Category: Hair Transplantation

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Hair Loss InformationLegitimacy of Body Hair Transplantation? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hey Dr Rassman, I noticed that Dr. Umar was considered for recommendation on the Hair Transplant Network. The site also featured patient examples of his FUE procedures which combined body hair harvested from numerous locations and scalp hair. The results look pretty impressive.

Has your stance changed at all in regards to the legitimacy of body hair in transplantation?

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There are obviously differences of opinion here, but to be endorsed by a website that is supported by and paid for by the physician (the doctors pay a monthly fee to be on that site) does not make it a new standard.

Plain and simple — today, body hair transplantation (BHT) is not a Gold Standard in treatment for hair loss. Other doctors still have a right (as licensed physicians) to offer this. I do not believe in using body hair transplants for most cases, because I have seen many cases where after it is transplanted, the body hair still looks like body hair sitting on the scalp. The shaft thickness of body hair is thinner than scalp hair in most people, so on a value comparison between scalp and body hair, you are miles ahead with scalp hair transplants. BHT is best used when you are out of donor hair and the body hair can be placed as a fill-in to traditional transplanted areas.

Remember, the body hair has long telogen cycles and depending on which body part, the telogen cycle is often longer than the anagen cycle. That means the hair will not grow in these telogen cycles. Also, body hair does not usually grow long like scalp hair.

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Hair Loss InformationIf a Transplant Was Successful, Could Some Grafts Be Rejected Years Later? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Dr Rassman

Assume one has a successful transplant. Is it possible for some of the yielded grafts to die or be rejected some time (even years) after the operation? I am not talking about hair loss, nor about grafts that are genetically doomed. I am talking about healthy grafts, from a safe zone, that are transplanted and bloom normally but after some time die. If it is possible what would the chances be and why would it happen?

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If the transplanted hair grafts have successfully taken and have grown hair, they should last as long as the hairs from the donor area. Over many years some donor hairs may eventually fall out and die (senile alopecia) or experience a temporary hair loss (telogen effluvium/ stress related hair loss). If something like that would occur, then the transplanted hair will experience this same fate.

With respect to graft rejection, it is highly unlikely to happen since the transplanted hairs are your own (autologous graft). Your body will not reject the material from your own body in normal circumstances. Over the past 22 years, I have seen a few patients that reported loss of donor hair at about 5 years post transplant. I have no explanation for this, but the incidence is far less than 1% in my estimate.

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Hair Loss InformationTaking Aspirin Before a Hair Transplant? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi,
I am having a hair transplant surgery by the FUE method and I am aware that I should not take aspirin 7 days prior to my transplant, but I completely forgot the 7 day rule and by the time my surgery comes up it will be only 5 days since stopping my baby (low dose) aspirin use. Is this going to affect the outcome of my surgery or during surgery due to bleeding? Is 5 days time for stopping my aspirin use enough time to have my surgery without worrying about it? I am a little concerned and blame myself for not stopping it a little sooner.

Please let me know if OK. Thank you kindly.

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Excessive bleeding is always a risk in surgery when the patient is on a medication that can cause major bleeding (such as aspirin). Your surgeon should be made aware and you should discuss your risks with him/her.

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Hair Loss InformationYou Say Norwood 2 is Just a Mature Hairline, But Can It Be Treated Surgically? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi Docs, thanks for the great site, it really helped me figure out my options. I finally got a check on what I thought was a receding hairline after seeing my brothers lose their hair and after a couple of checks with a hair specialist in the UK I was told I have a matured hairline but no apparent signs of real balding, recession or minituarisation. I was told that there was no apparent need for me to use Propecia or Minoxidil. I am aged 32 now and my hairline looked to have matured by around 21 and hasn’t moved noticeably since then.

My question is that you tend to mention on this blog that a Norwood 2 is approximately a mature hairline and you don’t consider this male pattern balding from a surgical standpoint – but on your New Hair Institute site you show Norwood Class II patients and count that as hairloss that could be treated surgically? Would this be strictly for a cosmetic adjustment of the hairline? (I realise it’s all cosmetic surgery but as in there’s no balding to cover, just a hairline change). Although I’m happy with my hair more or less, I’d still prefer a slightly straighter (closer to juvenile) hairline as I have quite a high, thin forehead and I’d be interested in surgery simply as a cosmetic adjustment.

Thanks for any clarification.

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Norwood 2Hair loss is not a medical illness. Hair transplant surgery is considered cosmetic surgery. If you want to enhance your appearance, it is your choice. So for those with a Norwood class 2 or a mature hairline which is more like an early Class 3 pattern, we can certainly treat it.

The point I generally make in my medical practice and here on BaldingBlog is to have open communication between the patient and doctor. We give our opinions on what may be too low of a hairline and how it may not be age appropriate, but in the end each and every patient has a right to choose their own “look” and hairline.

There is nothing wrong with, as you put it, a cosmetic adjustment.

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Great Hairline, Thin Top and Crown, Low on Donor Hair (with Photos) – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

This patient had 4608 grafts. As you can see from his photos below, the frontal area is great, but the top and crown are lightly covered. He lost much of the original hair in the top and crown from the balding process and as the transplant process was going on over a 10 year period in three sessions.

I am posting these photos to show that frontal hair can go a long way to making a balding man look fuller. We will still do one more surgery on him to fill in areas that need more density and then offer him Scalp Micropigmentation (SMP) to finish the creation of the fullness he wants.

Click the photos to enlarge:

 

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Hair Loss InformationI Don’t Know If My Doctor Knew How to Transplant African Hair Type – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I am a 30 year old African American male. I had hair transplant surgery a year ago. Mainly to fix my hair line fixed. It’s been a year and barely any improvement, there’s barely any new hair. I don’t if the doctor knew how to do an african american hair. Should i have it done again by another doctor? what should i do? thank you!

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African hair requires considerable experience and few doctors have mastered the process. We have had no problem with this type of transplant of African-American hairs that are kinky.

After a year, the results from your transplant should be noticeable by now. I hope you didn’t have a transplant failure, but an exam would be able to tell that. As you are in Los Angeles, please consider making a free appointment with me in my LA office.

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Hair Loss InformationHaving SMP and Hair Transplants Done as a Combo? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Thanks for the amazing blog, doctor(s). I believe it literally saves people’s lives.

You’ve briefly mentioned previously that some people haven chosen to get FUT transplants, buzz their hair short, and get SMP, but I was wondering, why don’t more men who have gotten transplants but suffer from the “see through” look get SMP to help combat this issue? Does this SMP+HT combo idea work, aesthetically?

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Look at our SMP site and you will see that this technique is a great adjunct to a hair transplant, properly timed of course. We are doing more and more of these every day.

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Hair Loss InformationBig Problem – Unfinished Hair Transplant Work – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

When it comes to hair transplants, some people don’t always finish what they start — perhaps due to money issues or just not wanting to go that route ever again because of disappointment in the results, failures of the surgery, or severe pain with the surgery. The pain and costs of more surgeries is a real turn-off for many of these people, but times have changed. Surgery is rarely painful, prices have come down, the results are not detectable as being any different from your natural hair, and alternatives are available… so exploring the sum of today’s options may be worthwhile.

Patients with an unfinished hair transplant hasn’t really been a problem in our practice, because we get personal with all of our patients and get to understand their goals, never promising them a rose garden, but setting up realistic expectations with regards to how many surgeries they will need to hit their targeted goals. In the old days (1980s) one rarely saw a finished hair transplant patient and few, if any, looked normal. I ran a large hair transplant practice in 1989-90 (before founding the New Hair Institute) and I was amazed that I never really saw a finished job while I worked there. Today, that is not the case as many completed hair transplants are undetectable.

If you are one of those individuals who did not finish their hair transplant work to meet their expectations and still look like an unfinished piece of poorly done art, I would suggest that you look at the Scalp Micropigmentation (SMP) process as a surgical alternative for thickening. This could possibly be a way of thickening up the appearance of your hair transplant without having another hair transplant. SMP works to camouflage even some of the old type of plugs when done properly.

For many people, SMP can contribute to completing the process, but a consultation with us is critical to defining your needs and the ability to achieve your objectives at a reasonable cost.

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Even More Hair Transplant Failures Keep Showing Up – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Two more hair transplant failures showed up in our office last week from other doctors — one was an FUE technique and one was a strip harvest. I’ve written about the topic of surgical failures a few times already, and the last thing I want to do is scare people off the idea of having a hair transplant completely, but I want to keep our readers informed about what they must learn about the doctor or clinic that they’re considering for their hair transplant procedure.

When I talk about these failures, I mean that there is a large percentage of the transplanted grafts that didn’t grow. You have a finite amount of donor hair, so when there are grafts that are damaged or killed because of poor techniques in surgery, you’re losing your valuable donor hair (and you’re getting financially ripped off). So before you choose a doctor, try to research the doctor.

Does the doctor have a high failure rate? And how would you even go about finding out?

  1. Go to the medical board of your state and look up the doctor. Complaints are filed and published by the medical boards.
  2. Check out the Better Business Bureau, where people who are not satisfied with a service will voice their concerns.
  3. Ask your doctor about their malpractice record. How many cases have they had in the past 10 years? You can verify their answers by looking them up in the courts of your area.

The patients who present with these failures usually did little comparative shopping or investigative work. They may have based their decision on the cheapest price they could find or just whoever is the closest practice in their area, but what surprises me the most is that many patients didn’t get more than one opinion before having surgery. It doesn’t hurt to get a second opinion, and it’s worth noting that the New Hair Institute does offer travel programs for those individual from out of the area. Half of our practice reflects people who fly in, so just getting surgery from the closest place to your home shouldn’t be an excuse.

When you shop, you can get the benefits of our long experience by reading our featured post — Selecting a Hair Transplant Doctor.

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If I’m Too Young for a Hair Transplant, Can I Just Have a Forehead Reduction Now? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi,

I have done a lot of research in relation to hair transplants and forehead reduction as I have been experiencing hair loss over the last few years and I also have a large forehead. As I am only 20 years old I know it’s not recommended to have a hair transplant as there may not be enough donor hair to be transplanted to keep up with further hair loss I may experience over time.

Would it be possible to have forehead reduction surgery to lower my hairline and reduce the size of my forehead and also have a hair transplant to replace hair that I have already lost? I have dark red, wavy/straight hair and my hair is thick at the back where the donor area would be (not sure if this would make a difference).

I’m currently at the Norwood II stage and I am already extremely self conscious about my hairloss and large forehead and it has effected my confidence. I’ve considered using Propecia and Rogaine but I’m terrified in case I experience excessive shedding or erection problems from Propecia as I have read a lot of reviews from people who experienced these side effects.

I am getting desperate now so any advice you could give me would be much appreciated.

Thanks

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Great question. I assume you are a male. This makes a difference, as females with this problem can safely have a hairline lowering procedure, as they will not lose the hair above that was moved down. A male with active hair loss will most likely lose the lower hairline and be no better off (possibly worse off) after a hairline lowering procedure.

At 20 years old with no clear examination or diagnosis of male pattern baldness, a forehead reduction may make things worse if you progress to a Norwood 6 (for example). You need a Master Plan and a clear diagnosis. You are young, so let’s start it right, come pay us a visit at the New Hair Institute to have the degree of your hair loss diagnosed.