Anyone with any experience or info on Thomas L Tzikas MD. I have a HT scheduled with him later this month, but have not found any testimonials or info on him on the net. He seems to have good credentials, but any input would be greatly appreciated. BTW he's in Boca Raton, FL

DaveR,

If he's not recommended her e or on one of the other dorums and you can't get much info, I'd be leery...

My suggestions is make sure you meet actual patients who he has worked on and look at their HT's. Ask them about before and after HT as well as about shock loss they experienced and look at the size of their scars. If you like what you see, and get answers to all the other things like all F.U. grafts, microscopic dissection, etc., then you are probably OK. If not, go somewhere else.

There are many bad docs out there, but good ones that may not be local to you. I flew from Cleveland ot Vancouver. Staying local is one major reason some people get a bad HT... and they are for life! I know as my first two were not good.

Mr. T

I recommend that you avoid any doctor who uses the old fashioned Minigraft-Micrograft (aka "mixed grafting", "varigrafting") approach. These approaches do not give the most natural looking result.

What you want is a clinic that uses microscopes (not magnifying lenses, I mean stereo microscopes) to dissect Follicular Unit grafts.

Find out if the clinic uses microscopes. If they say no, I recommend looking elsewhere. Microscopes can increase graft yields by a reported 20 to 30 percent. That means that the clinics who do not use microscopes may be throwing a percentage of your precious donor hair into the garbage.

Find out if the clinic uses Minigrafts in any substantial amount (anything over, say, 10% of the total number of grafts). If the answer is yes, I recommend you look elsewhere. Minigrafts can look pluggy and need to be concealed with more natural looking Follicular Unit grafts. You want only Follicular Unit micrografts, that have been microscopically dissected. They are the most natural looking.

Look at this article, maybe print it out and show it to your doctor, and ask if he uses this method: "Best hair transplant procedure"

Only a small handful of doctors are doing hair transplants with excellent results, and most doctors do an average or below-average job, in my opinion. The problem with an average hair transplant is it looks like an obvious hair transplant, so what good is that? The whole point is to have nobody notice anything unusual. An average hair transplant is a waste of your money and precious donor hair, that you could have put to better use with a better doctor. You have one shot to do it right the first time, so pick your doctor wisely