I'm amazed at everyone supporting the shill. Jotronic asked the question. The guy comes back and says if you want to know just ask.

Well he did ask. The forum has lost some credibility if this is accepted as entree to the community. In this case, supporting the other docs that were comprimised, far outweighs Hank's feelings.

Something suspicious going on here.

alright Bezane, you asked and so I will tell you. It was a rep from H & W that I was suppose to meet for a consultation. He basically told me I was an idiot for not going with H & W. I'll leave it at that and if you want to hear more, I'm sure you will ask and I will tell you. But I'm not here to say negative things about anyone.
Obvioulsy, H & W have many, many satisfied customers as do a lot of other docs. I just didn't feel comfortable going to Vanc, BC to have this operation done. I was concerned if something went wrong after the procedure, what was I going to do? I didn't want to have to travel up to BC if I had post op problems. And then the rep tells me I'm an "idiot", can you blame me for not wanting to go up there?
I just wanted to share my experience and now anyone who reads this forum knows there is a great doc here in Portland, Oregon. Probably more than one, like I said in my original post, I think the first doc I met with would have done a fine job as well.
I've read this forum for probably a month now and a couple of you (Hairbank for one) are taking 3000 mg of MSM daily and some are taking 1% and another is taking 2% of Nizoral, and then Nioxin as well. Are any of these presriptions or over the counter? And would you explain what they are and what they do?
I just want the best results and if they are going to help than I'd like to know about them. Thanks in advance for any/all info on these products.
I would also like to thank the people who didn't rip on me for my initial post. I hadn't been back to this website until tonight and saw all the responses, so thank you to the nice ones.

Hank,

I want to apologize for some of the comments made on this forum, which I think were unmerited.

The fact that Dr. Gabel went above and beyond and removed more donor hair to provide you with additional free grafts so you could meet your goal of re-establishing your frontal area and has a technician who enjoys singing to make the environment pleasant hardly merits criticism.

I’ve seen many comments about the bedside manner of physicians and their staff but I don’t recall anyone being criticized for such posts.

People need to feel comfortable to share their positive or negative experiences on this forum without being falsely accused or criticized. I think your surgery looks first class and you have every right to be excited about your positive experience and the clinic you chose.

Fortunately there are a decent number of excellent clinics to choose from these days and choosing one over another is not a right or wrong choice. Ultimately the best treatment and physician is the one that’s best for you. I hope that you choose to stay involved in this forum and mentor others so that they can also achieve positive results.

In regards to Dr. Gabel’s surgical technique, he and his staff perform all microscopically prepared ultra refined follicular unit grafting using the lateral slit technique for placement. He creates all the incisions for these grafts using tiny custom cut blades. When closing the donor site Dr. Gabel uses a trichophytic closure technique.

Dr. Gabel did suggest to me that if anyone has questions about his patient care philosophy or technique to feel free to contact him directly. His contact information is on his profile.

All the best, Pat

congrats Hank, look forward to your results

From what I can see by the pics posted, the HT from Dr. Gabel appears to be solid. I hope we see more of his work in the future and, if he helps others like Hank achieve their goal(s), great! That's what this forum is all about..........helping others in their journey to hair loss prevention or hair restoration. I think this thread has spun slightly out of control. Hank had the pics posted and has proven he's for real as far as I'm concerned. On another note, I'm an H&W supporter and in no way experienced anything "high pressure" about them or from my consultant. Their reputation speaks for itself....'nuff said.

Hank- MSM is used by some to speed up hair growth (also isn't too bad for your joints ). MSM won't make your transplanted hair come in any quicker, but should help speed up growth of the hair as it comes in. It isn't prescription and can be picked up at your local Walmart for around $7 for a 2-3 month supply. Nizoral 1% is non-script, Nizoral 2% is prescription. Nizoral is an anti-fungal shampoo used to cleanse the scalp and help provide optimal growth conditions. Nixoin is a hair care product....shampoo and conditioner. The shampoo says it has DHT blocking ability but I'm skeptical. At any rate, Nioxin also cleanses the scalp and provides nutrients to the hair....it can be purchasd a most hair salons. I alternate Nizoral and Nioxin on a daily basis.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery and plentiful harvest. Keep posting updates.

Hank,

Before I continue, I want you to know that I have not doubted your post in any way. If you had a positive experience with Dr. Gable then that can be nothing but a good thing. The last thing I want to read about is another horror story. Been there myself, done that twice.

What I take issue with is your reference to a "high pressure salesman". There are not many clinics in Portland and I know who is who in the industry and what they can or cannot do. Having had the same representative from H&W as you did before I started working for H&W I can say with confidence that our rep in Portland is anything but high pressure. Enthusiastic? Yes. Educational? No question.

Having said that I have another question for you. You stated...

"And then the rep tells me I'm an "idiot", can you blame me for not wanting to go up there?"

Did he, in plain english, call you an idiot or when you said you were going to another doctor did he give you some educational resources to look at before you made your decision? I'm not asking about anything implied. I'm asking if he literally said the word "idiot" because if it was anything else then perhaps you should rethink your statement. I know that some people may be sensitive to additional follow up by a representative of a company that they may have had interest in at one point but the last thing we need to be is pushy or high pressure. We find, in the vast majority of cases, the education of the patient leads them to make solid decisions. We give this information in the form of one on one meetings with former patients and web references such as the Coalition of Independent Surgeons. We WANT our patients to look at other clinis. We WANT them to meet patients that had work elsewhere.

In an industry such as this you can hardly blame anyone for making sure you've had exposure to as much information about this process as possible.

So I ask you, did he literally call you an idiot or did you not like that he asked you to at least read up some more before you pulled the trigger?

Ultimately, based on whatever research you conducted, you chose another clinic. We cannot be bitter or whine about this because we know that we are not all things to all people. I wish you great growth and happiness with your procedure and I encourage you to share regular updates with the forum members.

Well Hank, that seems a helluva lot more open than your initial post. If you want to stay close to Portland and found a good guy, that's good. I wanted to be a bit closer to home and didn't go to H&W. In fact that pushy salesman forgot to call me back!!!

So I'm glad you're happy. Hopefully your results will be stellar. But I will always be the one to call people out when they appear from nowhere and tout greatness from an unknown.

We'll it sounds like that Hank did the right thing, researched before getting a HT, consulted with many clinics and chose the one he was most comfortable with. Now for some reason or another he felt pressured by one clinic and found comfort in the other. I have also felt the same when talking to consultants to some of the best surgeons in the world.

With one of them I felt that during my consultation they spent most of their time telling me how good they were and did not seem interested in my future plan with my HT. Now a HT is a very personal issue so this was enough to put me off them - regardless of how good they are.

I wouldn't feel comfortable talking with a consultant.
You should always deal directly with the Dr in this business IMO.
From the word go I only spoke with my Dr. Then the nurses spoke to me about pre & post-op instructions.

Jake,

I understand your point and I know how sometimes personalities can just clash. Regardless, I think that personalities are a non-issue when dealing with something of this magnitude. A very brilliant friend of mine has a great analogy for situations like this.

You walk into a BMW dealership to view the latest model M5. The salesman is "high pressure". Should you walk across the street to the Ford dealership just because of the salesman?

Brianf,

It is this exact perception of doctors in general that can lead to disaster. We are taught early on in life to trust doctors. Usually it is a good general rule of thumb however it does not always work out for the best. In 1992 I spoke directly with a doctor and the nurses that worked with him. He didn't even have a consultant so of course that is good reason to have nothing but confidence in what he told me at the time.

What I got for listening to a doctor only is on the left below. What I got from listening to a high pressure salesman is on the right.

Hank, 1st, congratulations on your HT. However, not to rain on your parade, but the amount of graft you got with Dr Gabel were far below what you'd need to give yourself an acceptable "full" look. You'll go from being very bald in the front, to looking like you're thinning & receding. You'd have been better off taking the chance of at least listening to that awful evil high pressure salesman or taking the 30min plane ride or 5hr car drive to H&W & getting a mega session of 3000-4000+. As much as Dr Gabel is the best in NW, I doubt that he's anywhere near as good as Dr Hasson when it comes to mega sessions. You'd have to go back to Dr Gabel at least once or twice more to get the same result you'd have gotten from that nasty evil place that the high pressure salesman represented. And hey, as much as I enjoyed my HT experience, if I don't have to go under the knife more than once to get my desired results, I won't.

FYI, I talked to 4 different HT Dr's before settling on H&W, & out of all of them, H&W were the LEAST high pressure. They almost didn't care if I booked with them or not. However, they did make VERY sure that I knew all the facts & had all of my questions answered thoroughly. Then it was left to me to decide.

I spoke with Mike Ferko a few times on the phone "after" i already had my surgery, he called me to talk about some things i posted and made sure i had my facts straight, he educated me on many things about Transplants, he was not selling me anything, he was on his own time and just brought me up to speed on many things, He is no ordinary consultant and in no way did i get the impression he was "high pressure" in fact he struck me as someone i could talk to for hours and have a beer with, in fact ive heard Mike Ferko is a major part of the "Internet" phase of hairtransplants, without him its possible that you would have went to Bosley, you should be typing up your apology right now, oooops did i go overboard with that, if i did its because i have strong feelings for that group in Vancouver wich includes Mike Ferko.

Mudpuppy

Mudpup....you're walking a slippery slope. We've graduated to the point where if someone claims to be the best, that they are indeed the best, especially if they slam other doctors and have singing technicians and spring for lunch.

The fact that Pat is apologizing to Hank for my "rude" posts, strikes me as strange.

While I can tell someone to read up the info on this forum to get educated, I would feel better about sending them to talk to Mike "the pressure" Ferko. At least they will end up at H&W as opposed to maybe being at an upstart that suddenly and strangely has the blessing of this forum.

And Jotronic should know that soon it will be deemed better to be the guy on the left than the guy on the right, as long as they were nice to you.

Hasson is so good that there's no way he could possibly do every initial consultation. He's the man in demand.

Pat, while I love what you've done here, the tone has changed. A poster came on here and slammed a damn good coalition doctor. Possibly two, because we don't know who Ms. 1600 is. Yet insyead of us jumping him for his lack of etitquette, we sent him a teddy bear and tucked him in.

I'll agree to not post here any more. But this situation has made it necessary in my opinion to ask the hard question. Do Coalition Doctors pay to be listed here? And if so is Dr. Gabel a perspective customer?

Obviously it would be worth it to all these doctors in a business sense, but we all have to be careful. Bigger is not better in this industry as we know.

Dr. Williams got slammed. Rightly so. But look at the shill post for him and Hank's. They might as well have been written by the same person. But one gets roasted and the other gets a pass.

bezane... did I understand what you wrote? You're are not going to post here anymore! That would be cool because what your doing now is just down right ridiculous.

Pat, this post should not be the first thing people see about a doctor that you trust. It's not fair to him that there're a bunch of... he doesn't need this bullsh#^ and either does Hank or the rest of us. I would like to see an end to this. For no other reason than; instead of an apology they get worse. This is no longer a productive thread. Can you kill it please!

H&W is a class act, we all are aware of that. They don't need your protection or your input. Bezene... maybe it is you that is the shill!

I see nothing wrong with questioning new posters or anyone on here if you think it is warranted. But there seems to be some prejudice on here, and I think that is not what this board is about. The guy expressed his opinion, neither right or wrong, just an opinion, since when have all of us became the all knowing one. Cmon guys, let people express their experiences and if you have questions go ahead, but please don't attack others, because that does nothing to help anyone, and I was under the impression this board is to help others

quote:

Originally posted by Jotronic:
Jake,

I understand your point and I know how sometimes personalities can just clash. Regardless, I think that personalities are a non-issue when dealing with something of this magnitude. A very brilliant friend of mine has a great analogy for situations like this.

You walk into a BMW dealership to view the latest model M5. The salesman is "high pressure". Should you walk across the street to the Ford dealership just because of the salesman?

Jotronic,

Good analogy except that if you still end up going to one of the best surgeons in the world then you still end up getting a BMW just from a different dealership

Although I see your point that you should not be put off by a 'personality clash' since you will most likely get over it when you achieve outstanding results like yourself!

In an earlier post, I was asked to introduce myself – so here I am. My practice is in Hillsboro, Oregon, which is just outside Portland. For those of you that not been out to the Northwest, it is a beautiful part of the country, although a little rainy during the winter months. I’ve been involved with hair restoration since 1999. I am committed to providing state of the art hair restoration for my patients. I spend a lot of time with my patients during the consultation process to understand their goals and tailor my approach to achieve the goals they are seeking. I appreciate the post by one of my patients who had a positive experience with me. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Steven Gabel, M.D.
Northwest Surgical Hair Restoration
503-693-1118
DrGabel@nwshr.com

P.S. Pat – After reading all the comments about my technician’s singing ability, perhaps we need a forum where that can be critiqued along with the surgical experience – just kidding!

Dr. Gable... thanks for posting. Yes, Oregon is beautiful although, I've never made it that far north. I hope you can find time to add to some of the technical questions that are frequently presented on the forum...

please excuse the goons...

Hanks deal looked great!

Hank: Congrats man! Way to go! Y'know, when I first called H&W and inquired about transplant surgery, I wasn't sold on them at all. What I was sold on were the results coming out of H&W. Mike Ferko and Doug Kline...along with Joe Tillman over time...did everything they could to point me in the right direction to make an educated decision. I looked at everyone....H&W, Brandy, Bosley, MHR, you name it. In the end...to me...nothing compared. But, I took my sweet time making that decision...as I'm sure you have...and all the while watching the progress of my mentors. To all of them I say Thank You...and to those ready to make the move, please take your time and educate yourself first....and to you Hank...Congrats!

Hank, Congratulations on your transplant. I too researched the transplant thing for several years. Having been in sales for allmost 30 years I would have a hard time not sounding a little arrogant if I were selling H&W only because I think they are the best in the industry. My experience with Mike Ferko was fantastic, he couldn't have been a nicer guy. Was he confident about H&W? Absolutely! Should he have been? Hell Yes! I drove 2 hours to Nashville got on an airplane and flew for 6 hours to Vancouver to have my mega session transplant with Dr. Victor Hasson. I feel it was one of the best decisions I ever made. Anyway I just wanted to relate my experience and I'm glad you are happy with yours. Congrats!

4889 grafts Dr. Hasson - April 20, 2006