Category: Hair Transplantation

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Hair Loss InformationHead is Still Numb and Donor Area Still Hurts a Year and a Half After Surgery! – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Dr R…You can publish. I paid for 1,600 grafts a year and a half ago [with a local doctor]. Horrible results! This is a photo the night after my surgery. My head is still numb on top & hurts in the back after a year and a half!!

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After a few weeks, any anesthesia (numbness) of the skin should abate unless it is in the back of the head and one of the major nerves was cut. It is not clear from your comment if the pain and numbness is in the top and back. The major nerve will control the back and top of the head. If you say you have had horrible results from the transplant, then confront the surgeon that did it and ask him/her for his/her opinion. Then get a second opinion (you can come see me in Los Angeles) to assess what grew or did not grow. Access to your preoperative and post operative pictures will be critical for me. As a smart consumer, you should know that you can get answers and you should pursue those answers. Hopefully, your doctor will respond to your concerns. Speaking with your doctor directly, is the first step you should always take.

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Bumped My Head 10 Days After Transplant – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hiya, I had hair transplant surgery on my temples about 10 days ago. Today I bumped my head on my left temple and it became slightly red. I wanna know if this is dangerous and would affect my hair transplants. Also some of my new hair fell out with the scabs about 8-9 days after surgery. Is it too soon for it too fall out?
Please help!!

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It would be unusual for loss of the root of the grafts at 10 days post transplant. We have published on this subject and found that the root of the transplanted graft stays in even if the top of graft came out at 10 days. What did your doctor say about it?

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Hair Loss InformationTransplanting Into a Neurosurgical Scar (with Photos) – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

This patient had an extensive neurosurgical procedure with a corresponding scar. Even when his hair was longer, the scar showed because he had frontal recession from genetic balding. We performed a hair transplant (one session of 1433 follicular units) and successfully treated both the scar and the frontal genetic recession. The “after” photos were taken just over 4 months after his procedure.

I have done this type of corrective surgery on many people. It is a life changing experience for these people, not having to face their deformities every day. Unfortunately, few neurosurgeons understand what modern hair transplants can do, not only for their patients, but for their own balding sons.

Click the photos to enlarge.

Before:

 

After (only 4.5 months):

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Hair Loss InformationCurious About The Hairline My Transplant Doctor Gave Me – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I recently had a hair transplant done and I was curious about the way my doctor had done it. I naturally have had a widow’s peak but it has receded some. The way the doctor put the graphs in was sort of also in a M shaped form just out to the sides. Will this restore my natural hairline?

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I cannot answer your question without seeing a current photo and comparing it to what you looked like before you lost your hair. More importantly, you should have addressed this before the surgery to make sure that your doctor understood your goals and expectations.

The standard practice at NHI is for the physician to draw a hairline with an erasable marker prior to surgery and have the patient look at the general shape and position so that he/she can approve or modify what the doctor planned. Generally this take a few minutes as the patient has specific concerns and requests (such as adding a widow’s peak). In the end, both patient and doctor are on the same page in agreement before the surgery starts and we take good pictures to document what we had agreed to. After the hairs grow in, we can then go back to the drawing on the head and see if the hairline we had tried to produce, was actually produced.

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Hair Loss InformationFalse Statements About FUE Published on Doctor’s Website – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Found this info on Sword site in reference to regenix regarding the FUE…any truth to this, especially in my case?

“The Follicular Unit Extraction Technique: The concept makes sense, and it sounds great! Instead of making an incision in the back of the head, simply remove each individual follicular unit with a punch blade then relocate it to the areas of thinning and loss… all in one step. The problem is, it isn’t quite that simple.

Hair follicles don’t grow straight up and down beneath the skin. They grow at angles, and each follicle can be at a dramatically different angle than the follicle next to it. It’s virtually impossible to know for sure. Clinical studies have shown that 25% to 40% of all follicular units being extracted during follicular unit extraction are destroyed. They are simply cut in half. And since we have a limited supply of donor hairs, we can’t afford to destroy even one unnecessarily. Additionally, the punch blade will leave multiple scars throughout the donor area. When follicular units are simply extracted from areas of the skin, the result is an overall thinning to the remaining hair. Follicular unit extraction procedures last, on average, 30% longer, cost more, result in less density and compromise the donor area.

Every surgeon has this procedure option at their disposal; the vast majority sees that it just isn’t in the patient’s best interest to utilize it.”

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Partial truths can be dangerous. In the right hands, under the right conditions, he is wrong about FUE. He is right that 50% or more of the follicular units can be destroyed if the doctor doing it does not know when to do the procedure and how to get out yields in the 90% range. I suspect that either the doctor who wrote this does not want to learn how to do it right, has not been trained in the procedure properly, is ignorant, or he is just incapable of doing it and does not want to admit it. I do not fault a doctor who does not want to perform FUE, but I would expect that doctor to learn what he is talking about and admit he does not know enough.

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Hair Loss InformationUnderstanding When a Hair Transplant is Appropriate – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hello,

I am a 21 year old male and for the last year or so I have began to notice that my hairline is receding. In an attempt to control my hair loss I have purchased Procerin and minoxidil 5% and I am considering going to my doctor to ask for his opinion on using Propecia. I have also been reading up on the subject of hair transplants but have came to understand that I am too young to consider this sort of option. However, this brings me to my questions:

  1. If I add Propecia to my current regime (Minox, Procerin) will my doctor or dermatologist still be able to map my hair loss and estimate when it would be wise to consider a hair transplant?
  2. Or will I have to stop my regime, for a period of time, to allow the regrown (if there is any) hair to fall out, thus allowing my doctor to see the natural recession of my hair line?
  3. Or would I have to stay on a course of Propecia forever, so to stop any hair loss behind the hair transplant?

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I am answering your questions in the order you asked:

  1. The available FDA approved medications for hair loss can help slowing down or in some occasions stopping the process of hair loss. Early 20s is the period that most physicians don’t want to rush into performing a hair transplant, because it is hard to predict the progress of the hair loss and final hair loss pattern at this age. Considering the family history of baldness, hair loss medication use and degree of miniaturization can help establish a Master Plan for a young patient like you. So, you need to find a good doctor for a thorough evaluation and only after considering all above factors should atime table be tailored for your hair transplants.
  2. The effect of these medications on your hair growth is gradual and I don’t recommend stopping them to find out your natural degree of hair loss. You will end up losing more hair unnecessarily by doing that. I have no information about Porcerin, but Propecia is the most appropriate medication to control progression of genetic hair loss in young men.
  3. I recommend that you develop a Master Plan for the treatment and stick to it, being monitored with yearly miniaturization studies to follow the progression of the hair loss. Most of the patients need to continue their treatment for the rest of their lives, so it is wise to do your research before starting such treatments.

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Hair Loss InformationI Don’t See Results After My 2nd Procedure 8 Months Ago – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

i have my 2nd procedure and it hasn’t worked for some reason. its 8 months out now and i didnt see any result. even my original hair i had, i lost because of the procedure. it can take more then 8 months or is something wrong? i try to use the low level laser therapy but it didnt work for me? please advice me what to do. thanks

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I would need more information about you. What hair have you lost? Are you on Propecia? What did your hair transplant surgeon say? Look carefully at the pictures that he took and be sure that the transplants failed. If they failed, did you surgeon agree with you? Consider getting a second opinion if your doctor is not direct with your questions.

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Extracellular Matrix? – Balding Blog

Hi Dr. Rassman & Dr. Pak,

I saw an interesting item in one of the hair loss forums about a company called ACell, which makes “extracellular matrix” (ECM) products from pig bladders for veterinary use. They are apparently in the process of getting FDA approval for use of some of their products in humans. According to the company’s website, ECM “serves as an inductive template around which around which mammalian tissues grow and differentiate.” There are pictures on this site that are pretty amazing — gaping wounds in animals with insufficient tissue for closure that heal nearly completely, including new hair growth, after application of the scaffolding material. This seems like a pretty exciting development, with obvious potential applications in the HT field. What do you think of this?

Plastic surgeons use this similar type of technology to address open wounds and reconstruct tissue. With respect to the hair transplant field, it may have certain applications in troublesome wound areas (severe scalp injuries) where the tension on the skin makes it almost impossible to close the wound. These wounds can close, but they will not develop hair on the skin and I doubt that the pig model will apply here.




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Balding Forum - Hair Loss Discussion

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Tissue Expansion to Repair Alopecia After Ringworm Resulted in Infection – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

My 13 year old son underwent tissue expansion in 2003 for an area of alopecia following an attack of ringworm. He developed an infection an underwent scalp reconstruction. The scar stretched and he underwent scar reconstruction again. Yet again the scar stretched. He has refused any further expansion. The scar is very wide 1inch wide running from ear to ear across his head. Please can u help

I have seen similar patients who have had scalp reconstruction and were left with bad scars. It is not really possible for me to assess what was done from you brief narrative, but when scars become stable, hair transplantation works well to cover many of these scars. Bad scarring occurs in accident, in neurosurgery cases, and associated with different types of scalp surgery. We are presently writing a paper on the treatment of such scars.

As much as you would like to help your son, your son is also the main participant in the matter. While I sympathize with your need to address your son’s scar, it seems your son does not want any more intervention. Nevertheless if you are exploring all the options, you should seek second opinions on flap surgery and see doctors that are also experts in hair transplantation. A next step might be to send your son’s picture or make an appointment to see me if you would like your son to have a formal consultation. Remember, he is 13 years old, and at 13 he has other priorities which may interfere with sound logic.

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