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  1. #1
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    Default Dr. Paul McAndrews - Pasadena, CA

    I will tell you of my experience with Dr. Paul McAndrews of Pasadena, CA.

    I came to Dr. McAndrews as a 33yo NW6 with fine light blond hair on fair skin. I settled on Dr. McAndrews because after extensive research I concluded he was the best and I would only except the best for something that would affect my head for the rest of my life. When I first came to him telling him I wanted a procedure he said to first get on Propecia and come back in a year. So that's what I did and I came back in a year telling him I wanted the procedure. He then explained to me what all I could and couldn't do telling me that most surgeons could make me look good 1 year from now but that I would look horrible in 10 and 20 years. He showed me the hairline I should be shooting for instead of the one I wanted, and he also explained to me that I would have to put off fixing the vertex for now since the top of the head is the priority. None of this was what I wanted to hear but he knew that and also knew that most other surgeons would have just told me what I wanted to hear. He also explained to me that despite needing significant grafts that he would only do 2,000 grafts the first time because the survival rate for grafts above 2,500 is only %73 but the survival rates for grafts below 2,500 is %98 (too many grafts competing for the same blood supply). His priority was preserving the limited donor supply over doing too much at once. He also explained how other surgeons waste hair by placing hairs too closely together since he told me the human eye can not tell the difference between 20cm2 density and 60cm2 density. Despite all this not being what I hoped to hear I knew he was the expert so I scheduled a FUT surgery the next week for 2,000 grafts at $9 at a graft.

    I came in early in the morning for a 5am surgery at his Pasadena office. As with all of Dr. McAndrews surgeries I am the only patient the entire day so that I get his full attention. He did the entire procedure himself from incision, to stitching me up, to placing the grafts. He only stepped out after everything was done to let his assistant (who was also a Dr.) clean me. We stopped once to eat breakfast (they ran out to IHOP to get me breakfast). After the surgery they coated my head in vaseline and placed pads on top of it. He then asked if I had any questions and I was out of there by 11am (he then closed the office and was done for the day since he only does 1 patient a day). I took a 5 hour drive home and felt no pain or discomfort (obviously driving I was not on any pain meds).

    Being the first ht surgery I didn't know what to expect but recovery went fine. I just kept my head covered in vaseline for a week while spraying it with saline solution twice a day. I never took any pain meds of any kind and never felt any pain or discomfort. There was never any blood or bleeding. After 7 days the vaseline came off and my single stitch was removed. There was never any blood or any scabs that I could tell unless they were small (I think being covered in vaseline keeps the body from needing to form scabs). I have fair skin though so my head was red and stayed red for a few months. Even though things were constantly healing and getting better, I would say after 6 months I was pretty good. 2,000 grafts of light blond hair on a NW6 is not a lot but I know his skills made it go further then anyone else would had and everything looked good (sorry no pics). My scar was non-existent and he makes some special stitching that allows the hair to grow through the scar so not only was the scar thin but hair was growing through it (with my light fine blond hair on my fair skin I was able to get away with a 3 razor on my scar area).

    Dr. McAndrews told me he would not do a second surgery for at least a year to give the new grafts time to establish a new good solid blood supply and let all the nerves fully heal. So about 18 months later I just had another FUT 2,200 grafts done at $9 a graft and this time he was able to put a little coverage on the vertex along with filling out the first transplant. The surgery day went exactly like the first one. In at 5am, everything done by him, IHOP breakfast, out by 11am, then close up the office. Everything is going as smooth as the first time. The single stitch was removed on day 6 and he said everything looks great and the grafts have healed in there (he said short of knocking my head on a door that the grafts weren't going anywhere). He told me to start using Rogaine in 3 more days. No bleeding, no scabs really and 8 days later I can't even feel the scar/incision (but I know where it's at because that area is shaved). Looking at things I think I will be happy with these 4,200 grafts so even though it is premature I would say that I am satisfy and glad I went with Dr. McAndrews. Considering I have such fine light blond hair on fair skin and a NW6 I don't think it would have been worth going with anyone else since my situation is one I think most people should just choose not to opt for a ht surgery (not everyone is a good candidate and someone like me is borderline at best). So anyways Dr. McAndrews is well worth the money and although I don't have the perfect head of hair I have what is the best I can hope for right now given my genes and I'm glad at 35yo I can finally be done having to worry about it knowing that I have the best I can do with todays procedures and technology.

  2. #2
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    One thing I forgot to add is Dr. McAndrews only does FUT and recommended against FUE because you lose so many hairs doing FUE. He says preserving donor supply is the number one rule and with FUE you are throwing out tons of donor supply which is the worst thing you can do. (And btw contrary to what some doctors market FUE is actually a very old procedure... it's how they did hair plugs, only now they are applying it to individual hairs).

  3. #3
    Senior Member thejack's Avatar
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    $9 per graft is way above the typical market price. I hope you got a free lunch

  4. #4
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    Lol 2015 fue = 1990 hair plugs. Sure ok.

  5. #5
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    I try to help the poor souls in this forum by posting the experience of a quality doctor who is not one of these budget doctors who are the behind the scene puppet masters of these forums and I get nothing but grief. You guys deserve the horrible HTs and doctors you go to.... And $9 a graft is the market price for the best in the world.

  6. #6
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    "And btw contrary to what some doctors market FUE is actually a very old procedure... it's how they did hair plugs, only now they are applying it to individual hairs". This comment is helping no one and is complete rubbish. Helping people would be giving a concise comparison between FUE and FUT. And not from 2008 BS. No one will argue that the doc you went with is a top quality surgeon at what he does but you can't help anyone by making loose statements. If you think the difference between plugs and FUE is individual hairs being moved then you are mistaken.

    You should look up the leading quality FUE surgeons in this field and quote their numbers for FUE survival rates. Because oh guess what if I went away and did that I could find only tiny disparities which for many people who want to be able to shave down to a 1 guard is worth it.

    I actually found it interesting with the graft numbers and blood supply, that was a nice point and was beneficial but as you stated we shouldn't just believe doctors, we should do our own research, so it would be great to have a link for where you gained this information. The whole description of the day and how the work went again was very helpful.

    I just feel like you're getting grief because you come out against FUE but with nothing to support your views. A simple - When I end up going slick bald with thin coverage over my head and my crown has less coverage than the new top gear will get, I don't mind shaving my head and risk having this scar. Because no matter how much you argue even with the best surgeon in the world scars will do what ever they want, and for many people, even if you lose like 5% more hair compared to FUT its worth that piece of mind and that's the whole point of having surgery - For peace of mind.

    Debate, figures, pictures and personal experience are what help people when they research a life changing decision. Tell us more on the research you did, who you went to see, how many doctors you went to see. Did other docs give you different advice?

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by JayM View Post
    even if you lose like 5% more hair compared to FUT its worth that piece of mind and that's the whole point of having surgery
    You think with FUE you are only losing %5 of your donor supply? Note I said DONOR SUPPLY not survivability of the grafts which is a whole other issue. I'm talking about decimating your limited donor supply with the procedure of FUE. I think you are the one that needs to do more research. It is fairly common knowledge that with FUE you only have a fraction of the supply that you have with FUT and that is because the technique of FUE destroys so much of that donor supply.

  8. #8
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    Look you just answered your own question by making that note so you kind of invalidated your research comment as you acknowledge I was talking about survivability. My bad that you were on about donor damage.

    It's actually well know that with any skilled surgeon for FUT or FUE there is still a risk of transecting/damaging adjacent FU's but obviously you get what you pay for and is heavily decreased in risk. With such small instruments in a skilled hand then donor damage really should just be as limited. With smaller incisions to not damage other hairs means that less protective covering for the FU's is there, so if the FUE procedure take a long time then they can be damaged and wasted. Again with advances, skilled surgeons and fantastic teams this is reduced. There is no denying that FUE is a labourus procedure and you need skill to do it to get the maximum results but that's why you pay big money.

    Now if you said with FUE depletion of safe zone donor hair could be depleted and leave it looking thin then yes this can happen. This is why if you're going to use the max amounts of the donor area then maybe look at combining the two. Because again other advantages are you can hand pick FU's with FUE for hairlines ect. Plenty of people do it. The more procedures you have and the more scar tissue you get can SOMETIMES cause problems. Just pros and cons.

    You see it's all about what people want in individual cases. By saying FUE is just like getting hair plugs but with individual hairs, is incredibly misleading and not informing anyone. By saying this you are just as bad as those misleading doctors you talked about yourself.

    If you don't want to share pictures, make insane comments about plugs and FUE and try to make out FUE is simply just not as good as FUT then yes go, who are you even trying to help then? People want to make comparisons between the two. What figures did your surgeon quote? How many hairs will I be "throwing out" by using FUE? Tell me these things with a reference so I can be informed.

    I get just as annoyed with people with a FUT inferiority complex. Did you go and see a doctor who specialises just in FUE? Like Dr Cole?

  9. #9
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    So a skilled FUE surgeon is either psychic and knows where the hair follicle travels under the skin or has xray vision and can see through the skin to see this? I apologize, I was unaware of FUE surgeons super human ability. You seem to be completely unable or unwilling to understand why FUE decimates donor hair.

    So because I pointed out that you were talking about something completely different my research is invalidated? Uh ok, thank you for educating me on the scientific process.

    Like i said if my lack of desire to post my photo all over the internet means that I'm full of it then that is fine by me.

    No I would never go to some doctor who only offers the inferior and damaging FUE.

    I'm done with this forum. I tried helping you guys out by posting my experience and try to educate you on this site but screw it.
    Last edited by Winston; 07-05-2015 at 11:53 AM. Reason: Please refer to our posting policies.

  10. #10
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    Noooo I said that you acknowledging that I was mistaken in what you were on about by noting that you meant donor damage, not survivability, made your comment about ME doing research void. Nothing to do with your research.

    You said you wanted to come here and help people but you have been biased and trying to mislead people by mentioning FUE and Plugs without stating how advanced FUE was to plugs. And no not just in this thread, because you said some very helpful things in this thread, but I have seen your other comments bashing FUE on other posts.

    Again they don't just punch with blind luck. You think you would get any viable FU's by punching blind with a 0.7mm punch? nope. I'm not unwilling to understand how if done wrong you could decimate donor hair. It's obvious how that could happen. This is why it's very important yourself to go visit a world renowned FUE surgeon and see how its done.

    Any person on this forum worth their salt knows that both can have advantages and disadvantages. I want to hear how your surgery went and I want to hear the fantastic hospitality you got. But to say that people like Dr Cole who post on here regularly and is world renowned for his work is a rubbish budget surgeon then how can I take you seriously?

    Show me why you came to the conclusion your doctor is the best in the whole world. What separates him from the rest? how can we know that his $9 per FU charged is at that price because he's the worlds best. It's like you came on here on your high horse like we are a bunch of morons who know nothing. And those who come on here who know nothing need to read a quality comparison between the techniques, with advantages and disadvantages - With proof. "My scar is pencil thin but I know that sometimes they can be larger, that is a risk you need to take" would be good. "I had FUE but I understand that my donor area could have been slightly more depleted but it means that if my crown gets worse I can shave and maybe get SMP or something".

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