I just scheduled a consultation with Dr. Cooley.
Would anyone like to comment on some of the issues that should be covered in a consultation? I'm sort of new to this and need all the information I can get. Amy post to this would be greatly appreciated.

Here's a few questions to ask, there are probably others...

1. What kind of grafts do you use? All Follicular Units?
2. Am I at risk for shock fallout? Are you sure of that answer? Will you guarantee it?
3. Will I be able to look good even if I decide to only get this one procedure? Or do I have to get more than one procedure to actually look presentable?
4. What kind of donor density do I have? How many grafts will you do the first procedure? How many on following procedures, if I decide to keep using you as my surgeon?
5. Tell me about your philosophy on donor site closure. What kind of material do you use? What kind of donor scar will I have? If you say it will be tiny, can you guarantee that?
6. What do you propose for my hairline? (show me). Will that look right in 30 years?
7. Can I meet some of your patients? Not the guys who work in the office that you did, but outside-world "real-life" patients?
8. What would you estimate your rate of patient satisfaction is? What if I'm not satisfied afterwards?
9. Exactly what will I look like when I am finally all done with surgery? Will I have a bald crown someday? What will my ultimate results be, and how many surgeries will that require?
10. What are my non-surgical options? What will I get out of using drugs like Propecia instead of surgery? Should I use Propecia and Minoxidil anyway? If not, why not?
11. How often do you turn guys away? Am I a good candidate? What are things that can make a guy a bad candidate?

Darnold, in the meantime I suggest you keep learning as much as possible, to try to find out what you would consider the "correct" answers to be to these questions. That way you will be able to interpret the response you get. (Rather than just accepting everything that a doctor tells you as "the truth".) In other words, find out the answers ahead of time, and see if you and the doctor have the same opinions, when you go to the consult.

Here are some additional onsiderations in Evaluating a hair transplant clinic -


Can the surgeon provide at least one dozen sets of clinical "before" and "after" case photos for your review? Be sure the photos offer good clarity and detail and include "before" views as well as "after" views that allow for critical evaluation.

What is the hair transplant surgeon's reputation among his or her peers? And how many years have they been dedicated to doing hair transplantation?

Can the surgeon provide a list of names and phone numbers of patients willing to discuss their personal experiences? Patient testimonials will say a lot.

Is the surgeon performing procedures in a fully-equipped and sterile outpatient surgical facility designed exclusively for hair transplant surgery?

How many hair transplant procedures does the surgeon perform in one day? Ideally the physician will be dedicated to working on you all day if you are doing a large mega session procedure.

Does the physician perform hair transplant surgery full time or predominantly? If not, the clinic may not have a staff that is experienced enough to successfully perform large sessions of all microscopically prepared Follicular Unit (FU) grafts.

Does the physician use microscopes for the disection of the donor tissue into 1, 2, 3, and 4 hair Follicular Unit (FU) grafts?

Large sessions of all microscopically prepared grafts are a team effort. But how hands on will your surgeon be?

Will he or she be making all the incisions in the graft recipient area, which determines the design and hair direction of your transplanted hair?

How involved will your surgeon be in the placing of the actual grafts?

Pat

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