MY LIFE IS CHANGED

Treatment Provider

Provider Review

• 17 Oct 2017

My hair started thinning out when I was in my 20's. I didn't think much of it. I just figured it was from years of coloring/relaxing/straightening (I have naturally tight course curly hair). I had gone into the military at age 27 and during my time in being enlisted I had lost a lot of hair from several reasons such as stress (enlisted military #1 stressful job in the U.S.), depression (being stationed in the middle of nowhere and certain units had hostile environment/command), having to keep my hair slicked back in a tight bun every single day. Eventually it got so bad, that during my last couple of years, the hair started falling out in ACTUAL CLUMPS in the shower. It LOOKED like the kind of hair loss a chemo patient goes through. Every time I showered more and more would come out. I was so scared to wash/condition my hair. I would cry while I was in the shower and I started taking photos of the hair clumps every time. I could feel the water directly hitting my scalp. I lost whatever 'cushion' I had at the top of my head. And unfortunately, every day I was on duty/had work was another day of putting more stress on the scalp. I decided to go 'medical' in the military and I told them something was seriously wrong. I even showed them the pictures, but their explanation was "Well, you are getting older. Are you stressed?" I would answer them with a desperate and dramatic tone, "YES, OF COURSE I'M STRESSED! MY HAIR IS FALLING OUT AS THOUGH I'M A CANCER PANTIENT." They performed blood tests on me, but from their knowledge, there were no red flags. They said my estrogen and calcium were high. I finally got them to get me a referral for a endocrinologist and a rheumatologist. I wanted to go to a DERMATOLOGIST, but I didn't get a referral for that. The endocrinologist an rheumatologist said nothing was wrong with me. To help cope with this hair loss, I decided to chop off my hair so that I wouldn't have to wear it back. In the military, you're allowed to wear your hair loose if it's above the collar. I had a baby afro (my hair's curly, remember) and still suffered from low self-esteem, depression and stress from hair loss and work. I started taking hair regrowth supplements and watching/reading every thing I could get my hands on about hair regrowth. It helped and there was a difference, but not even close to my pre-miitary days. I read about PRP years ago, but it was brand new. No one had really heard of it and I hadn't met anyone who did it. Also, it was so new that there weren't reviews online. The hair loss started happening again when I got out of the military and started school. Clearly stress is ONE of the triggers. That's when I started googling PRP again. I came across a video of a female reporter/anchor (I forget who she is) who says she had been doing it and she showed her own befroe and afters and she let the network/show film her get a session done. That session was with Dr. Rapaport. To my surprise and delight, I'm actually from two towns over from Dr. Rapaport's practice. He's heavily recommended in the vicinity of where I live and many moons before I enlisted in the military, I was also a past patient. I was already aware of his reputation and skill, but I still went down the Google spiral when it came to him and PRP. The results page of his website were astonishing. I e-mailed his office about a consultation and they replied back to me in a timely manner and the best part was they were up front with the cost and well as the frequency of the session. Now, it's not cheap by any means, but it's a lot less money than I had anticipated, and from the research that I had done along with the reviews I've read and watched on Youtube, plus knowing Dr. Rapaport by simply word or mouth from his other patients and becoming a patient in the past, I was ready to jump in and get started. During the consultation, I literally expressed to him every detail of the hair loss and the steps I've taken to combat it. He listened intently and examined my scalp. He explained to me that my type of hair loss is female pattern baldness and that my body *thinks* that I'm producing testosterone. I can't remember/articulate everything he explained, but those were the main points. After the cosult, we got started. My blood was drawn and I needed TWO vials of plasma (some people only need one and it's cheaper). Even though I handle pain like a champ, I was nervous because the scalp is a very sensitive area. They didn't apply any numbing cream and it wasn't even needed. No pain at all. They use a cooling blowdryer-like type instrument to alleviate any potential pain. I got injections all over the scalp in just a couple of minutes and was ready to be on my way. Dr. Rapaport also prescribed me topical progesterone to apply to my scalp at night (which I've been doing) and taking Viviscal (OTC hair supplements [I've been taking it on and off for years]) along with omegas and a multi-vitamin. Now let's talk about the good/fun stuff; RESULTS! It took almost the entire month for me to start noticing a difference, but the first difference I noticed was the FEELING of my hair in the shower. It FELT like my EXISTING hairs had gotten thicker. Another thing I noticed was less direct water pressure on my scalp (Hmm... am I getting more 'cushion' on top?). Some people say they notice less hair loss in the shower. To be honest, I did not notice this because being that I have curly hair, I only wash it one to two times a week (still quite a bit of loss in the shower), however, my hair has gotten much thicker now, that it tangles/dreads up faster and I'm going to start washing/conditioning every other day now, but... I did notice in the mirror that my front hair line baby hairs were filling in. My forehead looked less like 'five-head'. Just to make sure I wasn't imagining these results, I decided to take my own after pictures (I have a bunch of before pictures). I went into the same room that I took my last photo of my scalp with the same lighting and snapped a photo of the top of my head. WOW! WOW, WOW, WOW, what a difference ONE month after ONE session makes. IT WORKS! I knew it would, but I was NOT expecting that huge of a difference after only one session! There is hope. I could just cry from joy! I feel like a thousand bricks have been lifted from my back and I can breathe again. Today I had my appointment for my second session and I just went on and on about the results. I can't wait to see what the next results will look like! Thank you Dr. Rapaport!