Hello,

I'm a new member here and appreciate very much all the input on this forum. At the moment, I'm considering a HT session with Bosley, San Francisco. Previously, I had two HT sessions with Elliott & True in San Mateo, CA (they're no longer there). Here are my questions:

1. Given all the feedback here regarding Bosley, I'm starting to develop cold feet. Does anyone have any input about their experience at Bosley SF, particularly the skill of Dr. Terrence Aragoni?
2. I'm more or less satisfied with E&T regarding the hairline and crown coverage, but my second session with them left me with a donor scar in the back of the head that shows, if the hair is short enough. I was told by Dr. Aragoni that not much can be done to excise it or reduce it. Is this true?
3. This site recommends Drs. Kabaker of Oakland and Rosanelli of SF. Any personal experience with either of these doctors would be great. Cost is also a factor for me.

Thanks for all your help!

dwinn,

Do a search on "Bosley" and you will find a ton of information on them; basically, their results are inconsistant; you said cost is a factor; most of the coaltion or recommended docs on this site are cheaper than Bosley; so why take the chance of subpar results; especially after you have had 2 HT's, you may be close to taping your donor capacity so you can't afford to waste any donor with a bad result; as far as the donor scar, I recommend you go to a consultation with a coalition or recommended doc and have them evaluate it; they may be able to excise it and perform a tri... closure resulting in a less visible scar; that will depend on your laxity and also the location; if the scar it too low they may be unable to improve it due to the risk of stretching. I do not know of the doc you mentioned, but if they are recommended or coalition docs you will be in good hands. Most importantly if you made an appointment with Bosley cancel immedialtely even if it results in losing your deposit! The deposity will be miniscule in the long run.

stay away from Bosley !

I had my HT done by Dr. Aragoni about a year and everything went well. My barber and friends i've told both say it very natural looking and unoticable.My barber also knows about 2 or 3 others that have gone to bosley with good results enough to make him go to bosley. My visit there was very professional and unpressured. I'm very happy with my results. The only down side is the scar on the back of my head witch is only noticable when cut very short, wich they told me beforehand.I just ran across this board and was very happy to see that there is a place guys can go and share thier expierence. As soon as i had seen your post on Dr. Argoni i jumped on here to put in my expierence so i have not yet read through some of the feedback that is giving you cold feet.The only minus would be that i wish he would of done a better job on the strip stitch. In the middle looks incredible hardly noticable but on the sides you can really tell when my hair is short, that is about the only minus with my expierence..

Just remembered.. When i had my first HT done i thought that would be it and i'm done. I just figured i go there, they tell me you need so much hair to look not bald. Everything came out good,my hairline is good and what not but it was thinner than i expected.I guess it's hard to estimate how thick so many hairs will look on your head? I don't know but with thier offer now they make it know that alot of thier patients have had a 2nd prodedure. I guess i just wish they would let you know that upfront. Dwin let me know what your thinking about doing and what docter your thinking about going to .. would really appreciate it.

dwinn-

stay away from bosely, why gamble with your head when the top doctors recommended on this site will do much better and more natural work and cost a ton less.

Do some research, ask some questions, then make an INFORMED decision. We are all here to help!

Thanks, everyone, for responding so promptly and helpfully! Pauly, I really appreciate your first-hand account with Dr. Aragoni. The scar issue is of concern to me, since I already had one that's noticeable (with short hair) from a previous HT with Elliot & True. Glad to hear though that your hairline looks good.

I'm going to see Dr. Kabaker in Oakland for a second opinion, since he's recommended on this site. Will relate my experience there, in case anyone is interested, and I would love to hear of other's experience with him.

Hi again,

I saw Dr. Kabaker for a 2nd opinion. He was very professional and realistic in his opinions. I appreciated the fact that he said he would do only less than a third of the transplants recommended by Dr. Aragoni, as he didn't think a HT right now would make a material difference, considering what I already have. However, the cost per graft is much higher than that offered by Bosley.

At this stage, I may need to rethink whether I really want to go for a 3rd HT, with all the cost and physical discomfort considerations, given Dr. Kabaker's input. Maybe I should wait a bit longer to gage the extent of any further hair loss. Thanks to this site, I now have more info to make my decision though.

I'd also consult with some of the bigger name docs on here like feller, h&w, rahal, shapiro. get as many opinions as you can.

Glad to hear that you are getting more and more information. As you have stated, it is a very big decision, and no matter who you go to, like anything, there will be negatives -- so, when you do decide to act you really want to make sure you are going about things in an optimal manner and you will rest assured w/o regret.

Get some more consultations (be it live or online) and keep researching until you feel very much confident.

I'd really like to do a 2nd HT so any info on your visit with Dr Kabaker in Oakland would be great. Have you gone to his website? What do you think of the example photo he uses on there. To me it doesn't look very good. On the picture the hair growth just doesn't look very even. I know it's just a pic but it looks like on the hair line where hair is shown placed in the first pic.. there doesn't seem to be much growth in the 1 year after pic.

quote:

Originally posted by Pauly:
I'd really like to do a 2nd HT so any info on your visit with Dr Kabaker in Oakland would be great. Have you gone to his website? What do you think of the example photo he uses on there. To me it doesn't look very good. On the picture the hair growth just doesn't look very even. I know it's just a pic but it looks like on the hair line where hair is shown placed in the first pic.. there doesn't seem to be much growth in the 1 year after pic.

Yes, I agree that the pics on the web site don't look very good, but the size of the pics is small, so it's hard to tell. I was told that in the next few weeks there will be more pics posted. Dr. Kabaker gave me the impression that his opinions were honest. He didn't do a sales pitch at all, nor did the staff. However, the cost is non-negotiable, so that could be a factor in the decision-making.

dwinn,
forget about how honest or nice he seems. also forget about cost. any of the TOP doctors cost roughly the same and all fall into a similar pricing scheme (expect to pay between $11-13k for 3k grafts/strip).

what you want to look for are great, consistent results. and see as many patients as you can in person (web pics aren't always the best way to judge). goodluck!

p.s. while it shouldn't be the only factor, glowing reviews on these forums of a doc say a lot too.

Pauly,

Dr. Kabaker is recommended on the Hair Transplant Network for performing high quality follicular unit transplantation and was visited and live surgery observed by Pat Hennessey, Publisher of the Hair Transplant Network. See Pat's Visit to Dr. Kabaker's Clinic. Pat was very impresssed with his surgical technique.

I agree however, that it looks like it's due time for him to update his website.

Best wishes,

Falc

dwinn

I agree completely with hairthere , he couldn't have put it any better .

RESEARCH = TOP DOC = TOP RESULTS = HAPPY CHAPPY

richie

Hey Dwinn....im curious when your procedures were with ET...you most likely were treated by Dr. Elliott no?

quote:

Originally posted by orangehair:
Hey Dwinn....im curious when your procedures were with ET...you most likely were treated by Dr. Elliott no?

I had my two HTs in the 90s, and I think it was Dr. Elliott, if he was the one working at the San Mateo office. I thought he did a good job with the tech avail back then; my scar was also relatively small. The 2nd HT with another doctor whose name I can't recall from the same office wasn't as successful with the scar being much more noticeable. BTW, I just noticed Dr. Elliott has an office in SF now!

Run AND RUN FAST--- DONT LOOSE YOUR WALLET EITHER!@

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