Finally, after hearing a lot of good things about Dr.Bernstein, I had the opportunity to meet him on Saturday 10/26.

As soon as I walked in, I was introduced to Dr.Badamo and he went through the questionaire with me asking about my health and few other questions. He then drew the hair line and showed it to me in the mirror. I was not happy with the hair line at all. He asked me to hang on while he went to get Dr.Bernstein.

Dr.Bernstein came into the room, he completely erased the hairline drawing and re-drew the new hair line which I liked. I then proceeded to tell Dr.Bernstein that I would like a mega session of about 2400 grafts or more mostly in the front area. After careful examination this is what Dr.B said.

1) He will do a 1500 - 1900 graft mostly in the frontal area but he is not guaranteeing 1900. I will pay for 1500 in advance. I believe this is due to the hair density in the donor area. My hair density is 1.6 (which is little below the average).

2) He asked me to get onto Propecia right away. I told him how I have heard of few sexual side-effects from Propecia. But he said those side effects are only in 2% of the men who take propecia. I am still reluctant to use propecia - I would like to keep my wife happy in the bed.

3) I asked him what kind of hair density I can expect from the HT? His answered made me little bit depressed. I was expecting to hear 30 - 40 per square centimeter. But he said they will place around 20 per square centimeter. He then went on to tell me how it is the placement not the density that will give a more natural look.

4) I will have a 23 cm long scar in the donor area.

I now have the following questions in front of me and I don't know if I should go ahead with HT.

1) I don't know what kind of fullness I will get with only 1500 grafts. If people can still see my scalp in the front area, is it worth going thru the pain, the scar and spending over 12K to do this HT?

2) Should I bite the bullet and try propecia for six months to a year and see if I experience complete hair re-growth. If not I can go with HT.

3) Should I just give up this entire HT idea and accept to live with the hair loss.

What do you guys think? I am definitely planning to go to their open house next month and see the real patients there. May be that will give some kind of idea as to what 1500 graft procedure will look like.

meelak

meelak,

$12,000 for 1500 grafts,something is not right.
he charges 6$ per graft and $5 per graft on standby,please elaborate as to the cost.the rate
you quoted would be 8 bucks a graft,is that what
he told you?i'm 10 months plus from a 1285 graft
dr. bernstein ht,and although it is thin in
appearance,it has reframed and squared off my
face,for me it looks very natural,i'm contemplating another procedure,but not at the
cost of 8 bucks a graft.,so let me know about
that please.overall i'm glad i did it,as the
results justified the cost,so no regrets.did
he tell you dr. badamo is cheaper?who would perform the ht?agent is right in saying,1500
grafts will look different on everyone.i was
scheduled for 1500 and paid for 1500,but only
got 1285 out of the strip he took out.i guess
my density was average or a little below.so i
was refunded the difference.let me know about that
12,000 dollar cost. good luck

Meelak,

Evaluate for yourself exactly what will make you happy, it sounds as though you may not have the donor hair to gain strong density up front & on top. For max density plan on min 2 procedures.

I like "Figsy's" approach, he understood how much improvement was possible and decided to go for coverage & perhaps a 2nd HT for some added density, excellent planning, and todays FU procedures look pretty natural, Thinner isnt always bad..it beats bald and beats a wig, if hairloss bothers you.

But:

My opinion, dont do a HT...if you are not going to take measures to halt your hairloss, I am 41 and had the same concerns w/Propecia, so I take 1/2 MG daily, for me it has been effective and I have no negative side effects. Propecia will NOT bring back enough hair (already lost) to make you smile in the mirror, but it does have great holding strength of exsisting hair. The other hair products avaiable are all garabage. over 5 years I must have tried them all twice.

It sucks that hairloss causes so much thought.

I wish you luck !!
NW

Figsy - Sorry for the confusion about the price. He did not give me any pricing information nor did he go over the pre and post-op process. I called his office in NJ to get the pricing. It is $6. In my case I will pay up for 1500 grafts in advance but if we get more in the strip he will go up to 1900 grafts. I just multiplied 1900 times $6 and it is close to 12K. Dr.B didn't say that Dr.Badamo is cheaper. He also did not say who will be doing the transplant. I assume and I am going to demand that Dr.B does it. I will not let anybody other than Dr.B touch my head.

Agentx208 - I am a Norwood 4/4a. I am not fully bald in the front. I still have little hair left but people can see my scalp clearly.

meelak