Are Online Hair Transplant Consultations a Good Idea?

I’m in my late 20s and I am a 3 on the Norwood Scale for hair loss. I’ve been losing hair since I was 21. It accelerated during grad school (I had a ton of hair coming in). I went to a highly respected hair transplant surgeon in LA who told me it would take about a 1000 grafts to conservatively restore my hairline. However, he mentioned that another physician would be doing the surgery. It was unsettling to have my consult done by someone who would not even be performing/supervising the techs.

I came across a number of recommended hair restoration surgeons with great results on this site. I am currently in grad school on the East Coast and have to do an online consult. Is there any downside to an online consult? Will the doctor follow up day of the surgery prior to the work being done?

Online consultations can provide a prospective hair transplant patient with a general idea of his or her needs and also what may be realistic given their degree of hair loss, apparent donor supply, etc. However, it’s important to note that things can change upon meeting in person. For this reason, it’s always a good idea to be evaluated in person by a local hair restoration clinic if possible, even if you are strongly considering traveling long-distance for your procedure.

Personally, I would not be concerned about being evaluated in person by a skilled and very experienced surgeon even if he were not performing the surgery.

For my latest transplant with Dr. Bhatti, I had a Skype consultation. He evaluated my donor as best he could and gave me an estimate for the number of grafts he thought we could safely harvest. When I arrived and he was able to evaluate me in person, he decided the original estimate was too high and we settled on fewer grafts. It was a little disappointing of course but I knew it was a possibility.

In short, while online consultations offer us the opportunity to consult with many more physicians across the globe, there is no substitute for an in person evaluation.

David
Editorial Assistant and Forum Co-Moderator for the Hair Transplant Network, the Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center, and the Hair Loss Q & A Blog.

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