Hey Doctor E.

I was always wondering why you removed my strip in two parts....well now I know.

I'm only 4 1/2 months out but looking good.
My friggin' birthdays go by so quickly...but the months after a HT of course crawl....lol

MH

Two other things.


More Hair- It's not flowers I want, merely for people to give me a chance and not judge my entire career of 5000 plus cases by 3 or 4 patients (in baseball, that would be batting .999 or something like that, in basketball that would put to shame Steve Nash's free throw shooting percentage).

Second, as a Clinical Instructor at the University of Miami teaching med students, residents and fellows, as an active presentor at scientific meetings and author of many scientific articles, and having trained over my career with some of the world's top plastic surgery and hair transplant surgeons, I appreciate the importance of realizing that every patient is different, and that even the very best surgeons cannot always have perfect results, but rather must never stop seeking to improve.

Jeff Epstein, MD, FACS

Hi guys

Im from the UK and am 50 years of age now. My first visit to Dr Epstein was in 2005 when he created a hairline for me -He created a hairline for a 50 year old guy which in itself is an art- I had short of 3000 grafts. I have attached some photos(before and after) Firstly, the professionalism of both Dr Epstein and his Assistants has to be complimented. With my first procedure(I had a further one back in Dec 2007) I really did not know what to expect. The staff completely put me at ease. I was asked what kind of music I liked, they were chatty when I wanted to chat and were aware when i wanted to chill. It was a very comfortable, friendly yet a trusting experience. We all have to remember that our hair grows in different time scales. I am not an expert,certainly, in fact some of the guys who write on this forum should look at taking up hair transplanting. The reality is that the job of the Surgeon and Assistants is not easy. It takes training,experience, care and artistry.If you look at my photos performed by Dr Epstein in 2005(shame he didnt do something about my face too LOL) you will see that I had very little before. The hairline was created and to be truthful after 6 months it was OK. However, for me it took nearly a full year before it took full shape.I had another procedure done last December 2007. The same staff (including the wonderful Roxy who runs the office)were there who remembered me from before with equal measures of warmth,professionalism,dedication and determination. Sorry, for anyone who has met Dr Epstein, he lives and breathes for his patients and staff He does not suffer fools- in that he is honest but with politeness and integrity.My point is that he would never allow any reduction in standards at any point. Please take a look at my photos.
Unkind or offensive comments serve no purpose on this forum in my opinion.Another point is that there is little point in getting stressed out about growth in the first 9 months in my opinion.Even after that it doesnt mean that it wont grow.
I will post somemore photos when my second procedure develops .Im in no rush- after all im only 50 !!

waynechad_bef_aft_front.jpg (88 Kb, 76 downloads)

Glad to hear your happy but I have to disagree about not being stressed after 9 months. Who knows whos fault this is .Maybe TTDS was somoking crack for a month straight ,maybe he used super glue on his rug and it ripped the grafts out .Maybe he was break dancing and doing head spins,or maybe he has terrible luck. Or maybe just maybe Dr Epsteins crew screwed up one time. What ever the reason 9 months of limited growth would worry the shit out of me.

Dear Forum Members,

Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Aaron and I have worked in the hair restoration industry for more then 10 years. I recently accepted a position with Dr Jeffrey Epstein as Chief Administrator and Development Officer. During my career I have worked with more then 20+ doctors and have seen well over 75 different doctors’ work first hand. My goal for posting on this forum is to be able to share my experiences and offer advice with forum members in hopes of educating and perhaps offer a different perspective. Below is some of my personal and professional history.

I was lured into the hair industry because of my personal hair issues. I started losing my hair at a young age. My first attempt to remedy the problem was to use a hair piece, which I did for three years. Due to my age I was able to wear a hair piece with a style that did not reveal my hairline and because of that no one had any idea I was wearing a hair piece (at least they didn’t say it…) As time passed I felt less and less comfortable wearing my hair piece so I starting looking into alternatives. This is when I found the world of hair transplants. At that time I was living the Tampa Bay area and had gone through consultations with 3-4 local doctors. I found a doctor I felt comfortable with and scheduled my 1st procedure. This was in 1997. I had 550 micro and mini grafts placed in the front 1/3 of my head and I started to use Rogaine and quartering Proscar (before Propecia was FDA approved). I was so happy with my results that I approached my doctor asking to work with him. He offered me a job and I spent 3 months following him and his business partner around learning the business from the ground up. At the completion of my 3rd month the doctor’s business partner died. We then agreed I would assume all the non-medical daily operations for the practice. I held that position for almost 4 years before I decided I wanted to have a bigger roll in the hair industry.
I interviewed with Bosley, Nuhart, and MHR. I received offers from all 3 and choose to accept a position with MHR in Philadelphia. Ultimately, I was responsible for the oversight of Philly, NY, and MD offices. I was working with MHR for less then a year when one of the MHR doctors made me an offer to move to help him start his own practice. After 2 years with this doctor, I was recruited by Hair Club with the responsibility of developing and running their hair transplant division. When I started with them they had 2 docs and when I left we had just brought on our 9th doc.
When I left Hair Club, I left the industry completely feeling frustrated and needing a change. I took a position as Vice President of Operations for a luxury fitness company located in NYC while still living in Florida. The position required me to travel every week to NYC. After my wife gave birth to our twin girls I decided that I did not want to be apart from my family every week.

This now brings us to the current. Having spent the majority of my professional career in hair and feeling reenergized I made contact with some of the top hair docs. I offered my services and experience, which includes oversight of daily operations, website development, administrative and database management, financial management, negotiating vendor pricing, and practice development. (Yes, I have done about everything in the hair industry except pick up a scalpel…..) I was contacted by and met with a good number of doctors, one of those being Dr Epstein. Before I agreed to work with him I visited his office 4 times. On 3 of the 4 occasions I changed into scrubs and spent the day with him in the O.R. I was not going to work with anyone but THE BEST at this point in my career. I wanted to make sure the work was the best and the patients were treated right. I’m sure some of you are going to read this and dismiss some of what I’m going to say because of whom I have worked for but I ask all of you to keep an open mind. My years of experience have taught me not just want to do, but more importantly, what not to do as well.

I would like to share some of my observations from my visits with Dr Epstein and why I decided to work for him:

• He is extremely caring and passionate about his patients, staff, and his results.
• He has more staff per patient than any hair doctor I have seen.
• The results from patients during follow up visits and his photo albums are extremely impressive. He is a true perfectionist.
• The staff is experienced, friendly, and most importantly cut and placed grafts very well. All the grafts are kept moist with saline, on graft coolers, and handled with care.
• I counted 15 microscopes
• He does not have a television in the O.R. for the patients. When I asked him why he told me he wants to make sure that the patient and staff communicate during the procedure
• His recipient sites and artistry is very impressive
• He takes the time to call each patient following their procedure
• He personally answers all of his email

These are a few of the reasons why I choose to get back into the industry with one of the best hair docs. I look forward to helping others through this site and please contact me with any questions.

Aaron
You posted the exact same copy in your own thread.

http://hair-restoration-info.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/7466060861/m/3921061473

What's the purpose of duplicity?

I pretty much agree with everything PleaseGrowPlease has said. Dr. Epstein's reputatation shouldn't be ruined by a few cases that are not even yet complete; but the said cases are also quite troubling in and of themselves, and should be met with seriousness and compassion and not dismissed in any way.

kevkristy,
I wanted to involve myself in this thread and did not want to come across as a random new member posting. The purpose of my post is to show my background to the members so they understand that I’m posting from many years of personal experience .

Aaron Thanks for the copy paste but since you here
now how about staying. Jotronic ,Bspot ,hairlosscure Bverotti and many other doctor reps are here to help.
Is that the case with you or are you here to put a bandaid on things .If you here to help with all your knowledge I welcome you with open arms if not ,WHATEVER!!

Thank you for welcoming me with open arms……..kind of . There are a lot of great people on this site including those you mentioned and others that do a lot of good for many people. I wish I had a resource like this when I started wearing a hair piece at 17. At that time I would have never in my wildest dreams expected to find help. I’m here because I have dealt with my share of pain from my hair loss. I hope I can become I valuable member to the forum.

That sounds great .Ok maybe not with open arms yet .How about a handshake to start off with?

I'll take it. It's a start...lol

Dear KevKris- I do now recall who you are, and wish to expand on some of your comments.

Your procedure was performed on October 2nd, 2007, but we first starting emailing each other in 2005. During that time period, you scheduled surgery 3 prior times before you finally had your procedure, each time you cancelled or were cancelled by my office due to a lack of receiving a deposit. You were given patient references from throughout New England where you live, and we did everything we could to make your planning and research as complete as possible.
For your procedure, you were charged for 2000 up to 2200 grafts, yet were given 2376 grafts and were not charged anything additional. Your procedure started at 10:15 am, and you were discharged from my office at 5:35 pm. Almost 7 hours with 12 of my assistants and myself working on you, including providing you with almost 376 free grafts at no charge, giving you lunch, and what you described as a wonderful and professional experience.
You intially wrote into the Forum the day after your procedure to post about your experiences under a different name "jddidt"- here is the link: http://hair-restoration-info.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/746...351047243#3351047243

In this post, you described how wonderful we all were, how professional I and my assistants were, how our speaking during your procedure with you put you at ease, and how responsive I was to you- quote " arrived back at my hotel around 5pm, took my medication, and sprayed on some more Graftcyte (you need to spray this on every waking half hour for 3 days). For the rest of the evening I just kind of chilled out, relieved it was over and excited about future. I order some delivered Italian food, surfed the web, and watched TV. Dr Epstein called in around 8PM to check on me. He's very personable. Didn't just do it as a PR/obligatory service. He honestly cares!

All and all, the procedure experience with Dr Epstein and his great staff was extremely positive."


When you emailed me on Sunday, March 30th, I was on the first day of my vacation skiing in Crested Butte with my 3 kids- as a single dad, I greatly enjoy getting some special alone time with them, and like the remoteness of Crested Butte. I did reply to your email 3 days later, while still on vacation, where you expressed some concern about your lack of growth at 6 months, writing to you quote:
"XXXX- It is still far too early to judge the growth- for some it can take 12 or more months.
Let me go over your chart, and I want you to take things one step at a time and be patient.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey S. Epstein, MD, FACS
Miami and NYC
www.foundhair.com
www.womenscenterforhairloss.com
www.plasticsurgeryoftheface.com
305.666.1774 / 212.759.3484 / 800.370.2883"


When I got back from vacation, I called you just last week to check in on you, once again reassuring you that you had some slightly delayed growth, but there was nothing to worry about. I also told you to call me anytime to speak with me, and that since I was going to be in my NY office this week, if you wanted to, I would be happy to meet with you.

Instead, you have now chosen a new Forum screen name, and accused me of being a hypocrite- including stating , quote: "In closing, I find it disturbing that Dr Epstein spent far more effort and about three thousand additional words in replying to a couple of (bad pub) threads than he did to a personal email from a patient looking for nothing but support. The question I ask: Did I not warrant as much attention?
Is this the same doctor who you described as "
He's very personable. Didn't just do it as a PR/obligatory service. He honestly cares!

Respectfully,
-KK"

Do you really think that when I both emailed you last week and this week called you, that I gave you adequate attention, and more importantly, providing you with empathy and support, as well as reassurance? How many doctors reply to their patients while on vacation? How many doctors provide the kind of stellar service you described the day after your procedure when the memories of your procedure were still quite fresh in your mind.

I choose not to go any further with this thread publicly. I simply need to clear my name to the public.
As far as your results go- at just 6 plus months, I will state publicly- it is too bad that your growth is not as good as it should be, but this IN NO WAY implies that the hairs will still not grow back, nor does it imply that I and my team of assistants did anything other than provide you with state of the art work, and finally, nor does it mean that, if for any reason, your hair does not grow in as well as it should that I will not replace your grafts at no charge. As I have always done, because I GUARANTEE MY WORK.


Respectfully,
Jeffrey Epstein, MD, FACS

I would like to thank everyone for your support and concern through this very difficult time I am going through. I am cautiously optimistic that this will end successfully. Dr. Epstein has given me his word that this is very unusual and sympathizes with my situation. He has agreed to stand by his work and make me his poster child to get it right and no additional charge. This has greatly relieved me. I don't believe this situation is a reflection on his work but rather an abnormality which may be understood eventually. In fact, my stylist said that the donor scar is almost non existent.

I just want to make it clear that I am not a "no grower" but a "slow grower". There is hair where previously there was none it is just very sparse at this point. Dr. Epstein is a perfectionist and is taking this as hard as I am. He didn't sleep last night because of this. I also received a very nice and reassuring call from Roxy today. I posted my photo on the forum to receive opinions to see if I was where I should be at the nine month point. This being my first hair transplant I had no point of reference by which to judge the results. The forum served its purpose by alerting me that the results were not where they should be.

It became apparent after posting the photos and sending them to Dr. Epstein (who also responded back quickly with his concern) that the growth was not where it should be. To sum it up, it appears that my situation is very unusual and for the very few who have this complication there are other routes to consider when undergoing the next procedure and Dr. Epstein will have your back and not leave you out in the cold. For now I'm taking a deep breath and putting my hair in the capable hands of Dr. Epstein.

Why did I select Dr. Epstein? I was willing to travel anywhere in North America for my hair transplant and wanted the most artistic results available. I finally narrowed my selections down to two doctors and Dr. Epstein was the one I ultimately selected. I thoroughly researched every aspect of this procedure before I committed to it. Dr. Epstein can tell you I emailed him dozens of times with specific questions so I would be an informed patient. He gladly and quickly responded to all of my questions no matter how trivial they may have been.

I will admit I was very concerned about my results at the nine month mark but when I approached this situation logically with a level head I realized I was probably worrying needlessly. Dr. Epstein has offered to make this good and I am taking his word on that. He didn't work this long, earn numerous accolades and build his state of the art medical facility with seasoned technicians only to lose his reputation by abandoning one patient with less than expected results. So I'm confident he will do whatever it takes to make this work. The plan is to give this another three months which will put me at the one year mark. The first week of July I will have a second procedure with approximately the same number of grafts as the first one. After Dr. Epstein has an opportunity to see me in person May 2nd we will determine where the next grafts will be placed. He has even sent Aaron his assistant to my house tonight in Orlando from West Palm Beach which is a two hour drive to consult with me. I think I'm being taken care of on a very personal level. I will keep everyone posted on the progress.

Thats great TTDS. I knew nothing about Epstein but he has shown the passion EVERY doctor should possess. Plus you might be a super slow grower that all of a sudden sprouts. Thank you Dr for your dedication to him but Im just asking you understand Kev rants. We are not robots and we all act in different ways when mad ,hurt ,or let feel let down.

alls well that ends well..

let me add here - -

i too was very concerned about the techs giggling and talking about their personal lives. But if they are doing 2 procedures a day every day this is second nature to them, and as I originate from a medical family I have seen this over the years and remembering that calmed me down although it was a bit disconcerting. When Dr. Epstein first saw me, he told me I would need three prcedures to achieve what I wanted and he also warned me that with some people it takes a long time to grow. In my case I had some growth at 7 weeks, but nothing more for about 6 months. I saw him at the five month mark, totally depressed and he admitted I am a slow grower, but it eventually grew out and I should almost be where I should be very soon. It has made a SUBSTANTIAL difference to my appearance and confience with pretty amazing results in my outer life. I am very sorry for you Kevkristy / time to do soemthing / female hair loss and i hope that things work out eventually.

I had a chance to meet with TTDS last night and take some pictures. With his permission I have posted his progress. I was pleasantly surprised and very optimistic.

Here is a brief recap of his surgical plan:

TTDS has been wearing a hair piece for many years. He has very good density on the sides and back. The plan was to spread the grafts over a larger area than Dr Epstein normally does (front 1/2 - 2/3). He did this knowing he would need an additional procedure for added density. He was not concerned about his crown.

The results to date:

Based on my visit and the pictures I would estimate he has about 70% growth at this time. This is well within the normal range especially since he had been sleeping with his hair piece on 3-4 nights a week. He also has a bunch of new hair sprouting up. This was very encouraging.

Summary:

TTDS has agreed to not sleep with his hair system and we will continue to track his progress.



TTDS pics

Ok, so if that was a one pass deal then I would say it was a failure and he should have had at least double the grafts for that area. But if the plan was always to do a 2 part surgery then this whole issue was blown way out of proportion. ttds, you will be fine.