Category: FUE

Hello Dr. Rassman,

I know you are skeptical of Dr. Gho and his claims, and you’ve criticized him before here on Baldingblog.

Now a well-known, reputable hairstylist, Grant from Toronto (known as “Scissorboy”) has been treated by Dr. Gho, with the “Hair Stem Cell Transplantation” technique (HST), and he’s released a comprehensive video about the experience, showing Dr. Gho and his assistants actually performing the procedure.

By the way, Grant did not have any kind of severe baldness, only slight frontal recession. But I think the video nonetheless shows, in quite astounding detail, exactly how the procedure works, and exactly what its potential is. And its potential is actually to redouble the number of hair follicles available.

I believe this is a revolutionary procedure based on some real science, and (unfortunately), it may come as such a shock to many hair transplant surgeons in the US, who have been pretty refractory to new ideas.

Please give us your honest and unbridled opinions of the claims and revelations made on this video: Link

Thank you, Dr. Rassman

I did report on Dr. Coen Gho in a previous post in a less-than-favorable light. My comments on him reflected what appears to be intellectual dishonesty. I have heard Dr. Gho speak publicly, and what he is doing is the classic FUE technique that I pioneered and published in the Dermatologic Surgery medical journal in 2002 (see here).

There is no doubt that the stem cells in the FUE grafted hair probably causes the growth, but his representations that this is anything more than a typical FUE procedure would be improper. I watched the video and saw what I and hundreds of good doctors have been doing for years. Dr. Gho performed an FUE procedure in the video, not a stem cell transplant.

Don’t get me wrong — I love new ideas, science, research, and invention… but in the end, I would like to see the results. Maybe a follow-up video in 6 months would be good, too.

Have you heard of the Ahi technique based on FUE. Is this truly original or simply a marketing spin on the FUE method of hair transplant. The company in question is http://www.ailesburyhairclinic.com/

Their site says that it’s just follicular unit extraction (FUE) but the difference is, “the AHI variation of this method is that we use a specially designed implantation pen to place hair follicles…”

Many clinics use FUE extraction tools and the implantation instrument they’re likely using is called the Choi Implanter. The Choi implanter has had variable results in its use — many complete failures and some excellent results with those who have mastered it. The Choi is probably the most universally used instrument for implantation, but few use it in the US, where there is more accountability to failures of the transplant.

Dr. Richard Shiell recently reported: “I think the original device was invented by a non-doctor who was doing eyebrow grafts at a Leper hospital in Korea some 30 years ago.” There are many innovative people in this world who, when challenged, rise to the situation and create new technology.

This post isn’t responding to a submitted question, but an observation we’ve been seeing more and more lately…

Donor area depletion is now becoming apparent in many patients who have had many FUEs done in the donor area. Just like strip surgeries, once hair is removed from the donor area, the donor area become thinner with each subsequent Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) procedure. Those individuals who have had between 3000-6000 grafts extracted with FUE are now showing problems in the donor area where coverage of the back and side of the head is becoming a problem. Somehow doctors and patients thought that FUE was a free ride — no significant donor scar without a downside. But alas, there is no free ride. One does not get something for nothing.

I believe that many doctors do not understand what I wrote above, but they will be caught with their pants down when the patient finds that he has a donor area coverage problem that he never expected. With this assessment, I am referring to the doctors who do FUE right (with minimal transection damage), but I suspect that the number of good doctors who have mastered the technique and get transections in the 5% or less range are a minority of those offering the procedure.

Over and over again I say, “Let the Buyer Beware” and that still remains the Rassman dictum.

Hello Ive noticed that after looking at dozens of FUE donor scars that Beard FUE scars have significantly less hypopigmentations that scalp FUE scars?

Is there a reason for this? Thanks

That’s a good question. Unfortunately, I don’t know the answer for sure.

On the scalp, I have seen patients with great (practically unnoticeable) FUE scars, as well as some not-so-great FUE scars. Of the few patients I’ve seen that had follicular unit extraction using beard hair, I’d agree that the FUE scars have been less detectable by way of discoloration when the graft is removed from the beard. I think the degree of scarring is based on the individual and their healing potential.

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