Gap in Moustache – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

i used to pluck my moustache when i sit to watch tv and now there is a big gap left. Will it grow back or do i have do something else. Please advise and mail me.

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It sounds like you have developed traction alopecia from the plucking of your moustache hair. People who pluck out the hair have a type of OCD (Obsessive Compusive Disorder) with a condition we call trichotelomania. Hair transplants work well for solving the ‘gap’ you are referring to, assuming that you have stopped plucking out your hair. Many people do grow out of the plucking problem as they get older.

Transplanting Pubic Hair to Head – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

So since there are already tests that determine the pubic hair a possibility for transplantation to the scalp, are there any doctors currently performing this procedure now? If so, how much would it roughly cost?

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I remember a picture and article in the parody tabloid Weekly World News from many years ago, of a person with a pubic hair to head transplant. The pictures looked exactly as described — like curly pubic hair transplanted onto a head. Obviously, being parody, we can’t take this at face value, but it serves as an example. If your head hair is like your pubic hair, then this may work fine for you, but I would want to know why you want to use your pubic hair for the donor supply rather than using your other head hair? Personally, I would not want my transplants to look like pubic hair if the other hair was different in character. It would be like transplanting hair from a french poodle to a bulldog. To answer your question, I can’t recommend anyone that may be doing this procedure.

Where Are the Celebrity Transplant Photos? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I want to see a one time result, best if you can show it in a celebrity who had a hair transplants. Come on Dr. Rassman, if you really have celebrity patients, why won’t you share them with us?

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Privacy is critical to my business and to the entire issue of medical ethics. All patients are entitled to their privacy. Also, California law states that a doctor can lose his license if he breaches the confidentiality of his patient’s identify or shows his/her pictures without consent. Now with that said, CBS sports reporter and XTRA Sports Radio host Steve Hartman does come to mind. Steve had one surgery of 1,895 grafts with us almost 12 months ago. As he has allowed the use of his identity and his pictures, here are the before and after photos. The photo on the left was taken just minutes after his procedure was completed, and the photo on the right was taken 11 months after. Click each image below to see the full size photo.



The entire growth cycle from start to finish are shown in the Steve Hartman Feature.

Hair Loss InformationFace, Beard Hair, and Sideburn Transplants – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi, I am 50 years old. I am unable to grow sideburns. I am sure it is inherited because I can grow a great mustache and facial hair on my chin, and from there, down my neck, but no sideburns which I have always wished I could. So, I see you folks may be able to help me. I have the usual questions, cost, and will the results look natural? Thanks!

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Unless you have a disease like alopecia areata, you should be able to get hair transplants to place into the face and chin to create a beard, mustache, or sideburns. We do these kind of procedures all of the time and they look completely natural. The use of a fine needle to create the sites in the facial beard area is important to minimize any puckering of the skin. Most doctors charge by the graft, but some charge a flat fee. Your costs can be estimated by sending me photos to the email address on my Contact page. To help get an understanding of where you want the transplants, I would suggest marking up your face, beard area, and chin with a China Marker, which will easily wash off. You can get a China Marker from a local stationary store.

Here are some examples of sideburn transplants we have done at NHI:

Celebrity Hair Transplants – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Because this site was mentioned in the “Matthew McConaughey’s Miracle Hair” article in New York Magazine this week (see my blog entry from yesterday for details), I have been inundated with questions about celebrities and their hair transplants. One notable magazine asked for us to give access to some famous celebrities to talk about hair loss and the treatment for hair loss, like transplants.

It obviously would be improper for us to respond with names of celebrities who may or may not have had hair transplants. The point that I want to make here is that today’s modern hair transplant can be completely undetectable. Please take a look at Patient NU for a wonderful, closely cropped hairline. His hairline was lowered about 2 inches, including restoring the widow’s peak and temples. After you look at this patient’s photos, I challenge you to detect the difference between a completed hair transplant and the hair on a non-balding person.

Here’s the large “after” photos of Patient NU. Click these thumbnails to view the full-size images. To compare these to the “before” photos, please visit Patient NU’s profile. Also, this patient had temple transplants many years ago, and his results are available here and here.




There are many funny stories about celebrities and their not-so-unique sensitivity to their hair loss. For most men, there is some loss of maleness, like a lion without his mane. Men feel that if they lose hair that they will lose their sex appeal. There is some truth about that statement. The stars who are our sex idols (like Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, George Clooney, and Mel Gibson) all have normal non-transplanted heads of hair, as far as I know. The patient in the pictures above wanted a pointed hairline like actor Andy Garcia. If Andy Garcia cut his hair short, this is most likely what it would look like. You would be completely surprised with the names of some of the men who I did transplants on, from heads of state, to movie stars who absolutely never, ever were detected as having had a hair transplant. The good news is that today’s hair transplants, done in the right hands, are completely undetectable, even by their hair dressers.

I treat all of my patients as celebrities; they are entitled to their privacy and to the best surgical techniques available. I am not just the hair transplant surgeon who defined the modern techniques of hair transplants, but I have also been a patient, and know how important our public image is to our personal well being.

Hair Loss InformationBody Hair Transplant Case Studies? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I know you recently stated that you were reviewing the progress on transplants using body hair. Have you done any case studies? Do you believe this will be a viable alternative to those prone to scarring with donor hair taken traditionally from the scalp. Since many like me have a chest full of hair with, I’m assuming limited donor hair due to previous surgeries.

I have had three previous surgeries, none within the last six or seven years. My last surgery having been performed by Dr. Bernstein. I have had considerable hairloss since my last surgery. I am thinning to about a 5A. I have two linear keloid scars in the back of my scalp. Not to mention some cobblestoning in the front of the hairline, that is very difficult to hide with the increased balding. I would really like to have surgery soon, but I am worried about further scarring, and receiving transplants producing little or no real hair growth for my money and time. By the way, I am African American.

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I would suggest that you consider another visit with Dr. Bernstein. With that said, body hair transplants are still unproven and are experimental procedures only, at this time. In African Americans, the risk of keloid scarring is higher than in Caucasians, and you have a higher risk of keloid scarring on the body than on the scalp. In addition, the recipient site will almost certainly develop white scars. In an African American, these scars may become very noticable, far more than in Caucasions. Read the past blog entries for my previous posts about body hair transplantation here, here, and here.

Hair Loss InformationHair Transplants for the Short Hair Look – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hello Doc,
I am 48, an NW4 and pretty stable. I don’t think I’ve lost much (or maybe any) hair in the last 5 years. I am interested in a “minimalist approach” to hair restoration. I have grudgingly accepted this level of baldness — no hats, no pieces etc. I keep it buzzed down very short, to at least a #2 on the clippers. I am not, at my age, looking for a young man’s hairline or density. I am not even interested in reconstructing a hairline, per se. All I would like is just an even sprinkling (or “dusting” — choose your own word) of grafts from front to back to give me a hint of stubble when I buzz it down, cut *some* of the shine in the places that are totally slick, etc. I am not trying to give the appearance that I have a normal head of hair, that’s long gone … yes, I know my scalp will still be visible….no, I am not trying to conceal my balding … everybody already knows that I have lost hair! All I want is a random, sprinkled “suggestion” of stubble from front to back in the bare areas, if possible using FUT’s, which I will then buzz down and keep very short. When I went to one of the high-volume hair mills a few years ago and suggested this, they were very discouraging: “No, you need our Super Ultra Mega Session where we will cram 6K grafts in the front half inch to give you the hairline of a 16 yr old.” Well, that’s not what I’m interested in and, to be frank, if that’s all the industry can offer me, then I’ll stick with what I’ve got. So, Doc, what do you think off the above “Minimalist Approach?” Is this something you’ve ever done before and/or would consider now?

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What you are asking for is not unreasonable. The best way to get this would be Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE), where single small, naturally occuring follicular units are extracted one-by-one directly from the donor area with a tiny punch. This leaves minimal scars and can support a super short hair cut. Send pictures and I will get back to you, privately if you prefer.

For information and photos of the FUE technique, please see:

First Steps to Hair Transplantation – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I would like more information on hair transplantation. I am 20 years old and am already haveing a noticable amount of hair loss and receeding hair line. I want to soon rid this problem for good. Hope you can help.

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When a young man starts to lose hair, I perform a complete medical evaluation of the hair and scalp, trying to predict the final hair loss pattern. Sometimes predicting the pattern is not possible until you reach your mid-20s. Good medical treatments, such as Propecia, are important in the management of hair loss. The drug Propecia can slow down the hair loss, and even reversal may occur. Hair transplants in a 20 year old are rarely done. Get a good doctor to manage the problem and diagnose where you are going before you jump into the hair transplant process.

Different Races, Different Surgical Hair Loss Treatments – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Do you treat the different races differently when they bald?

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With non-surgical treatment, all races are treated similarly. Each patient who chooses to have surgery requires different treatments based on skin thickness, hair color, hair characteristics and density, and these do vary between the races. For example, the highest hair densities appear in Caucasians, while the lowest densities are in Africans. But because Africans have less color/contrast and better hair character, often that will offset the lower hair counts found. Best to read my book, which talks about this subject (and lots more), which can be found here. The text of the book is downloadable in PDF format, or you can request a free copy of the book by mail — both options are available on that link.

Hair Loss, Lasers, Drugs and Transplants – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I am undergoing a hair loss treatment. This treatment involves lasers, basically a helmet that shines light on my head to deter DHT. I am somewhat skeptical, but it was the only option that was within my price range at the moment. I am 20 years old; my hair loss is not substantial. I am thinning on the top of my head and the most severe areas are in my hairline and the back of my head. I took this treatment to prevent my hair from thinning anymore. The thinning is not very obvious but I can tell it is still progressing. I wanted to know if transplanting hair from my own head would leave an area in the back of my head that hair will not grow on anymore. I also wanted to know if there are ways of getting transplants from other donors. Lastly, I want to know how much these treatments would cost and how effective the treatment I’m receiving is.

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There is anecdotal evidence in Europe that hair lasers (Low Level Light Therapy / LLLT) increases hair growth. I’ve written about LLLT previously, here. Thinning of the hair in young men often starts off insidiously and gets slowly worse. At the beginning, you might actually lose 50% or more of your hair before you notice it. If you are a platinum blonde, you could lose 85% of your hair before it becomes noticable. The key is to make the diagnosis early and get on the only good, FDA approved DHT blocker that is out there: Propecia. This drug is the best and possibly the only real hope at this point to slow down, stop or reverse the hair loss. In young men, I have seen some wonderful reversals of hair loss. Transplants in a 20 year old without noticable hair loss is NOT something you should pursue at this time. When the donor area is harvested for hair transplants (the back of the head) it does not produce a bald area as you suggested in your question.

Laser treatments can be obtained from those who sell those services. We have a laser in our Los Angeles office, but do not sell the service at this time. I am told that the company that provides the service charges about $3000/year for treatment. Propecia costs range from $55/month to as high as $120/month depending upon the pharmacy you purchase it from. We sell it in our office at $53/month (very close to our cost). Transplants are sold by the graft. These surgical procedure generally cost a few thousand dollars per surgery, but they do last your lifetime. The more transplanted grafts you buy, the higher the fee.