I just wanted to let the ladies out there know that I had a transplant procedure done with Dr. Jeffery Epstein in South Florida and it went great! His staff is absolutely amazing, it's bad enough to be losing your hair, but to be a young woman...it is devasting. Dr. Epstein made me feel confident that we can take care of this and his staff just made the whole experience so much easier to bear. I had it done last week and will see him again in 10 months. I can't wait to see the results. Dr. Epstein really never pushed anything on me, he made sure I had all my doctors test for everything that I had "found on the internet" that it could be and told me what he could do when I was ready, well, it took me about 4 months, but then I decided to do it and I'm glad I was able to have such a compassionate doctor and nurses to see me through it.

I'm glad it went well. Did you find out why you lost hair? Are you likely to lose more hair?

sandyh,
Congratulations on having it done! I had a 2000 graft HT done in Philadelphia on January 13. It's been a long road with lots of ups and downs but at 5+ months now, my hair is finally becoming actually THICK on top! All those months of waiting are finally paying off! You are right...to be a woman who is loosing her hair and very thin on top IS devastating! I would recommend a HT to anyone who is bothered that much by the cards that nature has delt us. The really great thing is that the hair that was transplanted will be there forever since the hair from the donor site is programmed to never fall out!

Thank you for your support! It is so hard being a woman and losing your hair. As for the reason...my dermatologist did a scalp biopsy and what came back is that I had androgenous alopecia, which was explained to me as basically, female pattern baldness. It is hereditary. I was confused at first b/c both mom and daddy have full heads of hair and they are in their late 60s. But my mom reminded me that my grandmother had thinning hair, I just didn't remember.
I'm praying very hard that this works, I am truly encouraged though by what I have read about the transplants. God Bless!

Congratulations, sandyh! I also had a hair transplant on Feb. 9 (more than 1500 FUTs) with Dr. Lehr in OKC. It's been a long road from there, but around 3 months I started seeing my first sprouts and now, at almost 4 1/2 months, things are starting to thicken up a bit. It's really exciting to watch the progress!

You're right. Hair loss bites especially hard for females, as the culture expects our hair to be our "crowning glory." My loss was a recession at the temples, though I have gobs of hair everywhere else.

I wish the best for you during the months of waiting ahead. Happy growing!

How brave you all are. I've been reading this site for a couple of years now and still unsure which way to go. I just also wanted to ask you if you had strip surgery or not and what was your experience with it.

Thanks for all the support again. I look so forward for continued growth. I'm not too sure what "strip surgery" is but if it's when they take a strip of the back of your hair, that is what I had done. That part is the part that hurt the most after it was all said and done, I had about 30 stitches, but my husband said that Dr. Epstein did a great job, once it totally heals he said you won't be able to even see the scar as he did such a thin line.
Another quick question...have any of the ladies used toppik? Dr. Epstein gave me a small bottle and I like it, I was wondering what you all think about it...is it worth getting the bigger bottles?

Sandy

Hi,
I'm glad to hear about your sucessful surgery. I'm considering having a procedure done by Dr. Epstein and have been searching for females who have had the procedure done. If you don't mind me asking, how many grafts did you have? I'm trying to ascertain how many grafts females typically have.

Have any of you girls tried using Minoxidil?
I know you can't use finasteride as it's a male hormone thing but minoxidil works differently. If you did, was it successful.
Do any of you have pics?

Good luck with it girls, losing hair sure sux being a guy. I guess it's even worse for a girl.

Sandyh, what is female pattern baldness?
Is it mainly in the same area of the scalp as men's hairloss?

I had my HT in Thailand by Dr. Pathomvanich. Im very pleased with the result. He uses the latest methods with Tricho closure of the donor area. He also specialises in creating female hairlines on the many "LadyBoys" here. (no,he doesn't do the other parts of their transformation).
He is about half price of Dr's in USA. You could combine a holiday in the Land of Smiles and at the end of it get a HT for about the same price as a HT back home.

sandyh, I had really good luck using Toppik. I discovered it when I was going through my big postpartum hairsheds, and would use it for 3-4 months until my hair started growing back in. I find if you use it with a fairly light hand, you get really nice results. Shake on a little at a time, then kind of fluff it through so it blends/ahderes to your native hair. It takes a little practice, but it's pretty easy to use once you get the hang of it. I went through 3-4 of the medium-sized bottles and considered it money well spent.

brianf, female pattern baldness is similar to men's in that it's genetic, but the look of the pattern is usually different. Men get the thinning temples/crown that can eventually lead to full baldness on top, while women usually see more of a diffuse thinning that can either be limited to the top of the scalp or can affect most of the head. However, they usually retain their hairline.

To "desperate for help", like I said earlier I had a great experience with Dr. Epstein, I would recommend him wholeheartedly. Initially, he said he would do between 900 to 1000 grafts, it ended up being a little over 1200 grafts. I'm healing up nicely, just starting exercising and everything again. Now as for the hair growth and stuff, I guess now only time will tell.
To "Brianf", I have used minoxidil and I saw a little change, but nothing dramatic, I have to start using it again now that the procedure is over, I actually started using it again yesterday. I have to do it every other day because if not it makes my scalp too itchy.
Female pattern is not as pronounced, at least in me, as it is in men, but it's pretty much the same thing, thinning hair at the front of my scalp and a little on the side, but like I said that is how it was on me.
I'm glad you had a good experience overseas! Maybe I can visit Thailand after all this is over, I heard it's beautiful!
God Bless!!

To "angel", thanks for the feedback on the toppik. Did you buy that attachment to kind of "spray" it on? I just saw it on their website. Also, by "fluff" do you comb it through or using your fingers? Thanks!!

Sandyh,
I used to get an itchy scalp and dandruff with minoxidil but I started using nizoral (actually,an aftermarket equivalent at half price)shampoo about twice a week and in between that a good moisturising shampoo and conditioner about twice a week. After a couple of weeks the itchyness and dandruff stopped.
Now with this routine I use minoxidil every night before bed without a problem.
And yes, Thailand's a great place for a holiday.I'm sure you'd like it.

Hey sandyh,
No I did not buy the spray attachment. I just shook it on. I will say that if you need it at the hairline, it might be worth the extra small investment to buy the "hairline" comb I've seen in their catalog. I used my fingers to fluff it through, but I imagine you could use a comb, too. You just need to do something to help it distribute/settle/attach to the hairs. It kind of helps it to "disappear" into your native hair.

You're welcome! I've noticed there are lots of threads on Toppik in the "shampoos/sprays/concealers" part of this forum. You might read through those when you have the time. Best of luck to you!

To "angel" and "brianf"...thanks for the feedback and advice! It's nice to know that you are not alone in this struggle!
Sandyh

sandyh,
I received a 2000 graft HT from NuHart Hair Clinic near Philadelphia on January 13. It has been a long road, but after almost 5 1/2 months the top of my head is so thick with hair that I want to do cartwheels! I had my doubts in the beginning when I lost so much of the pre-existing hair to shockloss but it all came back. All the transplanted hair is now about one inch long and I am so happy with it. I have used the Toppik and it's a pretty good product. I have tried a couple of other ones prior to the HT and was not really impressed. Toppik is about the best thing to use in my opinion.

Who did you go to in Phila?
Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by Island Girl:
sandyh,
Congratulations on having it done! I had a 2000 graft HT done in Philadelphia on January 13. It's been a long road with lots of ups and downs but at 5+ months now, my hair is finally becoming actually THICK on top! All those months of waiting are finally paying off! You are right...to be a woman who is loosing her hair and very thin on top IS devastating! I would recommend a HT to anyone who is bothered that much by the cards that nature has delt us. The really great thing is that the hair that was transplanted will be there forever since the hair from the donor site is programmed to never fall out!

I had an eyebrow transplant done by Dr. Jeff Epstein and it looks terrible. I would never recommend him to anyone. The hairs grow in the wrong directions and it looks worse than it did before I went down. And I lost some natural hair too. I get no answers from him either as to what to do or why it happened. He was hardly in the surgery except to put the slits in the brows and then come back at the end to check on it. I wish I could go back in time...Do not recommend him for eyebrows. Maybe he is better at scalps.

Felicity,

I am sorry that you are disappointed with your procedure.

Though I can certainly empathize with you, digging up old threads to warn people not to go to Dr. Epstein looks bad.

Have you contacted Dr. Epstein about your dissatisfaction? If not, I encourage you to do so directly. However, if you feel that posting your story publicly is more appropriate, you are welcome to do so. I encourage you to start your own thread and share your experience rather than posting on old threads and we will do our best to help you.

However, it is only fair that Dr. Epstein be notified so he is able to share his side of the story. Because of this, I have notified Dr. Epstein of this thread so he can respond.

That being said, Felicity, Dr. Epstein is bound by patient confidentiality. He will need your permission to discuss your case openly (without revealing your name). In order to remain fair, I encourage you to give him permission to discuss your case (without revealing your identify). You can contact him directly or feel free to PM me.

I believe that Dr. Epstein performs state of the art hair transplantation. Those who use the "find" feature of this community will find many outstanding reviews and testimonies to his work. However, I am sorry to hear of your disappointment. If there is anything I can do to help, let me know.

Best wishes,

Falceros

WOW

Felicity......very sorry to hear about that. It sounds worrying to me as I still waiting on results of my hairtransplant with Dr. Epstein......For the most part they have been good at returning my calls with any questions I have had......please keep us posted on any developments in your case as we all need to know the good and the bad......