My visit to a Hairtransplant Sugeon- Free Consultation

[Guest]

Being sooo desperate to get the current state of my hairloss assessed I booked a consultation with a Hair transplant Doctor at ********** (I dont want give free publicity to anyone nor malign anyone but lets say its one of the popular ones featured on TV shows) So I met the young lady doctor today for a free consult in North California and here are some of the questions I asked and the comments she made....

Q. What norwood Scale am I on ?
A. She initally said between 1 and 2 but after 30 minutes she said she could even put it to 3 vertex. I told her i visited 3 derms and allsaid I was between 1 and 2 but she said they are not that experinced and I said that sounds fine. She took a picture of a vertex and the bald patch was about a 1cm by 1 cm and I told her thats nothing and MOST pple who are not balding have them and she said yeah if it doesnt bother you then its fine. :roll: this is how it exactly looked like in the photo. (http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/ferrar ... pg&.src=ph) Actually its difficult to put me on the norwood scale since my hairline is intact and she agreed to it.

Q. SO I am taking all this multi vitamins and supplements (MSM, Biotin, multi vitamins) so does that help a bit ?
A NO, its a waste of money they dont help at all.

Q. Copper Peptides and nizoral ?
A. No, Again you can take it if you want but its not proven and doesnt help.

Q. Are there any Growth stimulants I can take ?
A. Expect for minoxidil.. NO. nothing helps !

Q. How bout scalp massage and use of rosemary and castor oil ?
A I am a certified Massage therapist and believe me all those treatments dont help but may not do any harm though.

Q. Does propecia work for frontal hairloss.
A. She drew a diagram and said it will only help around the vertex and back of the head .. not even much crown...so you can expect to maintain at the most ... nevertheless she seemd a strong advocate of propecia among all other medications.. She asked me to go on to Minoxidil even if its once a day.... she said minoxidil and Propecia are the only 2 things that work.. I asked about dutasteride and she said she has 3 patients on it and only one was satisfied that its maintaining.
Like most doctors she said only propecia and minoxidil work....

She said I had a very good chance of success with hairtransplants for my pattern since my hairline is intact and also said that most patients of my ethnicity maintain their hairline even if they loose hair on the frontal part (Absolute bullshit !!) I ve seen many with temples receeding ! but anyways thats what she said.

She used a machine to show me the miniaturization on my head. At first I could not relate to what she was saying .. she showed me the hair at the back of my head and then at the top.. although the density looked the same the top ones were thinner at the base... but it wasnt a VERY significant difference atleast to my eyes...although i totally agree I am thinnning at the front. Perhaps the machine wasnt too high resolution.

She talked about how Matthew Mccoughney had his transplant and got it done later than he should have and how ppl have realised that he has had transplants done. (does that sound like marketing to you ?.. go in early and get one done ?) I intuitively felt she was was kinda coaxing me to look into a hair transplant in the near future (since I just started on propecia). I told her I did not find that idea of having ANY kind of surgery appealing but she said she understands that and its just a minor procedure...

finally she asked me to get another appointment with her at 7 months since i started propecia 5 weeks ago to see if its making any difference....


The clinic did not have any patients waiting inside and I was the only one.


At the end of it....I am just more dissapointed and confused.. :? I thought I ll get a very thorough, knowledgeable and honest opinion since I was going to a hair transplant doctor rather than a derm. but it seems there was a commercial consideration/motive than just an honest one. Thre was definitely an air of a sales agent to her... but thats just my opinion based on the responses i recd. from her. One part of me wants to believe her and the other part of me strongly suggests she is trying to sell a hair transplant to me

SORRY But I am just getting distrustful of EVERYONE. I hope most people on the forum are not exploiting naive ppl like me and others...) either WILFULLY or UNWILFULLY (those that just go with the flow). :cry:

Remember....You shall reap as you shall sow... what goes around comes around !!!! :-x

 

[hairwegoagain]

I'm not sure what you were expecting. You went to a commercial hair transplant clinic, and you're surprised that they wanted to sell you a hair transplant? It sounds like, by your own admission, you approached this with a bit of naivety.

Being sooo desperate to get the current state of my hairloss

Desperation will lead you to some very poor decisions in life, with hairloss being one of the more benign things you can screw up.

SORRY But I am just getting distrustful of EVERYONE. I hope most people on the forum are not exploiting naive ppl like me and others...) either WILFULLY or UNWILFULLY (those that just go with the flow).

I don't see where the hair transplant doctor tried to exploit you. If you go to a car lot, they're going to try to sell you a car.

It is incumbent on you to become educated and take responsibility for your own choices. You can avoid "exploitation" by not falling prey to everything you hear or read.

First and foremost, get control of your mind.

 

[jeffsss]

Q. SO I am taking all this multi vitamins and supplements (MSM, Biotin, multi vitamins) so does that help a bit ?
A NO, its a waste of money they dont help at all.

if your on a healthy diet she's probabaly right.

Q. Does propecia work for frontal hairloss.
A. She drew a diagram and said it will only help around the vertex and back of the head .. not even much crown...so you can expect to maintain at the most ... nevertheless she seemd a strong advocate of propecia among all other medications.. She asked me to go on to Minoxidil even if its once a day.... she said minoxidil and Propecia are the only 2 things that work.. I asked about dutasteride and she said she has 3 patients on it and only one was satisfied that its maintaining.
Like most doctors she said only propecia and minoxidil work....

again she's probabaly right..

further more.. i'm suprised she even commented on dutasteride.. since it's not FDA approved most docs will act like they havent even heard of it.. protecting their asses.

 

[Guest]

I'm not sure what you were expecting. You went to a commercial hair transplant clinic, and you're surprised that they wanted to sell you a hair transplant? It sounds like, by your own admission, you approached this with a bit of naivety.

I was expecting an honest opinion.. a rgiht analysis of my situation and not someone trying to sell me something...

Being sooo desperate to get the current state of my hairloss

Desperation will lead you to some very poor decisions in life, with hairloss being one of the more benign things you can screw up.

You are right on that one... its just one of those days when the hairloss thing hits you hard and ur desperate to do anything !

[quote:ca07c]
SORRY But I am just getting distrustful of EVERYONE. I hope most people on the forum are not exploiting naive ppl like me and others...) either WILFULLY or UNWILFULLY (those that just go with the flow).

I don't see where the hair transplant doctor tried to exploit you. If you go to a car lot, they're going to try to sell you a car.

I am not claiming they "exploited" me.. it just didnt sound like a honest god opinion... well we cant expect that from hair transplant surgeons can we ?


It is incumbent on you to become educated and take responsibility for your own choices. You can avoid "exploitation" by not falling prey to everything you hear or read.

First and foremost, get control of your mind.[/quote:ca07c]

 

[hairwegoagain]

... its just one of those days when the hairloss thing hits you hard and ur desperate to do anything !

We've all been there. Just keep things in perspective so you can overcome it when it hits. Don't let your mind get away from you, OK?

it just didnt sound like a honest god opinion

Perhaps you are looking for someone to tell you what you want to hear. What would that be? It does sound like she made some fairly reasonable statements re: the vitamins, scalp massage, castor oil, etc... not that those items are necessarily detrimental, but it doesn't appear that they regrow hair. I think she did you a service in letting you know that.

I'm not necessarily directing this towards you, because I've been there. But, I think some guys are grasping at straws, trying to find something that simply isn't there yet. Meanwhile, they haven't given the treatments that have been proven effective in some people a consistent, fair shot. Impatience and frustration set in, causing them to switch horses mid-stream. Not a good idea, IMO.

 

[Guest]

Damn... some hair transplant surgeons.. I just got a call from the hair transplant surgeon's office I visited last week to confirm my next appointment after 6 months in may...yeah and this is from a reputed clinic (not the surgeon) Are all of them like that ? Marketing pros ?

Meanwhile I made a fool of myself going around at the gym asking about 6 buddies (2 with visible hairloss and 4 without) if they can see my scalp or any bald spots on my vertex and asked them to have a detailed look from the top floor and six inches and everybody says they dont see any hairloss or spots so to speak. Sometimes I feel i ve become obsessive about it AKA jefffssss. :evil:

 

[JayB]

Damn... some hair transplant surgeons.. I just got a call from the hair transplant surgeon's office I visited last week to confirm my next appointment after 6 months in may...yeah and this is from a reputed clinic (not the surgeon) Are all of them like that ? Marketing pros ?

Meanwhile I made a fool of myself going around at the gym asking about 6 buddies (2 with visible hairloss and 4 without) if they can see my scalp or any bald spots on my vertex and asked them to have a detailed look from the top floor and six inches and everybody says they dont see any hairloss or spots so to speak. Sometimes I feel i ve become obsessive about it AKA jefffssss. :evil:

dude why are you like trying to convince yourself that theres nothing wrong with you, when you obviously know something is wrong with your hair...

do you want us all, along with the Doctor you saw, to be like "yea man ur hair is perfect"

 

[michael barry]

Helpmegrow,

I have been where you are. The "hardsell" is standard procedure with hairtransplant businesses.

Have you considered just pursuing treatments and buzzing the hair you have now short. That way, if the treatments work....GREAT, but if they dont it wont be as big of a deal. You will get used to your "clean cut" look.



Listen, If she told you Nizoral has no positive effect on hair, you KNOW she is lying to you. Thats one of the "big 3". My little regimine (in which I seem to be maintaining well on) is propecia, minoxidil once a day, nizoral twice a week (left in for 2 min) and folligen spray every other day.

So if you discount the nizoral shampoo (we have to shampoo anyway dont we), I take 3 things for my hair. I also take an MSM supplement, flaxseed oil supplement, and saw palmetto oil supplement (prostate problems in family history) and a multivitamin. Thats it. Oh,,,,I do scalp excercise also 2X a day. As I said, Im maintaining.



If you transplant now, and genetic modifications come along that get all your old hair to grow back........you'll have transplanted over all those vellus hairs effectively destroying them. If cloning comes along.....you can get a movie star head of hair. But if you get plugs.......youre sitting there hoping that you dont receed further for the rest of you life. So if youre not a responder to treatments over time and you horseshoe bald....you'll have very thin transplanted hair (which will look awful).

If you do decide to go the hair transplant route, by all means dont use a Doctor that used the hardsell on you like that or had a salesperson call you when you didnt ask them to. WHen you go to a big transplant company, you can expect to have your emotions toyed with. They have hot chicks working there make lots of eye contact with you and act like youre going to be soooo hootttt as soon as you get in that chair and start a lifelong process that you no doubt will have to update 2 or 3 more times with less and less donor hair. They know every question you might ask and have three answers and follow up answers to each of them . I know, Ive been there. A buzz cut and a gym bod aint that bad man...... but see-though plugs in 30 years would look cheesy. Think and Pray about whats right for you, but dont let anyone "mind-f***" you into a surgery unless thats what YOU want for yourself. Best of luck

 

[Guest]

Helpmegrow,

I have been where you are. The "hardsell" is standard procedure with hairtransplant businesses.

Have you considered just pursuing treatments and buzzing the hair you have now short. That way, if the treatments work....GREAT, but if they dont it wont be as big of a deal. You will get used to your "clean cut" look.



Listen, If she told you Nizoral has no positive effect on hair, you KNOW she is lying to you. Thats one of the "big 3". My little regimine (in which I seem to be maintaining well on) is propecia, minoxidil once a day, nizoral twice a week (left in for 2 min) and folligen spray every other day.

So if you discount the nizoral shampoo (we have to shampoo anyway dont we), I take 3 things for my hair. I also take an MSM supplement, flaxseed oil supplement, and saw palmetto oil supplement (prostate problems in family history) and a multivitamin. Thats it. Oh,,,,I do scalp excercise also 2X a day. As I said, Im maintaining.



If you transplant now, and genetic modifications come along that get all your old hair to grow back........you'll have transplanted over all those vellus hairs effectively destroying them. If cloning comes along.....you can get a movie star head of hair. But if you get plugs.......youre sitting there hoping that you dont receed further for the rest of you life. So if youre not a responder to treatments over time and you horseshoe bald....you'll have very thin transplanted hair (which will look awful).

If you do decide to go the hair transplant route, by all means dont use a Doctor that used the hardsell on you like that or had a salesperson call you when you didnt ask them to. WHen you go to a big transplant company, you can expect to have your emotions toyed with. They have hot chicks working there make lots of eye contact with you and act like youre going to be soooo hootttt as soon as you get in that chair and start a lifelong process that you no doubt will have to update 2 or 3 more times with less and less donor hair. They know every question you might ask and have three answers and follow up answers to each of them . I know, Ive been there. A buzz cut and a gym bod aint that bad man...... but see-though plugs in 30 years would look cheesy. Think and Pray about whats right for you, but dont let anyone "mind-f***" you into a surgery unless thats what YOU want for yourself. Best of luck

Nah man... Hopefully I ll never go the transplant route... either I learn to live with what I have or i shave it buzz cut/bald. .. The thing I am trying to emphasize is those wily bit**** including the lady surgeon are not showing me the true picture.. The only reason i went to the office is to measure the amount of miniaturisation i have. and the lady Doctor was like "OH I am sorry to break the news to you but u are balding at the vertex too " thats Bull$hit man ! I was jus so annoyed. And then she cited the Case of matthew mccaughney as to how he started late and how his hair transplant became obvoius to everyone. She made me feel even further down as if hair transplant was inevitable 2-3 years dont the line.... :evil: Well anyways... My condition aint so bad at all. Noone (except my bro tells me I am loosing hair ) so i figures its not that visible and I am taking all medical treatments to ensure hair stays on for long enough. Even If I can pull it for 5 + years with what I have I d be happy.

 

[JayB]

so are u saying that youre not thinning at the vertex?

 

[Guest]

so are u saying that youre not thinning at the vertex?

I MAYBE and I am not even sure... but its not alarming enought to see a balding spot or balding or have hair trasnplant there....I have always had a normal vertex like most hairy people where in you see a small cent size spot which is relatively thinner than the other parts...

 

[JayB]

so are u saying that youre not thinning at the vertex?

I MAYBE and I am not even sure... but its not alarming enought to see a balding spot or balding or have hair trasnplant there....I have always had a normal vertex like most hairy people where in you see a small cent size spot which is relatively thinner than the other parts...

Listen, i dont mean to offend you in any way, but i think that you are in a denial of some sort..judging by the pics on your site, your vertex is showing alot of scalp.. Its good that youre on medicine, but i dont think that you are "jumping a gun" or anything like that...

http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/ferrar ... pg&.src=ph

 

[Guest]

so are u saying that youre not thinning at the vertex?

I MAYBE and I am not even sure... but its not alarming enought to see a balding spot or balding or have hair trasnplant there....I have always had a normal vertex like most hairy people where in you see a small cent size spot which is relatively thinner than the other parts...

Listen, i dont mean to offend you in any way, but i think that you are in a denial of some sort..judging by the pics on your site, your vertex is showing alot of scalp.. Its good that youre on medicine, but i dont think that you are "jumping a gun" or anything like that...

http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/ferrar ... pg&.src=ph

Not a LOT of scalp. If that would have been the case I am sure atleast one of the more than 10 people I have asked by now would point it out. Yeah I i could be thinning there but those pics in the album were talken with soaking wet hair under bright lights so that skews the actual representation. just the otherday A veteran poster observed from my pictures and commented something like "my Hairline is racing thowards my back. " Which is absolutely NOT the case and I am not in any sort of denial whatsoever. I wouldnt jump on to medications if i was in denial. Moreover we have to understand that what we see in pics maynot be the exact representation of the status since pics are affected by lightings, flash, angles, quality of cameras and so on...

BTW, I appreciate your feeback...

 

[Guest]

OK, So I get a call again today from *** center telling me they have an open house next weekend where I can meet former patients and they ll do a live hair transplant. and have free food served .so they want me to attend it. So I tell the guy that look buddy I went to the office just for getting my miniaturization measured and I am not in need for any surgery as of now. My hairloss is lss thann a year old and he tells me " I see there than the hair transplant surgeon recommended me about 1500 grafts so we though we ll invite you over "
And I started laughing in disgust and he tell me "Ok We just wanted to let you know but feel free to call us anytime if you want to attend any such sessions " And then I requested him to take me off the list.
I am never going to visit an hair transplant clinic again. They not only make you exaggerate your hairloss but make you feel bad about it by following up with you and telling you you need hair transplant"

Suckers !

 

[michael barry]

Helpmegrow,

They are trying a "full court press" sales technique on you. Remember, theoretically your donor hair ISNT GOING ANYWHERE. Dont let them pressure you with "youlll be bald if you dont do it now!" type of tripe. If you explore the regimines on various sites, unless your genetic tendency to bald is overwhelming (in which case your really DONT want to transplant), you can proboably keep what you have after an initial shed for quite a while. There is topical finasteride availabe these days, so if you dont want an internal......minoxidil plus finasteride, nizoral a couple of days a week should stave off baldness until genetic treatments from companies like Curis or cloning from Intercyclex or Anderans comes along.

It may be the last days for conventional transplantation over the next 5-8 years AND THEY KNOW IT. Better things are on the way. Even if you do go the transplant route in a couple of years.......for Pete's sakes I hope you find a more ethical outfit. Taking advantage of others emotions, fright, and panic over early hairloss is just so wrong and cruel. Screw that Doctor......there are better (and honest ones) out there.

Hope you have a great evening.

 

[Guest]

Helpmegrow,

They are trying a "full court press" sales technique on you. Remember, theoretically your donor hair ISNT GOING ANYWHERE. Dont let them pressure you with "youlll be bald if you dont do it now!" type of tripe. If you explore the regimines on various sites, unless your genetic tendency to bald is overwhelming (in which case your really DONT want to transplant), you can proboably keep what you have after an initial shed for quite a while. There is topical finasteride availabe these days, so if you dont want an internal......minoxidil plus finasteride, nizoral a couple of days a week should stave off baldness until genetic treatments from companies like Curis or cloning from Intercyclex or Anderans comes along.

It may be the last days for conventional transplantation over the next 5-8 years AND THEY KNOW IT. Better things are on the way. Even if you do go the transplant route in a couple of years.......for Pete's sakes I hope you find a more ethical outfit. Taking advantage of others emotions, fright, and panic over early hairloss is just so wrong and cruel. Screw that Doctor......there are better (and honest ones) out there.

Hope you have a great evening.

Yeah man... thanks for the reassurance... Here I am trying to get over this baldness panic and these Aholes remind me about my hairloss at the most inapproprate moments... I am already on meds and vitamins trying to stave off the inevitable for sometime.... I do not want scars on my head whenever I do get an hair transplant say 5 yrs down the line. And I dont beleive there is some thing called Ethical doctors. This Bit*h works for a reputed hair transplant company. In 2004, she entered the hair transplantation field, trained with a large hair restoration group and has completed 2 hair transplantation surgical fellowships. Isnt that a very less experienced surgeon ???? Maybe she is trying to catch some scape goats to perfect her skills and add more experience to her resume.