. You don't know whether you'll be able to hold the line at your NW1, or if you'll be receding back further. At the very least, a minituarization study should be done, family history should be worked out, and medication should be considered.

Then, for this number of grafts I would only consider an FUE transplant. That way you can cut it short, and if things go wrong you have better odds of buzzing down. 800 FUE grafts with a top Doctor will cost you approx $8,000, and when it reaches this much you've got to ask yourself whether it's not just worth sitting back as a NW2 for a little longer.

 

[dougfunny]

unless you are modeling or a movie star i think you would be crazy to get a hair transplant before you are a good nw3. almost certainly nobody but you is really noticing it.

and the biggest advantage of a strip is you can get 3000+ hairs. you only have one shot at this so to blow it on only 800 hairs is a waste.

finally you would be crazy not to go to one of the top 5 hair transplant guys you read about on the internet. feller/wong/etc. it's not much if anything more and results are always 10x better.

 

[s.a.f]

finally you would be crazy not to go to one of the top 5 hair transplant guys you read about on the internet. feller/wong/etc. it's not much if anything more and results are always 10x better.

Its not so much the results are 10x better you could get a quite good result from an unknown ....BUT .... its a massive gamble. Many bad clinics trade purely on the uneducated guys there is no shortage of men going bald. And many of the top docs about 50% of their work is repairing butchered guys. But there are plenty of guys out there who go to their nearest surgeon get butchered then give up on hair transplant's and spend their lifetimes regretting the who;e thing.

 

[Boondock]

...This guy's young, and has only NW1 hair loss. The hair transplant is desgned to fill out the temples...

YIKES! I didn't notice he was only a NW1! I must have misread that part. That is crazy to get an hair transplant as a NW1. I wouldn't even worry about it then. I'd say NW2.5/3 is about the best time for an hair transplant, no sooner.

Absolutely, Norwood 2.5/3 at the absolute minimum, and even then it may be easier to wait and see with concealers and antiandrogens.