Good HT Docs in San Francisco Area?

[TKS]

Hello all,

I'm new here, and this forum seems like the best one out there regarding hair loss. I'm almost 31 and have been losing my hair consistantly since about 22. I started using rogaine and didn't notice any improvement, so stopped using it basically from laziness... Well, over the past few months I've really started to think about getting a hair transplant. I've done some research on the procedure and what not and think its the best option for me at this point. I live in the San Francisco Bay and was hoping someone out there can point me in the right direction to find a good doctor. I've searched online, for reviews and found a few that seem ok, but am not totally sure. I'm hoping to find someone that has been to a doctor around here and had good results (and possibly with similar hair loss stage too). Any info is appreciated. Thanks!

[Dr. Glenn Charles]

You can also go to the ISHRS.org website and get a list of all the doctors in your area. However, it is not always the best idea to only search out for good doctors based on location. Often travelling is worth it. Good luck.

[TKS]

you are absolutely right. I've seen some bad hair transplants our there I'd rather be bald the rest of my life then have one of those. That's why im not rushing into it. I'm not going to commit to doing it till I've found a doc that I feel confident enough with. Thanks for the suggestion about traveling. At first I was thinking that there has got to be a good HT doc in SF, and maybe there is, but what is a few hundred dollars to travel to get with a doc that you feel more confident in. I want the best.

[Spex]

Hi there, You loss pattern is extensive - initially i would recommend researching meds to help prevent further loss as this will put you in a stronger position for surgery.

However Doc C makes a great point. Do NOT ever let travel or money get in your way.

IMHO based on your level of loss and your location i would highly recommend you travel a short distance relatively speaking and see HW for a consult.

They are based in Vancouver however do consults in LA regularly.

All the very best bro!
Spex

[TKS]

I agree with you totally man, whoa that's so wierd u suggested HW, ever since the first person replyed to this post and i decided not to not limit my search to local docs, ive been looking around this site and others and Dr. Wong seemed to have great feedback. So I looked at the HW website and learned that they were located in Vancouver, canada. So anyhow, get this, i was in Bellingham, WA for work last week and new it was right by the canada border, but had no idea where Vancouver was so I didnt even put it together in my pea brain. I got to bellingham, Tues. nite and finally checked to see how far it was and it was only about 50 miles away!! I was stunned. So the next morning I called and they were able to squeeze me in for a consultation the next day. I had to cut my work visit that day very short, which is kinda bad but i did it anyway. I travel a lot for work so always carry my passport with me so no issues driving across the border. I made it there on time and got to see Dr. Wong. It was so spur of the moment, but im glad I managed to go.

Even though I have a huge bald area, he said I was a good candidate because i have lots of donor hair, its really densely packed on the back and sides, my hair is fine so it will look more natural, though course hair im sure can look natural too. Also, he said I have good scalp laxity. Another positive I thought of is the fact that I've been losing my hair for a really long time so don't have much left on the top, not much left to fall out, so when it does fall out, my transplanted hair will still look ok, not out of place or unnatural (please correct me if im wrong).

Dr. Wong said he could get approx. 5000 grafts in one mega session. That sounds liek a lot compared to what I've heard on these forums!!! But I figured as much, I am REALLY thin up there and its pretty much the whole top part of my head. He also said I had enough donor to cover all of the top, or possible may need to just leave a little bald spot at the vertex. This aint no thang to me cuz I'm been this bald for about the last 3 - 5 years. I've learned to live with it, and up until maybe 1 year ago, i was planning on doing just that. when I finally learned about HTs and how many good docs there are these days, the bad stigma i had about them in my head went away and I started thinking about how having hair again would make me feel.

Anyway, I also learned from Dr. Wong that my good hair on the back/sides can recede more then where it's at now, so he gave me a script for Proscar and advised I start using it right away. He also asked if I smoke which I do (i know its horrible), he said that if I quit smoking for 2 months before the surgury my transplanted hair will be less likely to have issues initially growing out which I guess can take up to 4 months (not sure about this time frame). After that he said if i resumed smoking (im gonna try my darndest not to) it wouldn't have any impact on my new hair. Though I read that it can take up to a year for the new hair to all initially burst out of their new home, so does that mean my new hair could benefit from not smoking for a year afterwards?

So that's how it went. He is a really nice guy and makes you feel comfortable and is very straight forward which I like. I'm going to sit on this for a week or two and let it sink into my "bald" head. Though I dont see why I shouldnt move forward with this if it will make me feel better, all my family/friends think its a good idea too. Anyway, this turned out to be a really big post, thanks for reading and any answers/comments are appreciated.