Essential Information for Your Successful Hair Restoration Everything you need to know about Hair Transplants, how to find the right doctor, know your options and make an informed choice. Free Consultation: 407-635-9101 Or Toll-Free: 855-855-4310
Table of Contents Choosing the Right Hair Restoration Surgeon... 2 Reasons Why Patients Choose Hair Restoration... 4 Hair Transplant Specialist or Part-Time Non-Specialist How to Spot the Difference... 5 Why do some hair transplant offices only offer the FUE method?... 6 Hair Transplant Cost... 7 Why Choose Hair Transplants of Florida?... 8 Page 1 of 9
Choosing the Right Hair Restoration Surgeon After years of watching your hair get thinner and thinner, you ve finally made the decision to look into hair restoration. But where do you start and how do you go about finding the right doctor in order to obtain great results? Here are the important factors to consider in selecting the right hair restoration surgeon: 1. Is the doctor you re considering a hair transplants specialist? There are many doctors getting involved in the hair restoration industry. Some dedicate themselves 100% to hair patients, while others offer hair transplantation as one more of their list of services. Considering your hair is front and center for everyone to see, choose a doctor that has many years of experience and specialty in the art of hair restoration. 2. Is the doctor board certified? A doctor that is board certified, aside from just being licensed, has taken extra medical training in order to deliver great service and results. 3. Is the doctor a schooled and trained surgeon? Very few hair doctors are actual surgeons. Since only a medical license is required to perform hair transplantation, there are dermatologists, family medicine and even gynecologists getting involved in the industry. Choose a doctor that has been schooled and trained in the art of surgery. 4. Is the doctor affiliated with The International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS)? Make sure the doctor is not only a member, but has also attended regularly to ISHRS conferences in order to keep up with hair restoration methods. Some doctors become member just so they can place the ISHRS logo on their website in order to impress prospective patients but never or hardly attend conferences. 5. Is the person harvesting the grafts and making the sites where the grafts will be placed a licensed medical doctor? Most State laws require a medical licensed doctor to cut into a patient s skin. As crazy as it may sound, there are clinics that allow physician s Page 2 of 9
assistants or technicians to perform these duties. Although these staff members play a crucial role in a hair transplant procedure by separating and implanting grafts, only a medically licensed doctor should be harvesting or creating the sites where the grafts are to be placed. 6. Is the doctor s medical team exclusively dedicated to hair restoration? Those doctors that perform a plethora of services use the same medical team for different types of surgery. The medical team, along with the doctor, should specialize in hair restoration exclusively. 7. How many procedures does the doctor perform at a time? National companies tend to perform 3-4 surgeries at a time in order to maximize their profits and help cover their huge overhead costs. Since patients invest their hard earned money, they should receive full-time attention during their procedure. 8. If you re considering the Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) method, does the doctor use highly marketed FUE equipment that requires they pay royalties to these companies? There are several highly efficient FUE tools available in the industry. It s not necessary to choose a doctor that pays equipment companies a royalty fee of $1/graft per harvest attempt. Who pays for this? The patient does! Choose a doctor who has the latest FUE equipment, with no strings attached to manufacturers, and keep the extra money in your pocket! 9. How many before/after pictures does the doctor have available for you to review? If they don t have many pictures to show you, it means they don t have much experience nor specialize in hair restoration. Be careful with generic pictures given to non-specialist doctors from FUE equipment companies. Also, national companies tend to show results from other doctors in the organization. Make sure the before/after pictures you re shown are from the doctor you are considering. 10. Does the doctor you re considering have any medical infractions? Visit the medical Page 3 of 9 license board websites and search to see if the doctor you re considering has any medical violations or patient complaints.
Reasons Why Patients Choose Hair Restoration Being in the industry for over 15 years, I have assisted thousands of patients with their hair loss matters. Whether it s been a very young man in his teens being taunted by his classmates about his premature early hair loss, a 30-year old female patient distraught that she s losing her thick, beautiful hair or a middle-aged man who wants to look his best, there are an unlimited number of reasons why patients pursue hair restoration. One of my first patients was a 17 year old who we ll name Charlie from Sarasota, Florida. He came in for a consultation with his mother wearing an overused baseball cap that one could tell he d never take off. When we sat down for his consultation, he would stare straight down to the ground due to his low self-esteem caused by his hair loss. As our conversation progressed, little by little he started looking up until he was able to look into my eyes during conversation. I took the time to explain the different medical therapies available to help him slow down his hair loss process, being that he was too young for hair transplant surgery. His emotional distress obviously had an effect on his mother as well. Both affected by the effects of genetic alopecia, which is inherited by a family member/s as far back as three generations. Then there was Sofia who was visiting her sister (who lived in Naples, Florida) from her native Iran. Now in her late 20s, this patient had a male hair loss pattern informally know as a shoe horn, with hair loss in the front/top/crown areas with hair only in the sides and lower back. This type of hair loss pattern was crushing to this young lady, being that no one wanted to be her friend and much less have a boyfriend. She had 2 unsuccessful hair transplants in her country and traveled to the US in hopes of finding a solution. It was confirmed that she was no longer a candidate for hair transplant surgery due to her advanced pattern of hair loss and diminished donor hair in the back of the head. Her consultation was very emotional, to say the least. Finally there was Tony from Weston, Florida. A successful salesman in his own right, Tony had inherited his hair loss from his father, who also inherited his hair loss from his father. After years in the sales industry, Tony was laid off and was in search of a new job. Competing against younger candidates, Tony felt he needed to look his best in order to avoid any discrimination from possible job candidacies. After doing a great deal of research, he was ready to move forward and restore his hair in order to look his age and younger. As different as the above 3 stories are, they all have a common core of patients wanting to control the way they look instead of having to deal with what nature had in store for them. Through effective medical therapy options and an experienced hair restoration surgeon, patients are able to take control of their hair loss and regain their hair. Instead of wallowing about their frustrating situations, patient should take action by Page 4 of 9
consulting with a hair specialist in order to learn and take the right steps needed to take accurate control of the situation. So you may be wondering what became of the above-mentioned patients. Charlie stayed on therapy until it was apparent that his hair loss was too aggressive at such a young age to consider hair transplant surgery. He shaved his head after a few years and actually likes his new clean-shaved look. Sofia was referred to a hair salon specialist who fitted her with a hair system. She has since married and is living happily in the US making new friends as well! Finally, Tony was able to get his hair restored through hair transplantation. He was hired as a sales supervisor for a medical equipment company. He is very happy with his results and looking younger than his age. The most important responsibility for any professional in the hair restoration industry is to guide each patient down a specific, successful path. This direction, as you can see above, can be different for each patient depending on his or her special situation. However, overcoming hair loss begins by the patient calling for a consultation in order to be guided correctly. Hair Transplant Specialist or Part-Time Non-Specialist How to Spot the Difference A hair restoration patient s process of selecting the right hair specialist has become more difficult with the number of doctors joining the industry. One of the most important suggestions is to choose a hair specialist with a great deal of experience and skills in order to receive great results. The following are a few factors to look for in finding a true hair restoration specialist among the weeds: Doctor s Resume: If you read through a doctor s resume, if he or she don t have a great deal of training, industry associations, publishing and/or years of experience exclusively in the hair restoration industry, then chances are they are not a specialist. Before/After pictures: If you re considering a certain doctor and they don t have a vast number of patient before/after pictures, it s a bad sign and highly unlikely they exclusively specialize in hair. One thing to look for are pictures that are loaned out to doctors using a specific Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) equipment. If you read the small writing under the Page 5 of 9
picture, it will say it actually belongs to that company instead of the results being of patients from the doctor you re considering. Offering Various Cosmetic Services: If a doctor offers face-lifts, liposuction, breast augmentation AND hair restoration, then they are not a hair restoration specialist. Instead, search for a hair specialist whose sole practice is based on hair restoration. Ask tough questions: During your consultation, ask the hard questions and listen and study your doctor s body language. Who actually harvests my donor? Who makes the recipient sites for my grafts? Are you an actual attending member of ISHRS (International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery)? Many doctors pay for membership but never actually attend meetings and lose out on continued education in hair restoration (you can actually check how many years a doctor has attended meetings by visiting www.ishrs.org). Why do some hair transplant offices only offer the FUE method? So you finally made the decision to get your hair restored and have begun researching hair restoration clinics in order to choose the right one for you. In the process you notice that the FUE method is highly promoted as the newest and best avenue to get your locks back. In addition you also notice that numerous hair restoration providers only offer the FUE method for hair restoration. Why is that? The answer of this very important question is in plain sight and unnoticed by majority of hair loss patients. The reason why the FUE method is aggressively promoted on search engines is due to two FUE equipment companies knowing that promoting the FUE method will create more public interest and Doctors will turn to these companies to purchase these two FUE tools. In addition, these two equipment companies sign agreements with doctors in order to receive ongoing royalties for every graft that is harvested with their equipment. Sounds almost like a McDonald s franchise in the hair transplant industry. But why would these doctors only offer the FUE method? The answer is because most doctors that only offer the FUE method are probably not hair specialists. Most will contract technicians to perform the entire procedure while these doctors are busy performing other cosmetic surgeries. Sounds like a cash cow business Page 6 of 9
doesn t it? It sure is! And who pays the price the patient. Why would you want a technician to perform your entire surgery after you ve paid your hard earned money and the only thing you receive from the doctor is a pat on the shoulder every 2 hours asking how you re feeling before he rushes out the door to perform yet another cosmetic procedure? So how do you avoid this hair restoration trap? You look for 3 things. First, you read the doctor s bio. If it doesn t mention much about hair restoration training and experience it s a sure bet they are not a specialist. Second, if they offer other numerous services, it s a dead giveaway they won t spend much time with you during your procedure. Third, if he doesn t have many before and after pictures of hair transplant patients, they are definitely not a hair restoration specialist. The 2 FUE equipment companies even supply these non-specialists with pictures to make the doctors seem they have numerous patients but the truth of the matter is that they don t. Actually, it s kind of comical to search several clinics who claim they are specialists and they all have the identical before and after pictures, since the companies supply them with the same set of patient pictures. So whether you live in Orlando, Tampa, Sarasota, Ft. Myers, Naples, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Boca Raton or Weston, make sure you take the time to research the best hair specialist for your hair restoration needs. You only get one chance to get this right and fixing bad or limited results can be very frustrating and expensive. Hair Transplant Cost At Hair Transplants of Florida, we believe you shouldn t have to Break the Bank in order to get your hair back. It s hard enough you ve been losing your hair and now you have to sift through confusing pricing strategies in the hair transplant industry. Some clinics charge by the area being transplanted while others even charge by the hair. Our organization charges by the graft, which can be one hair, two hairs, three hairs or a four hair unit. WE NEVER OVER-SPLIT GRAFTS, since this can cause damage to its biological make up. Therefore, as we harvest them, we transplant them! Page 7 of 9
The cost of a hair transplantation procedure varies depending on several factors. Straight hair vs. thin hair thick hair vs. thin hair light hair vs. dark hair scalp and hair color contrast and how much donor hair can be harvested per session. All play a major role in the overall cost. Therefore a patient with frontal hair loss with thin, dark and straight hair with a light scalp will need more grafts to fill than a patient with the same area loss that has thick, curly, dark hair with a dark scalp. The more grafts a patient needs, the less we charge per graft in order to help the patient with his/her overall investment. On average, our procedures cost from $3,000 to $9,000, depending on the number of grafts our patients may need. With our financing options, you re able to afford having your hair procedure NOW and make affordable payments while watching your hair grow back. No need to wait and save up the full amount, which can be challenging to do and take a long period of time. Why Choose Hair Transplants of Florida? 1. Hair Transplant Specialists: Our team dedicates itself to one thing and one thing only Hair Transplantation! Unlike other clinics that perform hair restoration procedures (part-time) as a way of increasing their revenue, we have been involved, exclusively, in the industry for over 25 years! 2. Natural Undetectable Results: With so many years of continuous training and thousands of hair procedures under our belt, we deliver natural, undetectable results. No one should know you ve had a hair transplant procedure unless you tell them. Even then, they ll never believe it! 3. Extensive Team Experience: The surgery Team at Hair Transplants of Florida has numerous years of experience in the hair transplant industry. Each technician was handpicked by our doctors due to their years of experience and quality of work. 4. Comfortable, Non-Pressured Consultation: We offer our patients a very comfortable and friendly atmosphere, making our patients to feel relaxed and learn about the details involved, allowing them to make an informed decision. We educate our patients on everything to do with their hair loss and how to get it back. We don t just sell them a surgery. 5. Offer Both FUE and FUT: We are greatly skilled in both FUE and FUT. We offer our patients information about both harvesting techniques and recommend the method that most benefits each patient. Page 8 of 9
6. Exclusive Attention to Each Patient: We show our patients respect by offering them full attention during their procedure. We deliver one procedure at a time allowing more attention to detail. 7. State of the Art Facility and Technology: Hair Transplants of Florida is proud of our office setting, which offers our patients a comfortable and relaxed setting. Our investment in the latest equipment also allows our patients to receive the best possible results! 8. Commitment to Safety: Although hair transplantation is a skin-deep procedure, it doesn t stop being one. Therefore, we take a great deal of care in offering a clean and safe atmosphere for our patients. We wash our patients hair before and after their procedure and make sure all team members wear safety gear, including surgery caps and gowns, masks, gloves and booties (shoe covers). 9. Supportive Follow-up Service: We always make a point of calling our patient the night of their procedure to make sure they are doing fine. We feel a patient s surgery day is not the end of our relationship, but the beginning. Therefore, we set up 4-8-12 months follow-up appointments to make sure and keep track of their progress. 10. Results Guaranteed: We are very proud of the results we offer our patients. As a vow to our patients, we guarantee results by replacing any follicles that don t grow at no extra charge to our patients. If you are considering a hair transplant procedure for the first time, give us the opportunity to make it a smooth and successful experience for you. If you have already had a procedure and didn t receive the results, attention or experience you were expecting let us make things right for you! Hair Transplants of Florida serves clients from all over the country! If you are flying in, please contact us and we ll help coordinate your accommodations and make sure your stay in Florida is one to remember. We serve clients from all over Florida, including Tampa, Naples, Sarasota and all the places in between. With a free initial consultation via Skype or Face Time, we can set appointment times that work for your schedule and make it truly worth your time to come to us for the best available hair restoration services in Florida. CALL US NOW at 407-635-9101 or Toll-Free at 855-855-4310 to schedule your FREE Consultation! Page 9 of 9