The following is a transcript of Episode 21 of the Hair Restoration With Dr. Daniel A. Danyo podcast. Sports radio host Mike Bell of 92.9 The Game joins Dr. Danyo to share his experience with North Atlanta Hair Restoration and provides a successful follow up one year after with amazing results.
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Mike: I can’t say every…honestly, my inlaws, people I haven’t seen in a while, and, holy cow, it looks amazing. And especially folks who didn’t know I got the process done. They’re blown away. Dr. Danyo, just to wrap it up, he is the best. I couldn’t think of going anywhere else. And it’s been an amazing experience, and I can’t believe how happy I am with the results.
Clark: That’s the voice of Mike Bell. He’s a radio DJ at 92.9 The Game and he was a previous patient of Dr. Danyo, Daniel A. Danyo, MD is a founder and physician at North Atlanta Hair Restoration, a boutique medical practice solely dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of male and female hair loss. And you’re listening to “Hair Restoration with Dr. Daniel A. Danyo.”
I’m your host, Clark, and all season long, we’re speaking with Dr. Danyo and some of his friends about how he and his team at North Atlanta Hair Restoration are helping his patients transform their everyday lives for the better. In this episode, Dr. Danyo and I got to catch up with Mike Bell. Mike shares his experience of being a patient and also following back up after a year of great results. It’s not the first time we’ve had a testimonial on the show, and I don’t think it will be our last. There’s lots to talk about, so let’s dive right in.
Dr. Danyo, how are you doing today?
Dr. Danyo: I’m doing great, Clark. How about you?
Clark: I’m doing well. We’ve got a special episode up ahead, and I believe we’ve got a special guest.
Dr. Danyo: We do.
Clark: Tell me who we’ve got on the line.
Dr. Danyo: We’ve got Mike Bell from 92.9 sports talk in Atlanta.
Mike: Hey, guys. What’s going on?
Dr. Danyo: Yeah. I’m doing great. How are you, Mike? Haven’t talked you for a while.
Mike: Good. I know. I was gonna say we’ve texted back and forth. I know I’ve sent you some photos of what my noggin looks like. It’s been a while. It’s been almost a year and, like, four, five months now.
Dr. Danyo: Yeah. I know.
Clark: So, how did you all first meet me? Catch me up to speed here, and then let’s talk a little about not only past but also present, and what the future is looking like, too. So, how did you all get connected? And just for a general…you know, this is like a, I guess like an update from Dr. Danyo.
Mike: Yeah. I’ll jump in because I’ve been trying to get my… I do sports talk radio here in Atlanta, as Dr. Dan mentioned. And for years, I literally was begging my sales guys, “Hey, can you find me somebody who does hair?” Because I shaved my head for a couple of years, and I was really looking forward to get my old hair back, if I could.
And we had taken meetings over the years, but I just honestly never felt comfortable with some of the folks we met for one reason or the other. And eventually, one of my sales guys came to me and said, “Look, I’ve got a guy, Dr. Danyo, North Atlanta Hair Restoration. Take the meeting and see what it’s all about.”
So, we went up there, and Dan and I just really hit it off. And I loved the process, and we’ll talk about it here in the podcast. But it just seemed like the most, by all standards, the easiest and less invasive, and just the best way to do it and the results have been amazing. But, first things first, we got to meet Danny. He showed me what he was gonna do, and then we went and did it.
Clark: That sounds pretty easy.
Mike: It’s about right, Doctor?
Dr. Danyo: Yeah. That’s about right. Yeah. And we’ve been advertising on 92.9, which has been just tremendous. Mike’s fan base, it’s crazy. Mike is a friend to all these people. And so when they call in for a consult, they’re, like, “You did Mike’s hair. I want you to do my hair.”
Clark: That’s right.
Dr. Danyo: Yeah.
Clark: I love that. Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. And it’s got to be nice for Mike. I know you do a lot of…clearly, you’re doing a ton of work with your career, and with the radio world. And it’s got to be nice when you work with a company that you actually get to try and use and, in this case, you get a great success from it. So, I understand you were looking for a resource.
Now, can you describe to…and this, I think, for our listeners, we are often talking about the discovery process and what it’s like to try to find the right resource for you. What was that process like for you before you all even got connected? What are the things that you’re looking for, what are the things that you’re thinking about, and then how did you basically find yourself comfortable making this…you know, trusting Dr. Danyo to do this?
Mike: Well, though, I won’t throw anybody else under the bus or name names, but some of the process, it just seemed very fly-by-night, and it’s almost like it’s a mass-production version of hair replacement. And in this case, he walked me through how this was going to work. And the Shave-less FUE, which is what we went with is, in a nutshell, in layman’s terms, is basically taking the hair where you have it and putting it where you don’t.
And I had a receding hairline, and I had some pattern baldness. And Dr. Danyo basically said, “Look, here’s what we’re gonna do. And we’re gonna move your hairline down almost an inch and a 1/2, and we’re gonna fill in the thin spots.” And basically, exactly what I was looking for. And it really, it seemed, at first, like it’s too good to be true. My wife was even skeptical, but she… My wife got so sick and tired of me fretting about this, like, shave my head, not shave my head, grow my hair out, don’t grow my hair out.
She said, “Will you just go get the darn hair process done. You know you wanna do it, so do it.” And again, once I did it, it looked great. And it was funny because the process takes time. You get some really good growth after three months. Some of it you lose and it comes back, and then about a year, it’s just, like, so full and thick. Then I’m talking about this on the radio, and the proof is in the pudding because with talk radio, we do social media, we’re always posting videos.
So, it’s not like I’m sitting here making stuff up, people are seeing it. Being on remote, once we’re able to get back to doing things in person after COVID, for guys to come up and go, “Wow, that really looks amazing.” And I was even at the supermarket the other day and a listener comes up to me and goes, “Looking really good, man.”
Clark: Oh, really?
Mike: It’s kind of funny, it’s unsolicited, you know, people just come up. And one thing, also, about the radio station, and I think that’s why Dr. Dan’s had success with this is what we don’t…we’re not sitting here playing Ronnie Radio, “Hey, everybody. Let me tell you about my new hair.” We’re telling it as it is first person, being relatable to the audience and to the listeners in the commercials.
We talk about it on the show. And just…it was a guy…Dr. Dan is very low-key, because sometimes, you can hear I’m manipulating his conversation. But Dr. Dan just… I just…I thought he really gets it. Got what I was looking for and we were able to get it done. And we also did it in one session. And Doctor will talk about this, too. I know some guys might wanna break up the sessions over a couple of days or weeks, but we did it all in one day, and it was amazing.
Clark: Now, you both have not connected, actually, in a while. We, literally, just jumped on the line here. And so, Dr. Danyo, I think you were just gonna ask, “Hey, how are things going? I’ve not talked to you in a while.” I was, like, “Hey, let’s just dive into this and start talking.” So…
Dr. Danyo: Well, we’ve been texting quite a bit throughout the year, talking a few times. But it’s probably been a couple of months. We talked at, like, the one-year mark, but haven’t talked since. So, listen to him on the radio, but not talked to him in person.
Clark: Cool. So, this is over a year now. Right?
Mike: Yeah, I’m just checking…yeah, the last text was back in March. So, yeah, [inaudible 00:07:16]. I’ve shown him how it’s going. And it’s funny because you can do different hairstyles. It’s your hair, so if you wanna grow it short, if you wanna grow it a little bit longer. So, right now, I’m kind of in the middle. You know, when you get your hair cut at the barber like you normally would and/or a stylist.
So, it’s great. But, yeah, it’s funny because I’ve been doing the commercials. We have a guy on our morning show. Hugh is a former NFL player, and he does…and he’s African American, which is a question a lot of our listeners said, “Hey, can you do white guys, black guys?” “Yes. White guys, black guys, men, women.” Anybody can use these different procedures, in my case, the Shave-less FUE. Is that what Hugh went with, Dan?
Dr. Danyo: No. Hugh, we did shaved.
Mike: Right.
Dr. Danyo: He had his head shaved, anyway.
Clark: Would you share really quick just for someone who is listening, because some of these terms, it can seem a little overwhelming.
Dr. Danyo: Sure.
Clark: There’s not many terms, but, Dr. Danyo, just just, like, the quick of what you just said. What does that mean? Shave-less FUE, all that.
Dr. Danyo: Yeah. So, FUE is a type of hair transplant where it’s called follicular unit excision where you take individual, random follicles from the sides and back of the head. Those hairs are actually permanent hair. That’s why you see people with the Friar Tuck where they’re totally bald on top but they got thick hair on the sides and the back because those hairs are genetically different. And when you move them into the balding area, they’re permanent because they keep their same genetic makeup.
And so that’s different than the FUT, which is the strip where you end up with a linear scar. This really has minimal scarring. I can’t say it’s scarless because if you shaved your head, there may be some small little dots. But most of my patients aren’t shaving their heads after they get this. It’s not really an issue. But the nice thing is the healing is faster, there’s not a lot of pain. I know Mike went through a little bit of swelling, but we did 2,500 grafts. So, it was a big case, even the hairline bringing it way down. But otherwise, I think you went through a pretty easy post-doc course, didn’t you, Mike?
Mike: Yeah. And that’s the thing is we talked about it on the air with my radio partner also in the commercials that we did. Funny, if I hadn’t told the listeners that I’d gotten it done, they wouldn’t know, because unless I grew my hair out a little bit longer before I did the procedure. And so, it depends on how you style it or if you wore a baseball cap, you wouldn’t even know that you had the process.
Clark: So, I know this episode is a little different than what we’re normally doing, and I know we’re both, right now, Mike and I, both are bragging on Dr. Danyo here a bit. And I think what’s also cool, what I just heard, is that you all have been texting. And so, part, again, I wanna brag on you, man. A part of the value of what Dr. Danyo here does is that boutique service where it is. You actually get to know this person. He’s part of the journey from the very beginning. He actually does the procedure. And of course, he’s following up, and every patient is getting this kind of treatment. So, I heard that and I just wanted to call it out because…
Dr. Danyo: Yeah. One of the coolest things in my practice, and I don’t think there are many doctors that can say this, that they can spend an entire day with one person. And we have some really cool patients that come in different backgrounds. I had a young guy from Dayton, Ohio a couple of weeks ago, and he said, “You know, I’m thinking of just starting my own business.”
And we literally talked for two or three hours about different things, and I just said, “Are you reading any books or listening to any podcasts, or what are you doing to prepare for this?” And he said, “I’m just starting.” So, at the end of the case, he gave me a hug, and he said, “Thank you for the hair, but thank you for the talk. It was awesome.” So…
Clark: So cool.
Dr. Danyo: Yeah. It’s great that I can interface with people and maybe empower people in a different way other than the hair, which is awesome.
Mike: And it’s…honestly, it’s been great as far as the aftercare, any questions I had about when do I style the hair? When do I take a shower? When I can actually shampoo the hair, all that stuff. And it’s also…and I think I mentioned this about how I decided to go with Dr. Danyo, North Atlanta Hair Restoration, was also the fact that he did all of the work.
Some of the other folks, as I said, I don’t wanna say production line, but it’s a different process. Dr. Danyo is in the chair doing every single follicle, he’s doing that himself. So, it’s not like somebody hands it off to someone else and now your hairline is going in another direction. So, Dr. Danyo is doing it all himself, and I think that’s why people come from all over the country to get it done there.
Dr. Danyo: Yeah. I agree. There aren’t many doctors that… I don’t know if it’s a stamina thing or whether they don’t think they can do it, but, hey, it just takes stamina, determination, and passion to really get it done patient after patient, case after case, day after day. But it’s what I do, and I love it.
Clark: I love that so much. I’m so thankful, Mike, that you had the time to share a little about your experience. It sounds like the advertising on the radio… The power of audio…I mean, look at what we’re doing right now, it’s not going anywhere. Of course, Doc [SP], you said you’re always doing social media, you’re engaging. Of course, the world’s changing a little bit, but the message of what you’re doing, it’s important. And so I’m just thrilled to actually get to meet you. And I have not… I’m not in the Atlanta, Northland area. I need to start streaming your sports talk. But who’s your team? Kind of catch me up to what do I need to know about your year-round work?
Mike: Being in Atlanta [inaudible 00:13:02] builds characters. Dr. Danyo can appreciate [inaudible 00:13:04] football. [inaudible 00:13:05] football is easy right now. We have the Falcons, so that, again, that’s always a test. Braves are doing really well. Hawks have been a lot of fun. We have a soccer team, which is…so basically all of that. So, we’re covering all the bases, and it’s been a pretty good year. We’re waiting to see what this Falcons team is gonna be all about.
But it’s one of the cool things because, sports, we talk about the idea of the show, if it’s working well, it’s like you and me hanging out at a sports bar or just cutting it up at a barbershop. We talk…it’s sports talk/guy talk. And guy talk is guys of a certain age. It could be any age, 20s, 30s, 40s. I’m 53, which is something that it’s not a vanity project, you just wanna be, you know, looking the way you used to look. You want your hair.
You know, you’re comfortable with hair. I didn’t want to look like Uncle Fester, which is kind of fun. [inaudible 00:13:49]. So, it’s been a great experience. And we’re gonna do a follow-up because we talked about the things that Dr. Danyo did. We’re also gonna work on the back. I think we’re gonna schedule that here in the next couple of months where I’m gonna cut…really, only I see it, but we’re gonna cover up the flesh. I call it the flesh-tone yarmulke [SP]. Dr. Danyo, we’re gonna get to that next.
Dr. Danyo: Yeah.
Clark: To the crown. Good deal. Hey, thank you for taking the time. And with that follow-up, I can’t wait to follow along to see how that goes, too. So, we wish you the best. And, yeah, keep up the great work out there.
Dr. Danyo: Yeah, thanks a lot, Mike.
Mike: [inaudible 00:14:23] it looks great. I can’t say every…honestly, my inlaws, people I haven’t seen in a while, and, holy cow, it looks amazing. And especially folks who didn’t know I got the process done, they’re blown away. Dr. Danyo, just to wrap it up, he is the best. I couldn’t think of going anywhere else. And it’s been an amazing experience, and I can’t believe how happy I am with the results.
Clark: Hey, thanks so much for listening to “Hair Restoration with Dr. Daniel A. Danyo.” Book your consultation today with Dr. Danyo by calling 678-845-7521 or online at nahairrestoration.com. And be sure to follow, rate, and review this podcast wherever you listen to your audio content.
