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How Many Grafts Per Procedure? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hi Dr Rassman,
I have lost my hair since i was 25. I had 2 procedures so far with xxxx Medical Group for a total of about 1700 grafts and it seemed like every time after i had a procedure, my hair fell out even more. I am class 4 now and i am not really happy at all with my results. I am now interested in another procedure and I wonder how many grafts you can do per procedure? Please respond and thank you for your time.

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Hair transplants in young men, often accelerate hair loss unless they are on some protection like the drug Propecia. The hair loss associated with a hair transplant impacts the original hair and is called an Anogen Effluvium. After the first transplant, an Effluvium rarely occurs again provided the second transplant is performed in the next 2-5 years.

In my practice, we can perform as many as 5000 grafts in a single session provided that the scalp is loose and the densities are very good. We routinely perform at least one procedure each day in excess of 2500 grafts, but this is a matter of matching donor supply and recipient area need. The correct balance between these two, will minimize just how many surgeries one might need. We do like to put the highest densities in each session to minimize the number of sessions. Most people get what they want in one or two sessions, unless they are really extensively bald.

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Los Angeles Open House – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Just a reminder to those in the Los Angeles area —

We are having an Open House at the New Hair Institute office in LA tomorrow. This is a good chance to meet many past NHI patients and see a live procedure. Plus, attendees get a $200 discount off their procedure (please ask an NHI rep for full details).

Thursday, Sept 8 from 4pm – 7:30pm (TOMORROW)
9911 W. Pico Blvd, Suite 301, Los Angeles CA 90035
Click here for driving directions, courtesy of Yahoo Maps

Any questions, please feel free to call us at 1-800-NEW-HAIR. I hope to see you there.

If you aren’t going to be able to make it to this event, we have events like this every month in our Los Angeles and San Jose, California offices. The event list can be found here: Upcoming events.

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Can Scars Be “Cured” with FUE? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Can scars be cured with FUEs?

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I do not like your use of the word ‘cured’. FUE (Follicular Unit Extractions) can be used to fill in scars found in the scalp, eyebrow or beard. The more that are placed and the closer they match the surrounding hair, the more they will cover a scar. Scars do have a different vasculature than normal skin, so at times we must reduce the densities of scars to get the best growth.

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Can I fix my high hairline? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I’ve had an abnormal hairline from birth. It is at least one and a half inches too far back. I have to wear wigs and extensions to cover it all the time. How can this be fixed? Can my hairline be brought forward like everyone else in my family? I would love to be able to wear my hair back without bangs for a change.

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High hairlines are common in women and men and moving them down is basically a surgical procedure. With progressive balding, moving the hairline down is best performed with hair transplants because if more balding occurs more transplants can solve the problem. For most women the hair transplant fix is permanent and they don’t have to worry about progressive balding so that (in most cases) a reverse brow lift type of surgery works best.

If you still have any questions, I highly recommend you look at some of our other postings on this subject.

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Microscopes in Hair Transplantation – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

There is a lot of talk about the need / not the need for microscopes in hair transplantation, but as I visited various groups performing transplants, only a few use the microscope. Is it really important?

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We published an article about 7 years ago, (Dissecting Microscope versus Magnifying Loupes) which showed that using microscopes reduces waste, which means that more viable donor hair is available from every square inch of scalp that is harvested. The wastage is not a minor issue; those with white hair may find as much as 40% more hair can be obtained by using a microscope for dissection. The average person gets 20-25% more usable donor hair if a microscope is competently used in the dissection process. For those who are very bald, once hair is lost or damaged through inefficient dissection, that precious hair is never retrievable.

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Dealing with Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

i’m a 32 y/o male suffering from hair baldness. i still have some good quantity of hair on the top side of my head. i am using now saw palmetto trying to stop hair loss, i am now very interested to use your method and looking to strength the hair i still have. can you please tell me whats your procedure to deal with hair loss and does the hair you transplants grow like a normal hair

To answer this question would take a book, which I have already written. In fact, you can receive the book, The Patient’s Guide To Hair Restoration, which is available from me free of charge by mail or by download in PDF format.

Baldness can be treated with medications and surgery. Medications slow down, stop and sometimes regrow the hair. Hair transplants move hair that is permanent (from the side and back of the head) to the balding area. As a general rule, these transplanted hairs grow naturally and last your life time. The problem with hair transplants is that people often lose more hair than they can transfer with a hair transplant so that the supply of donor hair is inadequate to meet the need of the balding area.

You need to arrange for a visit to a good doctor who specializes in this type of field to find out what are your options and balance them against your need and your budget.

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Do Linear Donor Scars Widen? – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Do linear donor scars stretch (widen) over time?

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You are asking about hair transplant scars from the rim of permanent hair that is found around the back and sides of your head. This area (donor area) is generally not prone to stretching if the incisions are made in the horizontal plain (side to side). The scalp has some degree of redundancy so that there is ‘extra’ scalp which you can easily slide up and down on the back of your head. This makes the scalp loose in most people so when some of it is removed, there should be enough excess scalp to close without tension on the wound. When there is minimal tension on the wound, it usually will close without stretching in people with normal healing tissues. If either the scalp is tight, or the body’s tissues are not strong, then these wounds may stretch. The more surgeries you have, the more the potential to develop stretched scalp scars.

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Transplanting Hair to Face – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hello,
Can hair be transplanted to the the chin and sideburn areas of the face to fill in where facial hair does not currently grow? Have you done any of these types of procedures? I’m 30 year old white male with very little facial hair.
Best regards

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We do transplant scalp hair to the face. Often with face lifts, repairs are made to the pulled back hairline and to lost sideburns. We also repair beard and mustache defects (the mustache defect is common in cleft lips). I have also had some Asians patients who had sparse facial hair and wanted it filled out more.

I often tell my patients that the good news about hair transplants from scalp hair is that if you put a hair graft on the end of your nose, it will grow to pony tail length. That is often used as an illustration of the reality that hair transplants do grow, almost anywhere you put them.

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Diseases Causing Women’s Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

What are the diseases that you previously discussed that women must look for that can cause balding or thinning? I am 30 years old and have some hair loss that is scaring me quite a bit.

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Thyroid disease is one of the more common diseases that can precipitate hair loss. Anemia is also high on the list. Genetically induced diseases such as Alopecia Areata can cause both localized hair loss in patches (the more common form) and a diffuse pattern that can cover large areas of the scalp. The diffuse pattern of Alopecia Areata is hard to diagnose and when transplants are placed into areas of active disease, they fail as the disease attacks the hair follicles and kills them. Trichotillomania is also common as a cause of hair loss as a result of compulsive pulling on the hair. Traction Alopecia is caused by consistantly wearing hair styles that use a pulling force on the hair, such as ponytails, pig tails, or a tight bun, and is also seen when extentions or other hair systems use the tension of existing hair as an anchor. Short term hair loss is often caused by pregnancy and this may last for up to 2 years before returning to normal. I can go on and on and write a text book here, so I will stop at this point hoping that I gave you a flavor on the subject and urge you to seek out a good dermatologist or family doctor who would look into these possibilities.

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Transplants in the Baldest Men – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I am very, very bald and 60 years old. I am having a hard time believing that you can really help me. Please let me know why I should believe that this enormous bald area on my head can really be covered with hair.

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Some people with advanced balding, low hair densities and high contrast (black hair and white skin), can not get great coverage with a hair transplant. On the other hand, if you have lower contrast between your hair and skin color, higher densities, good character hair, and a loose scalp, you might be surprised at what you could achieve by the artful distribution of hair in the hands of a good hair transplant surgeon (see below for an example). There is real art in making less hair look like more hair and that is just one of the reasons why you need to shop around. Come to one of our open house events and you will be able to examine these patients yourself and make your own judgments. If you have a wife, female relative or friend whose judgment you trust, bring them too, as women have more discriminating views on what they see than men.

This patient is in his mid 60’s and had multiple procedures, totalling 6,036 follicular unit grafts transplanted. “Before” is on the left, “after” is on the right.



More photos of the above patient on the NHI site: Patient ZU