Category: Hair Transplantation

Posted on

Should I Try Medications Before Considering a Transplant? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Just turned 40 and starting to bald on top back “crown” of head, was using minoxidil 5% (~1yr), just started on Propecia (day 2) (from what I read here, I guess OK to use both). Should I try all these remedies first before considering a Hair Transplant, do hair transplant results look more natural and successful if started early? Where are you located (offices), would I have to travel from Houston to there for a consultation?

If you just starting to lose the hair in the crown (meaning that it is now noticeable), there is a good chance that Propecia will reverse some or all of it. Recent hair loss (2 years or less) is most susceptible to reversal. I would suggest not stopping the Minoxidil, as your hair is almost certainly dependent upon it. Wait 8 months and if there is not enough reversal, then a hair transplant may have great value.

Our offices are both in San Jose and Los Angeles, California. If you come from out of town and have a procedure, we will subsidize your costs of travel and put you up in a hotel for the night of surgery.

Posted on

Hair Loss InformationHigh Forehead and the Rule of Thirds – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I had a question concerning hair transplant. I am 20 and do not have an issue with balding yet, but I do have a larger forhead than I would like. Is there a way for me to be able to get my forhead to the 1/3 proportion of my face? I’ve always dreamed of not having a high forhead….i hate when people mention it…they say I have Dawson’s forhead from Dawson’s creek. I was planning on visiting your area. Is there a way you can help me while also making it look natural?

thanks

Block Quote

DavidThe rule of thirds (1/3rd chin to nose, 1/3rd nose to gully between the eyes and 1/3rd the gully between the eyes to the hairline) does not apply to very many people. Although Michaelangelo made David according to the rule of thirds, I rarely have seen any man have those proportions. I measure these elements in every patient coming through my office so I am more than a casual authority on this matter. The normal proportion is equal distance of chin to nose tip and gully between the eyes to hairline. This is generally the normal male mature hairline, which is higher than the child hairline in most people (by 2/3rds inch). With that said, high hairlines which do not show this proportion can be treated and the hairlines can be lowered. What always worried me is that in young men like you who may have genetic balding (a 50% risk in most men), such a surgery may accelerate the genetic hair loss.

As you suggested, visit me at my office and let’s bond. Best way to deal with this problem is to command it and anticipate the future on a worst case scenario.

Posted on

Hair Loss InformationHaving a Second Hair Transplant – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi, I have good hair on the side and back and I think I would be a good candidate for the transplant. I also still have fine hair on the top of my head still. I wanted to know how thick will it grow out? How come you never see people on the hair websites that have really long hair? Does it not grow that long? Will the scar show when I go swimming after my hair gets wet? Does Biotin Vitamins work for thinning hair, does it grow hair? Is it possible to hair a second hair transplant if the remaining hair falls out on top? Do they cut the donor from the same area? Will hair grow out of the scar? How far off is hair cloning?

thanks

Block Quote

  1. We have many patients who grow their hair long — I wouldn’t say they are the majority, but there is certainly quite a few. As to why they aren’t shown on any websites, I guess because those patients with long hair didn’t sign photo releases to appear on the sites. I really wouldn’t know. But what I do know is that the transplanted hair grows just like the rest of your scalp hair.
  2. The scar should not show after swimming, but I can’t make any guarantees as the results of each patient could be different.
  3. Biotin vitamins do not work to make hair thicker or reverse the effects of thinning from genetic hair loss. Scars should not be a problem, but there is a 5% risk of some scarring in a single first session (scars greater than 3mm), slightly higher risk in subsequent sessions. Transplanted hair from the first transplant does not fall out in the second transplant, in fact, it is hidden well by the first one. Any second session is taken from the same place as the first donor strip is taken from, keeping the wounds in the same place. This best controls scarring risks. Scars can be created so that hair grows out of the scar (see trichophytic closure).
  4. Hair cloning may not appear on the scene in my working lifetime (10+ years). See the Hair Cloning category.

Posted on

Hair Loss InformationBetter Hair, New Problem (with Photos) – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

This young man had two hair transplant procedures by yours truly (the first one was just over two years ago, the 2nd was 8 months later) to fill in his hairline and make it thicker. Now he keeps his hair short, but has a new problem. The hair in the frontal 2 inches is much thicker than the hair behind it. He does understand that cutting his hair short made this a problem that he did not have when his hair was longer, but now he wants more fullness behind the frontal 2 inches. It is a matter of supply and demand. We are now discussing his Master Plan on what to do and when to do it.

Update 6/29/2006 – I added some photos that got left out yesterday:

The photos below are before (the photo on the right is from immediately post-procedure, so you can see where the grafts were placed).




The photos below are after two procedures totalling 5,795 grafts. Click the photos to enlarge.



Posted on

Hair Loss InformationHair Transplant Failure? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Dear Doctor Rassman,

I live in Turkey.I had a hair transplant about six months a go. 2900-3000 grafts were planted on my head (mostly on middle and vertex area, some in the front). The planted hair on the front and middle area of my head has grown not so badly,and now (after six months) the front and middle areas appearance is not bad. But, my vertex area is still empty. The interesting fact is that the planted hair in the vertex area had been seen to grow satisfactorily until the fifth month after transplantation. But, between the fifth and sixth months most of the planted hair on the vertex area has fallen out. Is it normal that after six months the planted hair has fallen out? My doctor could not make me a satisfactory explanation and advised to wait more. I am depressed.

Sincerely yours

Block Quote

Once the hair transplants grow, they should not fall out. Are you sure that they were growing at some point and not just stubble from the original procedure?

The vertex of the head is a big area and many times the amount of hair put into the vertex is dwarfed by the size of the area. Transplants placed into the front and top will layer, such that coverage is easier to achieve. The vertex (crown) has a change in hair direction so layering is not easily accomplished. Be sure that what you are looking at is now just the effects of the swirl and the large area, but try to have the actual hairs counted.

As you are only 6 months out of the surgery, I would wait another 3 months before reacting too much to it.

Posted on

Asian Hair Transplant Patient (with Photos) – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I’ve been asked via email to post photos of an Asian patient, so by request, here’s a recent patient who had two surgeries with NHI. The photos below show the “before” view and two “after” views — one with his preferred spiked hair style and the other with his hair pulled back. Please note that we only put the hair in, the patient decides the way he wants to style the hair. Personally, I like his hair combed back, but then again it is his hair, not mine.

The photo on the left is before, the middle and right photos are after two procedures totalling 3,388 grafts. Click the photos to enlarge.




Posted on

Can I Sweat After A Hair Transplant? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hello Doc,
This is a wonderful service that you provide here. I applaud your commitment and dedication. I am scheduled for my first HT and am nervous after reading some web postings on a site that indicates HT’s are not the answer. Pretty scary stuff…See: home1.gte.net/dschrode/newtransplant-tales.htm

Anyway, I live in the Dominican Republic and have decided to work with Dr. Alba Reyes. Currently I am in the states and wanted to ask you a couple of questions.

Does the recipient area always have to be shaved?
Will Avodart provide the same protection as proscar for shock prevention?
How long until I can sweat as I live in a warm enviroment and go to the beach often (I wear a hat)?

Thank you again and I look forward to your reply.

Block Quote

Reading the horror stories are part of good research. They are the exception to the general work being done now, though. A good doctor is your assurance that these terrible things will not happen to you, but unfortunately there are still some of those doctors out there today. As I like to tell my patients, do your research! Much of this research is covered in this site in many ways (see The Truth About Cheap Hair Transplants).

To answer your questions —

  1. The recipient area where the strip is harvested does need to be shaved. Once the strip is harvested, the longer hair area above and below are brought together so that no shaved area should be seen.
  2. Avodart (dutasteride) will provide the same protection from shock loss as Propecia/Proscar (finasteride).
  3. You can sweat after the first few days and even run a marathon after 5 days if you have good post operative care and washing.

Posted on

Hair Loss InformationWhy Am I Experiencing Hair Loss Months After Surgery? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi
I’m 18 year old male. I had surgery about 4 months ago. 2 months after I noticed my long hair has been falling out in clumps of 15-20 hairs in one pull or when I brushed it. It has been going on now for 2 months and my hair got very thin very fast. I have noticed a bunch of new tiny hairs growing in front of my hair line but after reaching 1 cm in lenght they had stopped growing and some of them are falling out as well.

I would be greatful to hear your answer.

Block Quote

Am I to assume that your surgery 4 months ago was not a hair transplant? Hair transplantation at 18 years old is very unusual and in most situations, not appropriate. Hair transplants can accelerate hair loss in an 18 year old and that is one reason this is rarely done. If you have genetic balding and are not on the drug Propecia, I would suspect that you have an extremely high chance of acceleration of your hair loss. If your miniaturiation is high, then that makes hair loss in an 18 year old almost a sure bet. The amount of hair loss and the distribution of the hair loss will reflect your genetic pattern. This sounds like shock hair loss with the acceleration of your patterned balding and may be permanent.

If you are not on Propecia, it may not be too late to start it and try to hold on to what you still have. I would like to know who did your hair transplant (if that was the surgery you meant)?

Posted on

Hair Transplant, 10 Days After (with Photos) – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I am constantly asked how long it will take for a typical patient to be able to go back to work. This patient is 10 days post-surgery and went back to work in 4 days. He had 1,677 grafts transplanted and is a class 3A on the Norwood scale. He has the advantage of a blonde hair so that the beard of transplanted hair is also blonde. There is a small beard if you look carefully. The skin of the transplant is still slightly swollen with a fine pink hue (he is sandy blonde with white skin, known for showing a pink hue) and this will subside over the next week or so. The hair he has presently covers these changes so that it had not been seen in either his work or in any social setting. Click photos to enlarge.




Posted on

I Lose Hair Transplant Grafts in My Sleep – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I had a hair transplant last night and this morning I found grafts on my finger nails along with blood clots. My transplant surgeon told me not to worry about them after I said that there were about a dozen grafts that I could count. He said that he did not have to see me. What would you do for me in this situation?

Block Quote

ReclinerI had a patient who picked his head in his sleep, just like you seemed to do. Knowing this, I had his wife make him wear ski gloves in his sleep the rest of that week. I did view the patient, but as the grafts had been already out of his body for hours, there was no point to put them back as they would not have grown. The grafts on this patient came from the crown, where he had 1500 grafts placed by me. He had about 10 grafts lost and they did not appear to be significant, considering the large number that we placed there.

I had another patient leave the office after the surgery and from the edge of the limo, he scraped the scalp removing about 150 grafts in the car’s gutter. We quickly retrieved them and washed the grafts with saline and put them right back into his head. Fortunately, the time out of the body and into the saline was only a minute or two. The grafts grew, but I think that we all had anxiety over this one.

I do not use bandages to cover the recipient site and I tell my patients the importance of keeping their hands off of the head and recipient area. I generally like a person to use a recliner chair for the first and second night, to keep the head elevated and make it more difficult to scratch the recipient area when they sleep. I have not had a problem like the ones I spoke about for over 10 years.