Scary, right MeBlindMelon? Oh well, let him learn like the rest of us did...

quote:

Originally posted by fishman35:
Well, here is an update for you guys. I got a referral list of former patients of PAI in my area. I talked to 3 of them this morning. All had nothing but awesome things to say about Dr Bolton.

Here is the kicker. I KNOW ONE OF THESE GUYS FROM HIGH SCHOOL! No BS here!He said the same thing the others did and they said they would all do it again in a heartbeat, if it were necessary.

I will post before and after photos. Thanks for everything.

I'm telling you man, I didn't realize there was a better way for about 15 years. I would've recommended the one who did it for me because I didn't realize there were any other options.

And you know, you feel sort of happy because even though you've got a C- or so transplant, you think it's better than the alternative.

And then boom!, you see results from a Feller, Cooley, Wong, Lindsey, etc..... I have no interest financially or otherwise in this site, and probably won't be here at all in 9 months when I'm not bald anymore.... , but like the others said, good luck.

Guys,

If fishman has already made up his mind, let's respect his decision. We all certainly wish him the best hair transplant possible and hopefully he'll receive it.

But though it's good to direct and steer people toward physicians we know are proven, I certainly don't want him to feel that we are bullying him.

Hopefully he will share his experience and pictures with us, whomever he chooses.

Best wishes,

Falc

All i will say now is ask the guys "especially the 1 you know from highscool" to meet w/ them in person. After that if your still satisfied im on board w/ you! Also MIXED GRAFTS!!!! What???? That should throw up a big red flag. I wish you the best of luck!!

falc,
how can you say he'll hopefully get a good result when the clinic admittedly uses mini and micro grafts? true his appearance might improve because he'll have hair where there wasn't any, but there is no way the quality will be as good as if he had FUs grafted. i think it's irresponsible of us to not give him full warning and try and educate him a little bit. isn't that what this forum is for?

i honestly don't care what doc he uses (coalition or not) but i just hope he understands what he'll be getting for his money.

Fishman,

As discussed in PMs, I wish you the best of luck, which unfortuntely I think you will need.

Getting a HT is indeed a very tumultuous process -- emotionally, to say the least. If you get *any* reservations about the quality of their work, which I hope you end up getting a good glimpse of prior to the op, by all means just take a step back.

quote:

falc,
how can you say he'll hopefully get a good result when the clinic admittedly uses mini and micro grafts? true his appearance might improve because he'll have hair where there wasn't any, but there is no way the quality will be as good as if he had FUs grafted. i think it's irresponsible of us to not give him full warning and try and educate him a little bit. isn't that what this forum is for?

i honestly don't care what doc he uses (coalition or not) but i just hope he understands what he'll be getting for his money.

hairthere,

It's not that I don't agree with you - but it appears that he made up his mind. I just don't want to send him running from the forum.

I want to be clear however, that it is strongly my opinion that one should stay away from any surgeon still doing minigrafts. I hope that their website is simply outdated.

Falc

The dude isn't listening to guys who have years, years and more years of experience, who've already had bad work done, who have thousands and thousands of posts and Lord only knows the hours we've all spent researching.

Who knows, MAYBE they have stepped up there game. But if they are still using such lingo as mini and micro grafts- he'll be another statistic. I can only wish I'd been warned!

Because he's made his decision does not mean we shouldn't let him hear about it. Why even join this site and pose the question then???

Here is the deal, for the 10th time.

I asked for anyone who had experienced PAI. All I got was "not familiar with them, but lot's of red flags" or things like that. No actual experience, just conjecture. The only doctor who this site recommends in Tennessee is Dr Fisher. He does many other surgeries besides hair transplants and he charges $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. ($15,000 for 1,500 hairs)I want a doctor that only does hair transplants, not nose and boob jobs too! This is like buying auto parts at K Mart.
I have done my own research. I visited with 2 Nashville PAI patients. (One I went to school with). Their hair looked fantastic! They showed me before pics from family events to compare with what they look like today. If PAI is a "typical hair mill", then I could not tell.

I learned long ago that you cannot deny someone their own experience. I appreciate all that you guys have said, but I wanted a patient of PAI to respond. Someone who has never been to PAI and says it sucks is like a virgin trying to tell a porn star how to screw. Lot's of theory and hear say. None have you have been there, I met with people who have. I will do before and after pics, (if allowed), so others do not have to "guess" anymore. That is how you help, share actual experience, strength, and hope.

The fact that nobody has ever posted an expierence about Pai on here or any other sites would be a huge red flag for me .
It doesnt mean your going to get a bad transplant but I just think the guys here are trying to point you in a direction where your almost guaranteed to get a result youll be happy with.
Whatever you decide I hope you share your expierence with us. Make sure you see at least 30 or 40 photos from surgeries the doctor performed ,not Pai. Ask him what density hes going to pack the hairline? You know all the questions. Alot of places set you up for a second procedure .Good luck and remember people really are here to help you

Fishman, my response was based on the FACT (not lots of theory and hearsay) that PAI admittedly uses outdated technology. have you ever seen the difference between an all FU procedure versus the minigrafts the PAI patients recieved? if not, i suggest you do so just to fully ensure you did all your homework. good luck.

fishman,

Where are you seeing that Dr. Fisher does other cosmetic surgeries besides hair transplantation? His website http://www.fisherhaircenter.com only has him listed as doing hair transplantation.

Physicians who are recommended on this site either perform exclusive hair transplantation or hair transplants as the speciality of their clinic.

If you are looking for patients of Pai, I'd recommend using the "find" feature of our community and searching "PAI". If you can't find anything, you will have to research them in particular somewhere else.

As I said before, if you've already made up your mind on this clinic, we wish you well. But our members are trying to help direct you to known quality clinics using the most up to date techniques.

Falc

Well, I got it done yesterday. It went perfectly. We ended up doing a level 12 because the loss on the top was greater than I thought. The FU's in the front look flawless and the MHU's in the back look great. While I was in there, a patient who was coming in for his 1 year follow up came into the room. They had his file out with pictures and he had Bosely "doll plugs" from 10 years ago. They had to fix that with one session, then they did a level 10. He looked fantastic! He told me that I made the right decision. The doctor called me that night to make sure all was well. If PAI was a "hair mill" that doesn't care about their patients, I doubt they would have called. I can already see what it is going to look like. The doctors who prepared the follicles stated that they are flawless and my scalp is in greta shpe. I will start posting here tomorrow with pics.
Here is a pic from today. Not the greatest quality, but had to shrink it down.

Day_after.jpg (137 Kb, 50 downloads) day after surgery

Congraft fishman35. Happy to hear your happy.
Look forward to the pics

Congrats!!! I will say though that just because they call doesnt mean they arent a hair mill. The Bosley doc called me the night of my surgery

fishman, glad to hear your procedure went well and that they used FUs in your hairline. please do post pics when you can.

fishman,

You've got a lot of native hair which of course is excellent
It just looks from your photo that the density you were given into your hairline is quite low.
I'm not trying to be negative but i'm just advising u to be realistic and realise that there won't be a huge cosmetic difference.

I wish all the best in your results.

fishman,

I'm glad to hear your experience went well. The picture is blurry so it's hard to tell the placement of the grafts.

From the looks of it, you should have a definite improvement but may decide you want to get a second HT for more density in the future.

Heal and grow well.

Falc