Category: Other Surgical Procedures

Hey good sir I hope your day and your new year are treating you well. I recently read on your blog that you were in Antartica. Just out of curiosity how was your trip? Would you recommend visiting there? I am just curious because I never hear of anyone going down to Antarctica electively.

Also I had a hair related question. Instead of trying to create completely new hairs from an existing scalp hair, why dont researchers work on manipulating the growth cycles of body hair and other sources of donor hair extraneous from scalp hair? I understand that this hair maybe contextually different but would it not offer the patient some sort of cosmetic value?

My trip to Antarctica was interesting, to say the least. Lots of penguins of all sizes and colors, a few seals and whales, and some very nice scenery. There were long periods at sea, so I sat down with a good set of books on my Kindle and filled the days well.

As for body hair transplantation, some doctors have been doing hair transplants to the scalp using body hair and the results are less than ideal. Leg hair, for example, has a 60% telogen cycle… which means that these hairs stay “sleeping” most of the time. While they are sleeping, they are not visible above the skin. To the point of your question — I don’t know who, if any, research groups are working on changing the hair cycle in body hair.

The following post is by UK-based physician Dr. Bessam Farjo:

Written by: Dr Bessam Farjo United Kingdom

I recently came across a poll on newbeauty.com, which reveals that one in four Americans would consider having surgery if it wasn’t so costly. With this in mind, it’s not surprising that people seek a lower cost option and consequently consider having surgery in a country where it’s cheaper. While the discounted price tag may be very appealing, there are some important things to bear in mind when it comes to having surgery abroad.

The same website outlines some of the dangers associated with medical tourism. It describes how it can be difficult to check if a foreign physician’s credentials are genuine, suggesting that the International Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery is a good place to start. It also flags up that you may not be covered by your travel insurance if something goes wrong in another country. Another issue concerns recovery, which can sometimes take longer than expected after surgery and there can also be a danger of clotting if travelling by plane.

Similar considerations apply to our own field of hair transplant surgery. The website of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery provides a list of members as a reference not necessarily recommending anyone in particular. It is down to the individual patient to do their due diligence whether online or in person.

There are clinics that try to take advantage of potential patients who consider surgery at home too. We’ve seen a growing number of men come to us after opting for surgery via an offer on a discount website such as Groupon or KGB deals. These ‘deals’ are usually limited to 1,000 grafts which is only around 2,000 – 2,500 hairs. To anyone with a significant amount of hair loss this would be nowhere near enough to provide a suitable result.

The small print in these offers often dictates that only one discount is available per person, meaning that anyone requiring further treatment would have to pay the full cost or more likely, above the odds.

There certainly are some serious dangers involved with having surgery both abroad and at home and I would strongly recommend considering these should patients be tempted by low-cost surgery options. As always, I must stress the importance of thorough planning and research when contemplating any type of surgery, make your decisions based on what’s right for you, not on the price it costs.

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Learn more about the author of this article, Dr. Bessam Farjo, on his BaldingBlog profile or at his website.

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Dr. William Rassman’s Comments:

I can speak to having surgery in the United States, Canada or Europe. The issue of recourse comes up. What recourse do you have if the doctor misrepresented himself (or herself)? Or if there is medical malpractice involved in the delivery of the surgery? Or if the “doctor” really isn’t a doctor?

I know the laws in California are made to protect the patient at all times, and California lawyers are waiting enthusiastically to represent those who are harmed. The legal recourse in many foreign countries may not be there, which means that if you become a victim of the surgeon, there is little you can do about it. This, to me, is a good reason to have the surgeries in the United States, Canada or European countries that have strict laws that control doctors’ licenses and the way they use their licenses.

Snippet from the article:

A new report highlights a novel way for doctors to replace thinning hairlines: transplanting leg hair.

The report, a study of two cases published in The Archives of Dermatology, describes a new procedure in which receding hairlines were restored by taking hair follicles from patients’ legs and grafting them to the head. Men’s leg hair had successfully been transplanted before to the back of the head, but these are believed to be the first documented cases of leg hair being used to restore the hairline.

Read the rest at the NY Times — A New Approach to Treating Hair Loss

The article is about Dr. Sanusi Umar’s amazing work as a pioneer in body hair transplants (BHT). He has privately reported procedures of 10,000 grafts in one sitting using body hair. These procedures are done through very long sessions at times, reported to run in the wee hours of the morning.

Body hair is not the same quality of head hair for use in hair transplants, so I don’t think that this technique will catch on. Although body hair seems to change and grow longer when placed into the head, its value is not equal to donor hair taken from the back and sides of the scalp.

Is it possible to treat a Norwood 7 (not a head full of hair but a decent result) using Hair Transplant + Body Hair Transplant?

Thank you!

At NHI, we do not recommend body hair transplants (BHT), as the results are highly variable and unpredictable.

We do have patients in our Photo Galleries that were Norwood 7 and had great hair transplant results from using scalp hair, but I must point out to the readers curious about hair restoration that every patient is different and the fullness will never be over the entire scalp. It’s about creating the illusion of a full head of hair by using the available donor hair efficiently. You just need to have a clear understanding of what “decent” result you are expecting.

Can you explain to me what laser-assisted hair transplant surgery is? And why don’t more doctors do this? Advantages/disadvantages?

I read an article on your New Hair site from 1996 – here – that said the lasers weren’t sophisticated enough for this kind of procedure, but that was 15 years ago. What is your opinion now? Thanks

Lasers are wonderful devices, but I would not recommend their use in hair transplant procedures in any manner. When they were used, they produced significant burns adding to complications that rarely occur otherwise.