Hair Transplantation – Page 105

September 19, 2008

Hair Loss InformationCan a Class 8 Person be Transplanted? (with Photos) – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Many of you hopefully know (or at least have read) about the Norwood Classifications for male pattern baldness. I wrote the question in the title of this post, because there is no such thing as a Class 8 patient. Norwood Class 7 is the highest balding pattern defined, but I want to discuss a patient that has an extremely advanced Class 7, so to get my point across I’ve defined the Class 8 term here. He has white skin and black hair with a very, very fine hair character. I had great trepidations when he came to me three years ago to get a transplant, because he had no good quality hair and the worst color contrast possible. One thing running in his favor was a donor density 25% higher than normal. He’s had three procedures with me over the years. First one was 3908 grafts, then 3177 grafts, then 1525 grafts… for a total of 8610 grafts, and as the density dropped with each procedure, the yield also dropped. Of interest, his scar was minimal and the rest of the donor fringe area maintained its height to reflect the dropping density of the fringe hair with each successive hair transplant. He is tickled over the results and could not be happier. The fine hair is see-through, but he loves to comb it and keep it styled.

Click the photos below to enlarge.

Before:

After 8610 grafts:

A few weeks ago he came in and we tried an experiment. We applied concealers (Toppik) to try to manage the see-through hair. The results of this experiment can be seen in 3rd set of photos below. What we concluded was that the concealers made him appear too thick and if he dyed his hair a light brown and then used Toppik, his overall look might be better. His eyebrows are light brown, so that would fit.

After 8610 grafts (and Toppik):

This is a very important piece for BaldingBlog and the first time this patient has agreed to show his results on the Internet. In my opinion, this is one of the best “miracles” we have pulled off in this practice. It took courage for him (see his before picture) to trust me to make this happen and I was honored with his faith in me. With good doctor/patient communication, almost anything is possible. This man is soft spoken and often comes to our open house events to speak with patients and show off his results in person.

Here’s the side-by-side of his before and after (8610 grafts over 3 hair transplant procedures and Toppik), and you can see the results are just amazing!

September 19, 2008

After 6 Weeks, The Transplanted Hairs Didn’t Fall Out But Also Didn’t Grow – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hi Dr. Rassman,
It has been exactly 6 weeks today post off, for a FEU of 2000graphs. Now I had experienced a some shock loss after my operation for a while, still have but has been minimized a little, but with that being said most of the hairs that were transplanted have no ’shed’. Infact they are still in tract but the only problem is that they are not growing. I was told by my doctor that all the transplanted hair would fall off within the first month. Should I be worried? Does this mean the procedure is working slower on me?

Thanks

Your doctor advised you correctly — they will shed sooner or later. I have seen some hairs remain up to a year and the hair transplants grew around them. If you pull on those short hairs, they usually come right out with no traction on them, because they are not attached to a bulb or to the underlying tissue, and have no muscle attachment on them. The shock loss you are talking about is independent of the short hairs that remain.

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September 19, 2008

I Have Dense Body Hair — Experiment on Me! – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

This is for Dr.Rassman. You have done a great job having this blog for awareness and information but I was hoping if you could help me out or advise me regarding hair transplantation. I have already mentioned this a while ago to you that I didn’t see the 100% growth on my crown area because the Doctor i had done it from was just making money out of me. He didn’t inform me that my donor area is not sufficient to provide good follicles. Anyhow, i have seen your replies on BHT. As an east Asian (Pakistan) I have the genes of being hairy, my back,chest,abdominal areas are just hairy. And they are pretty dense. I guess this is my last chance because cloning is not even near. I am going to be married next year but i have told every one that my hairs are back because i didn’t want to be embarrassed. My only question to you is How much is BHT and please Dr. is there any way I can be your object,trial,experiment? i am student and facing the worst time of my life. Thought you may have something for me.

In my opinion, results of body hair transplants are not well documented. I appreciate your desperate cry for some solution, but sometimes the best advice a doctor can give is just by making the patient aware of limitations in medicine. Moreover, I don’t like to experiment on patients when I know the the technology and the results may well be very poor.

September 18, 2008

Born with a Bald Spot – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

ive had a bald spot on the side of my head since birth. hair has never grown there before. the spot is about 1.5 in. by .75 in. can a hair transplant fix this? would it look natural? and how much would a spot like that cost?

What you describe seems simple enough. A hair transplant should generally cover the area well and with natural results. It would likely involve a few hundred grafts. Our surgery fees are listed on our website, but our minimum fee is $3000 for any procedure. Sometimes if the spot is small, a reduced fee can be arranged under special circumstances.

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September 17, 2008

Can We Use Donor Hair from Animals?! – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hey Doc,

This is a bizarre question, but I was wondering if it is possible to get donor hair from animals that are similar to humans? I know it may sound curl or just flat out stupid, but I was wondering if its even possible?

Thanks

We use animal hair for wigs all of the time. Let’s say hypothetically that it is possible to use animal hair for transplants — which animal did you have in mind? If you picked the animal of your choice, what do you think PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) would say? Hair transplant isn’t life or death, like a liver or heart. If PETA supports your cause (or you don’t care about what they think anyway), what doctor will you go to? A veterinarian? If a doctor is willing to do the surgery, what do you think your friends will say? It gives a whole new meaning to “sexy beast” …

The answer to your question is — no. Your immune system will reject it in a matter of weeks. Anti-rejection medication would be far too risky to use for a cosmetic procedure.

September 17, 2008

Sex After a Hair Transplant – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I just had my first hair transplant and it says to not have sex for one week. Is masturbation ok the evening of or day after? or will it possibly cause some grafts to fall out?

I remember a billionaire I performed a hair transplant some years ago. He had an interpreter with him (came from Asia) and I jokingly told him not to have sex for 3 years. I remember laughing and I thought he understood it was a joking comment. Three months later, his interpreter called and told me that his boss told him ‘to hell with the transplant’, and he didn’t care if it ever grew, but could not handle the abstinence from sex for any more time. I realized how humor is very cultural and he revered my medical and surgical skills and took my joke as a directive, not as the humorous “masterpiece” that I intended. Obviously, it was a dumb joke that got lost in translation.

Anyway, I generally recommend passive sex for the first 1-2 nights, then go for it which ever way you feel up to it after. With regard to masturbation, wait a day to be safe.

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September 16, 2008

Transplanting Hair Between Existing Hairs – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Dear Dr. Rassman,

How dense can hair transplant be done assuming that there are plenty of donor area with thick hair and the target area still has 50% density? Can hair transplant be done in-between existing hairs to make the hair thick again?

Tried Propecia but stopped after 2 days because of side effects. I appreciate your help on the matter.

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You can transplant between existing hairs without difficulty, providing that the existing hairs are permanent and not miniaturized. I have seen patients receive very dense hair by transplanting between hairs that were previously transplanted.

September 16, 2008

ISHRS Doctors that Still Do the Punch Grafts? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I was looking over the website of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgeons. I was using the “Find a Doctor” feature and also looking at the sub-categories of procedures performed.

Am I missing something? Why is there even a sub-category currently listed for doctors who perform “punch graft” procedures? Furthermore, why are doctors even advertising that they perform it?

Isn’t that procedure obsolete? Who would even want it? There has to be a reason that the procedure is listed and that doctors advertise performing it – I would hope. Is the punch graft procedure indicated in any situation? If not, what gives?

The follicular unit extraction (FUE) procedure is in a way a mini-punch graft involving just one follicular unit. Instead of using 6mm punches, we use 0.9mm punches.

Unless there is something I am not aware of, the punch grafts are obsolete. I found the list of doctors that are listed as those still performing this archaic method — ISHRS Physicians that perform Punch graft transplantation. I must assume that this is just outdated information on the site and will inform the ISHRS to find out if my assumptions are correct. I sincerely hope I’m right and that no doctors in the ISHRS are currently doing this procedure. Fingers crossed.

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September 12, 2008

7 Months After FUE Procedure, I Think My Surgery Was a Failure – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Dr. Rassman,
I had a 3000 graft FUE procedure performed at the beginning of the year. To date, after 7 months post-surgery, I estimated based on a family member’s meticulous calculations with a magnifying glass that I have only 20-25 grafts/cm2 in my previously bare hairline area, when I supposedly grafted in my hairline area at a density of 70 to 80 grafts per square centimeter.

Should I expect further improvement in the coming months or has my surgery failed to achieve the grafted density? Of course, my doctor believes I can expect improvement in the next 5 months, but I have seen little to no improvement since the 4th month post-surgery. Should I expect my final surgery outcome to be a failure?

Thanks in advance.

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Honestly, I don’t know. It can take as long as a year before all the hair grows in, although that long is unlikely. Furthermore, nothing is a 100% in life (except death and taxes). In my opinion, failure from follicular unit extraction (FUE) is common, even with doctors who promote them. The procedure is very difficult to do and 3000 grafts tells me that I might think that it was never done at those numbers, at least successfully.

I would discuss and follow up with your doctor in the next 5 months as your doctor recommends and hope that you get what you and he expect. Generally, it takes 8 months for 80% of the hair to grow and 90% in 10-12 months. I could go into this at length, but stay tuned to this site as I am going to address the subject of FUE failures in the very near future.

September 12, 2008

Facial Swelling After a Hair Transplant? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hello Doctor

After a hairline transplant some people get a facial swelling for a few days and some people don’t. My question is : Is a facial swelling a good sign, a bad sign or indifferent, regarding the future success of the operation and healthy grow of the transplants

Thank you

Facial swelling is just an annoyance after a hair transplant that occurs in random individuals. It is neither good or bad. You can always minimize swelling by sleeping at a more up-right angle (so that the fluid drains downward) and in our practice, we rarely see it because of the use of short term steroids during and after the surgery.

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