Just wanted to share my experience with those who are still searching for answers or maybe motivation to move forward with a procedure. I'm not sure which is harder, deciding to get the procedure done or choosing a doctor to go with! For me the hardest part was deciding to just do the procedure. Since I randomly have a friend in the hair loss business AND I trust him completely with my well being AND his company does clinical trials/studies with Dr. Charles AND Dr. Charles has an office in my area AND I was told Dr. Charles is one of the best in this business...it was easy for me to decide to meet with Dr. Charles first. After meeting and speaking with Dr. Charles and his staff, I felt really good. I spoke to the Doc about FUE and the more popular graft procedure and decided not to do FUE. I was very reluctant to move forward because the whole part about cutting a graft area and the possibility of a large scar it might leave behind. Well the Doc understood my concerns and had just finished doing a graft on a patient that morning and who was willing to show me the suture. I felt so much better after actually seeing the patient's graft area. The Doc later explained that he does a unique suture that minimizes the scar and is almost undetectable once fully healed. So I learned early the Doc is meticulous, and that's a great thing to potential patients. The only other thing I had to consider was how to pay for the procedure. After a week I was completely sold when I found out the office has zero percent financing, so I immediately made the appointment.
Unlike myself, I am sure many of you are reading this blog before you do the procedure and are well aware of the process for the procedure. For that reason I will focus mainly on my experience. To begin, the staff at Dr. Charles’ office is great…very friendly, patient, and down to earth. The office doesn’t “herd” people around or rush you with the many questions you might have, no matter how many times I called the office with follow up questions. Additionally, just making an appointment to meet with Dr. Charles will likely make you feel much better about the entire process. Dr. Charles is honest and will tell you what you NEED to hear, not what you WANT to hear. He will sit down with you and come up with a game plan and tell you up front (estimating of course) how many grafts you will need to accomplish YOUR preferred outcome. The good, the bad, the ugly…whatever it is, he will tell you up front so you don’t get false hopes. As for me, I thought only the front of my hairline was receding, but Dr. Charles explained to me that the sides of my hairline (by the temple area) were receding as well. He explained to me, building that area up was just as important to building my main hairline up, to make it look natural. This is when I realized the procedure is more of an art form than I ever imagined. And that Dr. Charles was not just interested in making my hairline look better, but more importantly, look genetic and natural. This helped me get past the realization that my hair loss was worse than I thought, and more excited when Dr. Charles showed me exactly what he could do with 1600 – 1700 grafts. Dr. Charles was great and professional, but also has a good sense of humor, very personable and always good for a laugh.
The procedure itself wasn’t bad, in fact I was prepared for worse. I am ok will needles and welcome as much numbing agents as possible, so I think the worst part is the very beginning when they numb your donor and graft area. Having said that, Dr. Charles and another assistant numbed both areas at the same time and finished in a few minutes. Once Dr. Charles removed the graft, his five technicians quickly went to work extracting the follicles. This is when Dr. Charles is set apart from other doctors. He does a very meticulous suture to assure the scar is as minuet as possible. I don’t know the name of the technique, but I can honestly tell you only four days after the procedure that it looks great so far! After that, Dr. Charles began plotting the location to place the follicles. For the most part it was pretty painless, making tiny incisions in the scalp, except for the “widows peek” area, which I now understand is very sensitive. I also learned this part of the procedure is extremely important because the Doc has to make sure the location and angle of each follicle will look natural when the graft is placed in those incisions. So although the Doc has to make over 1600 tiny “holes” in the scalp, he has to be artistic-like about the placement and angle of each one. Which is why I like that Dr. Charles and his staff are very meticulous. They were all working as a team, very patient and meticulous, but also very efficient. So as fast as the technicians could extract each follicle from the donor graft, there was a location for it to be placed on my scalp. From what else I could catch while I watched TV during the procedure, they take time to place follicles with single strands along the hairline and follicles with two or three strands to thicken the rest of the graft area. Again, a lot of attention to detail and meticulous work to get it to look natural. That is pretty much how the rest of the procedure went. It took about four hours from start to finish. If you start getting “wrestles” just let the Doc know, as this is an easy fix with anti-anxiety pills. Otherwise, you can bring DVDs, chat with the personable staff/technicians/Doctor, or browse all the cable channels on TV at your leisure as you get the power of the remote control! Oh yeah, the office even orders food in and you get to your choice of several options.
One thing I would recommend to patients, prior to the procedure, is to get a donut pillow or an airplane pillow for the first night. No doubt the back of your head (donor area) will be a bit tender. The pillow will help with sleeping on your back, watching TV or reading in bed, and/or resting during the day.
Clearly I am very happy with Dr. Charles AND his entire staff at the Boca Raton office. They took, and continue, to take great care of me during follow up visits. I am sure I will be thrilled with my results in a few months when the hair starts to grow in permanently. I absolutely recommend coming to town and meeting with Dr. Charles, even if it’s just to help you better understand the procedure or simply meet him and his staff. One of the best things about my experience was that they never once put pressure on me to make an appointment for the procedure.
Hope you all find this post to be helpful! Good luck!!!
 Dr. Glenn M. Charles, Boca Raton, FloridaPrintable View
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