Hair Transplantation – Page 140

June 21, 2007

Physical Activity Immediately Before a Hair Transplant Procedure – Balding Blog

Hi Dr. Rassman:

I’m having a 3000-3500 graft strip procedure next Monday. I am an avid runner and long distance walker. I understand I should wait until the staples are removed to resume these activities. Is there any issue with running or walking for exercise in the days immediately before surgery?

Thanks

I don’t believe you can hurt anything by strenuous activities prior to your hair transplant surgery. After the procedure however, you should take it easy for at least a few days. You should completely avoid any activities that can increase the tension on the skin edges for several weeks after your hair transplant surgery. Running does not impact donor wounds, so I generally tell my patients that they can run a marathon after a week if they want. I gave that advice to a man last week and he told me that if his hair transplant allowed him to run a marathon, that was better than he could do prior to getting it. He was not a runner. Ha!

Better check with your doctor, because he/she might not agree with me.

June 14, 2007

Long-Term Stubble After Hair Transplant – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hello and thanks again for this most helpful website.

I am a female who is just over one year post-op. For months now (no exaggeration), there has been a 1″ to 2″ band of stubble on the top\front of my scalp that DOES NOT GROW. It remains stubble.

I went to my HT surgeon for a follow-up and he said it’s just “slow growth” and we should wait another 8-9 months for another follow-up. The rest of my HT seems to have grown in fine, albeit I wish I had more grafts. How is it possible that this stubble has just stopped growing?

With many thanks and blessings.

Transplanted hair should usually start growing in 3-5 months. They should be all growing in six months and by month 12 they should be a few inches long, as thick as the original hair and long enough to comb. Some variation is seen in the growth rate among people, but no growth in one year is unusual and its causes should be explored further by your hair transplant doctor.

I have on rare occasions seen the presence of persistent stubble in the transplanted area (rarely longer than 1cm). What the stubble (after 6 months at least) should reflect is the old left-over hairs from the transplant. You can confirm this by pulling out a few of these and you should see no bulb at the ends of the hairs (from deep in the skin). If that is what you are seeing, pay no attention and these should eventually come out in a hair wash. You might get a second opinion.

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June 12, 2007

When Transplanting, Do You Plan for Future Hair Loss? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Dear docter, great work on the website

I have a question concerning the long term results of a hair transplant patient and how you look at the long term when you transplant them.

Do you take in account how much balder the patient will be, in other words, if you continue balding after a transplant will it still look like a natural balding progression? Or will it not matter because if the patient is unhappy ten+ years later you know they’ll be coming back for another transplant.

thank you

You asked a very important question. If you have been following this site you would know the importance of the Master Plan when planning for hair transplant surgery. While it is difficult to predict how much hair you will lose, proper examination such as a miniaturization study and careful medical history will clue the doctor into the patient’s possible future hair loss. With that information, the surgeon can plan the surgery accordingly, which includes eventually transplanting into where the hair is miniaturized (planning for the inevitable hair loss) when balding occurs in that area. The patient may choose or need surgery in the future, but these are the things the doctor and the patient must review before the surgery.

June 11, 2007

Immunoprivileged Follicle – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I saw the previous comment about obtaining hair follicles from a donor (another person than yourself) transplanted to the patient. I’ve looked on the internet and did a search for “immunoprivileged follicle” and found dozens of articles that suggest that the follicle of the hair seems to fall in the category.

They’d even claim that it is also trans-gender: www.nature.com/nature/journal/v402/n6757/full/402033a0.html
and the Journal of Investigative Dermatology Symposium: www.nature.com/jidsp/journal/v8/n2/full/5640115a.html

Does this mean that it is possible,after all, to obtain hair follicles from a donor? Thanks!

It may be possible, but for all practicality, not probable. Even with the best case scenario, where would you get the donor hair? Could this give a new meaning to selling your hair for money?

Generally hair transplantation from one person to another carries the same risk as organ (liver, heart, kidney) transplants. There is a risk of rejection and failure and life long anti-rejection medication. You may accept the risk of rejection when faced with threatening situations such as heart/ liver/ kidney failure, but most people spending thousands of dollars for a cosmetic (hair transplant) procedure may not accept the failure risk. One might think that hair from a newborn baby might be immunoprivileged (it seems to work for a heart transplant), but again, who would endorse such a donor?

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June 11, 2007

Using Minoxidil On Newly Transplanted Hair? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hello-

What is your recommendation regarding the use of Minoxidil post-op on the newly transplanted hair?

Does Minoxidil really do anything to speed the growth of the new transplanted hair?

It seems like half of the guys use this and half do not.

Thank you.

You can use minoxidil after a hair transplant surgery, but there is no conclusive proof that it will speed the growth of the newly transplanted hair. In the end, if your hair transplant was a success your hair will grow with or without minoxidil.

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June 8, 2007

What Do Fewer Grafts Look Like If You Can’t Afford More? (with Photos) – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I am what you call a Class 7 pattern with black hair. I am 55 years old and I dye my hair black. I know that if I came to see you, you would want to do thousands of grafts, but I am a bus driver and just would not be able to afford a large transplant. I might save up enough for a second surgery, but I would want to enjoy the hair while I am still young. I just got a divorce and want to start dating so my bald head really bothers me.

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I am going to show you a Class 7 patient who is about your age with just about the same problem you had. Although I would have recommended 3,000 grafts because of the large balding area, I gave this man 1677 grafts instead. Here are photos of his before and after (1 year) results. Click to enlarge.

He has a frame for his face and uses a ‘comb-back’ to cover the area which was not transplanted. After a year, it almost covers the entire bald area. Many doctors are reluctant to perform smaller sessions on people like you, but with a good artistic feel, the doctor should and can produce an acceptable result in one session (in most circumstances) with a thin look (as if he is losing his hair). It is important for prospective patients to be aware of these results. They can help by not dying the hair black and keeping it either salt and pepper or white, or even go sandy blonde, as it will always look fuller.

Please also note the scar on this man. We used a trichophytic closure of his wound with exceptional results, but as I have said before, the wounds are a reflection of not just the surgeon’s skills and the techniques used, but also the healing ability of the patient. Scar photo below. Click to enlarge.

June 8, 2007

I Want a Hair Transplant, But I Don’t Want a Noticeable Scar Around My Head – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

How many years are we from a transplant without a noticeable scar (Donor Scar) around someone’s head? Im sure that a lot more people (especially people with shave fades or short hair) would get a transplant if there wasnt a large ugly permanant scar around their head.

The answer is NOW!

We have a follicular unit extraction (FUE) technique called the FOX Procedure that has been pioneered by me in the early 2000s, and was presented at the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS) conference in 2002. In fact, a company in San Jose is currently working on a robotic system to accomplish this task. This technology was invented and patented by Dr. Pak and I back in 1998.

The FOX/FUE technique leaves virtually undetectable scars. It is important to understand that all surgical cuts will create a scar but the FOX/FUE technique involves extracting single hair follicles, one at a time, leaving a scar the size of a small dot. Since these dots are random and small, you would not notice the scar even if you buzz cut your hair. In other words, there will be no linear scar. If you look at this earlier posting, you will see a patient who had no detectable scar even with a shaved head.

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June 7, 2007

Hair Length Before Hair Transplant – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I am 22 and am scheduled for a hair transplant surgery on July 9th this year for the frontal cortex, coming up soon obviously. My question is , How long should the donor area be in length?? I normally cut my hair short to hide the thinning, but if its crucial that my hair be a certain length, i need to know if i should get a trim instead of a full blown cutting as normal if my surgery is scheduled 5-6 weeks away from now.

This is a question that your transplant doctor should answer. Generally, I tell my patients to keep it as long as possible. Length will hide the surgical donor site best.

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June 7, 2007

Hair Transplant Done By the Doctor or the Technicians? – Balding Blog

Hi Dr. Rassman, I had hair transplant procedures last week. My doctor who puncture holes first and then more than six different workers to place grafts for me. I wonder who control the hair direction. The doctor or workers ????

Ballet The direction is controlled by the person who puts in the ‘holes’. The grafts, once placed in the recipient site, will follow the direction of the hole. It seems simple enough, but the recipient sites must be placed at a horizon angle that is correct and in a direction pointing forward between the ‘parts’. See Transplanting Hair in the Correct Direction for more.

The modern hair transplant is a very labor intensive process and a team must do the work in order to get it done in a reasonable timeframe. The technicians/nurses who place the grafts must have years of experience. If the grafts are not handled gently, if they are left open to air for more than a few seconds, they may die… so transplanting the grafts may not produce growth if the grafts dried out before they were put into the recipient sites. There are many subtle nuances in the technical side of this process and when there are all done with precision, it is like a ‘ballet’ beautiful to watch.

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June 7, 2007

I Have an Uneven Hairline, Inherited from My Mother’s Side of the Family – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I was hoping for some advise on a matter that has been bothering me for the past few years. My hairline started to “recede” at 21, and stopped at 24. According to my dermatologist there is no further recession or miniaturization and seeing that the only bald person in my family is my paternal great grandfather, and his hair loss was at the crown only – I’m pretty hopeful that the gene won’t affect me. The problem is, that I seem to have inherited the uneven hairline from my mother’s side. Every male in her family has one side slightly higher than the other. My mirror twin in fact also has the same problem, but on the opposite side. The question is, whether it would be worthwhile transplanting hair into the right hand side of my hairline to even it out, considering I am only 26.

Thanks in advance: Guy who is tired of hiding behind a fringe.

This is a classic cosmetic surgery challenge. Yes, you can fix it and if you never bald, you will be finished with it after a hair transplant.

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