Excellent Hair Specialist (Please Read Full Review)
Disclosure: This review was written 10 days post-op. The rating pertains to the consult and the FUE procedure only; this rating/review does not consider the results, which are unknowable at this time. I plan on submitting a review one year from the date of my procedure which will solely rate the final results.
I am a male in my mid 30’s. My desire for a hair transplant was purely cosmetic. I was born with a widow’s peak and an asymmetrical hairline, which I’ve wanted to fix since I was 18. My hair loss was minimal and only around the hairline. The rest of my hair is thick and wavy.
For the past two years, I went back and forth re: getting a transplant done. While I did see some spectacular results during my research, I also read numerous horror stories (none pertaining to Dr. Charles, just generally). I also feared the downtime from the procedure. From the YouTube videos I watched, it seemed that the grafted area would look palpably red for a minimum of 60 days. As a working professional, I feared that the recovery process would prevent me from getting the procedure done.
Initially, I considered the top two US-based hair transplant doctors based on hairsite.com: Dr. Baubac in LA and Dr. Cole in Atlanta. I had very good consults with each of them. However, at the time, I had very little free time and again feared the recovery process.
Two months ago, I decided to revisit my decision (though only with local doctors this time due to self-imposed travel restrictions). After another round of extensive research (I literally read every review of every South Florida based doctor), I met with three hair transplant doctors in South Florida. I peppered each doctor with a list of questions. Dr. Charles spent the most time answering my questions and providing me in-depth answers.
I was still vacillating, however, so I decided to see Dr. Charles a second time (mainly due to each of the three doctors recommending different graft counts; Dr. Charles quoted the lowest amount). Dr. Charles was sympathetic to my caution and took the time to answer another series of questions. Ultimately, I decided to do the procedure with Dr. Charles because he appeared to be very knowledgeable and as detail-oriented as I am. I also liked that he wasn’t pushy and didn’t seem to be pushing the most grafts as possible on me (though, to be fair, none of the doctors I consulted with were pushy). Also, of the three local doctors, I felt comfortable that he would be the most involved in the process and would delegate the least amount of work (another fear of mine).
Once I made the decision, I wanted to get the procedure done quickly, partially due to my own schedule and partially due to a fear that I would talk myself out of the procedure if it were weeks out. Patricia moved heaven and earth to fit me in within two days of that call.
The day of the surgery, Dr. Charles and I spent the first 45 minutes of the day drawing various hairline options with a pen. Dr. Charles began with what he recommended as the most aggressive hairline he’d feel comfortable grafting, and we proceeded to work back from there. I ultimately decided to go for a more conservative hairline, as I figured it would be easier to come in for a second procedure if necessary (I figured I’d need a second procedure as a touch-up anyways). In retrospect, I wish I had been slightly more aggressive with my hairline—though, to be clear, this was my wholly my decision. (As an aside, I highly recommend that each person spend a fair amount of time at home mapping out their desired hairline prior to the day of procedure)
After my hairline was mapped out, I was given a valium and ushered into one of two procedure rooms. In this room, Dr. Charles shaved parts of my head (allowing my long hair to effectively cover all of the donor locations). Then—and this was the most painful part—injected all donor and graft locations with lidocaine. I’m not going to lie; this part of the process was painful.
After that, it was smooth sailing. Dr. Charles proceeded to create each graft location (he did this all himself) while I watched TV. He and his staff then took me into a separate room to remove hair from the donor locations while I listed to a podcast (he did the majority of these himself as well). Finally, I went back into the first room, where his technicians inserted the grafts. All of this was completely painless.
The result for that day was that the grafts were placed exactly as we had mapped out the hairline. I was given antibiotics as well as a prescription for the pain. By the process was done, the valium had worn off and I was able to drive myself home. I had some slight pain for the first ~6 hours, but it was gone by ~9pm. Dr. Charles called me that night to check in and gave me his personal cell number, which he said I was welcome to call at any time.
Ten days later, I can honestly say that my fears which previously prevented me from doing the procedure appear to have been unfounded. It really helped that I grew my hair out prior to the procedure, and thus have been able to completely cover the grafts (none of my friends and family can even tell I had a procedure). While there is still some residual dry blood and scabbing, the redness that I feared so much has completely gone away.
While I can’t predict how the results will ultimately turn out, the experience of my consults with Dr. Charles and the procedure itself, along with the healing process during the first ten days, have all exceeded my expectations.
If you are considering doing a hair transplant, I would highly encourage you to at the very least have a consult with Dr. Charles.