Post Hair Loss Questions and Get Answers

Many people find local hair transplant doctors and want to know whether this particular doctor is reputable. 

The truth is, there may or may not be any public information out there about them.  If there isn’t any public information on the forums or internet about this doctor, then the answer is simply “nobody really knows”. 

Unfortunately, MANY hair restoration clinics still use older techniques and technology that is outdated.  These hair transplant clinics are DANGEROUS and can leave their patients with not only unnatural looking results – but with obvious scarring or pitting.  It will be obvious to you and others that something doesn’t look quite right.

I want to caution those reading this, that being around our hair restoration discussion forum for over 3 years now; I have seen many people go to unknown or not-so-reputable hair transplant physicians that have “butchered” them.  These people post on the public forums all the time about their horrible experiences and results feeling miserable about themselves.  Many hair transplant patients come just to share their experience to caution others not to go to these clinics while others will come asking for advice on whom to see for hair transplant repair work. 

That being said…I strongly believe that when choosing a doctor, there are a few things to seriously consider and I strongly recommend following this advice:

• Choose a doctor that you CAN find public information on and that it’s consistently positive.  Remember, nobody bats a 1000 however, if the majority of the evidence is overwhelmingly positive, it’s a much safer thing than choosing an unknown doctor.

When i start taking Propecia, how long until it takes effect?  Does it take a few weeks in your system before it starts blocking DHT or is it immediate?  Thanks. 

Thank you for your inquiry.

Finasteride (marketed as Propecia) starts to work right away however, it might take up to 3 months to see less hair loss.  In order to see any visual effects such as the thickening and strengthening of miniaturized hairs, it takes up to 6-12 months.

Please understand that you may experience additional shedding over the first couple months.  This is actually normal and an indication that the hair loss medication is working.

Bill – aka Falceros
Associate Publisher of the Hair Transplant Network and the Hair Loss Learning Center
View my Hair Loss Weblog

Technorati Tags: Propecia, DHT, Finasteride, hair loss, miniaturized hairs, hair loss medication

i had a hair transplant 19 days ago and in the recipient area there is still a great amount of redness and swelling.  I have been following my postoperative instructions verbatim.   I’ve been attached to an ice bag for the last two days and the area feels very hot.   Do you know what may have happened?  What should I do at this point?

Swelling post-op from a hair transplant is a normal side effect and typically starts a few days after the procedure lasting only for a few days.  Redness in the recipient area, on the other hand can last up to a few months but improves over time – going from a red to a pink color and finally back to normal color.

At 19 days it is not typical that to be experiencing anymore swelling.   Any elongated side effects such as swelling or other areas of concern should be reported to your hair transplant doctor as soon as possible.  They will be able to to determine what is going on and ensure that you do not have any kind of infections.

I hope this helps.

Bill – aka Falceros
Associate Publisher of the Hair Transplant Network and the Hair Loss Learning Center
View my Hair Loss Weblog

Technorati Tags: hair transplant, hair transplant doctor

Are there any hair transplant doctors in North America that routinely do 4500 – 5000+ follicular unit grafts in one session?

The question of single mega-sessions comes up a lot on our hair restoration discussion forums.  The danger of this question is that typically the skill level of the hair transplant doctor comes into question. 

Most of our coalition doctors do megasessions of 3000 follicular unit grafts on a regular basis.

However, doing a 4500-5000 megasession is hardly routine for any hair transplant physician.  Of course it’s possible, but there are a number of variables that come into play.  Below are a few:

• Skill level of the hair transplant doctor
• Size of the staff of the hair transplant clinic 
• Donor hair density of the patient
• Donor laxity of the patient
• Philosophy of the hair transplant surgeon

Certainly as you can see above, the skill level of the physician certainly plays a significant role – however, one must be careful not to draw false conclusions about a hair transplant doctor’s level of ability if they typically do smaller sessions. 

On the flip side – one must be careful about hair transplant doctors who set a maximum limit of grafts he/she will extract as a general rule – especially those 2000 grafts and under.  This does not not necessarily mean they are a poor surgeon however, it does suggest that they are limited in their ability to provide state of the art hair transplantation. 

I’ve been reading a lot about body hair transplant.  This would be perfect for me since I have a lot of body hair.  How does it work?  Is it effective?

Body Hair Transplant (BHT) has become a subject of interest for many people, especially those with a lot of body hair!

This procedure is very similar to Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE), but instead of isolating scalp hairs – body hairs are extracted with a surgical instrument and are then transplanted into balding areas of the scalp.

The concept of BHT is fascinating to me to be honest.  The problem to date however, is that there isn’t a lot of public information on it.

Many hair transplant BHT patients have posted their preoperative and immediately postoperative pictures on our hair restoration discussion forum.  However, as much gusto as they had to post in the beginning, very few BHT patients follow through with posting their final results online.  

Despite the hype of BHT, it is still highly experimental in my opinion.   Many first-rate hair transplant doctors won’t perform the surgery or those who do typically offer it at a discount price.   Out of the BHT patients I’ve seen follow through to the end with their online posting – I’ve only seen one case where growth yield seemed pretty high while many other results seemed sparse at best. 

However, I believe Body Hair Transplant is not without hope.

This insightful article was written by Pat Hennessey, the Publisher of the Hair Transplant Network, the Hair Loss Learning Center, and the Hair Loss Q&A Blog.  You can also participate in this discussion by reading the following thread on our hair restoration discussion forums.

I have not heard mention on this forum of the “world famous Fleming/Meyer flap procedure” for a long time. This procedure is radical surgery in which a flap of scalp from one side of a patients head is removed except for the major connecting blood vessels. This flap of hair is then sutured into the patient’s hairline area to create a dense hairline in one surgery.

There are a number of problems and issues related to this surgery. One major problem is that the direction of the hair growth in the flap is typically not natural. The high level of hair density also typically does not look natural, especially when there is a bald area behind it. The front of the flap also has a scar that typically needs to be masked with micro grafts.

Dr. Richard Fleming and Dr. Toby Mayer, who are both highly experienced cosmetic surgeons, are the acknowledged experts at performing this procedure, which is virtually synonymous with their names. Others have tried to perform this procedure and in some cases the operation has failed when the flap failed to heal and the patient experienced necrosis (dead skin/scalp).

I did see that on one hair loss forum a patient wrote –

What are the surgical risks of getting a hair transplant? 

There are always a number of risks associated with any type of surgery and it’s important to be aware of not only the great benefit that hair transplantation can provide, but also the risks.

Below are some of the risks one may associate with hair transplant surgery

• Scarring (minimal or significant – significant scarring is rare in the hands of a first-rate hair transplant doctor)
• Postoperative infection
• Excessive bleeding
• Delayed Healing
• Death of transplanted hair follicles
• Postoperative Hiccups (rare)
• Swelling of the forehead and face (common but temporary)
• Loss of feeling/numbness in the donor and recipient areas (mostly temporary)
• Temporary Shock loss (native and previously transplanted hairs could fall out due to surgical trauma but will re-grow)
• Permanent Shock loss (If existing hairs are transected due to surgery or if they were on their way out due to MPB)
• Pinkness or Redness of the skin around the recipient area
• Pitting/cobblestoning/ridging of the scalp (Various deformities in the scalp typically caused by older instrumentation or lack of proper care)

Many of the serious risks, however, can be significantly minimized when in the hands of a first-rate hair transplant physcian. This is why we recommend our coaliton of independent hair restoration physicians since they have proven to be the best in the industry.  In order to remain a member of the coalition, each hair transplant doctor must continually meet our high level of standards.

I had a hair transplant several years ago and am very satisfied with my new hair.  However, I prefer to wear my hair short as a buzz cut but when I do, my scar is showing.  How can I successfully conceal my scar? 

Thanks for you inquiry,

There are several ways you can conceal a donor scar, however, one thing your hair transplant doctor should have told you is that wearing a buzz cut (depending on the length of the clip) will most likely not be possible without revealing a bit of your surgical scar.  The way I see it you have a few options:

1. You can try a concealor such as dermatch or toppik on the scar to camoflauge your hair transplant scar.
2. Grow your hair a bit longer so your existing hair covers your scar
3. Consider scar repair surgery.  You can find more information scar repair here.

I hope this helps.

Bill – aka Falceros
Associate Publisher of the Hair Transplant Network and the Hair Loss Learning Center
View my Hair Loss Weblog

Technorati Tags: hair transplant, hair transplant doctor, dermatch, toppik, hair transplant scar

There are so many hair loss products out there.  How do I know what works and what doesn’t?

If you are looking for a cut and dry answer, I encourage you to read the following Hair Loss Q&A Blog: What works as a hair loss treatment and what doesn’t?

I did, however, want to take the time to present the criteria I use in order to draw a conclusion as to what works and what doesn’t.  Keep in mind that this is not a perfect methodology, but it can act as a guide for you as you are evaluating new treatments.  How do we know which ones are potentially legitimate?  How do we know which ones are “Scams”?

I often make decisions about a product’s effectiveness based on a combination of three things: 

• Personal experience (Products I’ve tried before)
• Scientfic evidence (Is there scientific evidence that the product may be of some benefit to fight against hair loss?)
• Public evidence (visual proof – What are other hair loss sufferers saying?).

I think one must combine these three pieces in order to obtain a well-balanced picture. That doesn’t mean that all three have to exist in order to conclude it works. After all…what works for one might not work for another.

Personal Experience:

Let’s face it…most of us have been duped before and have tried a number of miracle cure products.  Ultimately, we may not be able to conclude for sure if a product works for everyone based on personal experience, but we surely can conclude whether it works for us!

I am 7 weeks post-op from a hair transplant.  I’m starting to see some black dots on my head.  Could this be a sign of early growth?

Though this could be a sign of early growth, most likely you are seeing are signs of hairs that experienced shock loss growing back rather than signs of new growth of the transplanted hairs. 

Hair that experience shock loss due to the trauma of hair transplantation typically grow back as they once were – thick and mature looking.   Transplanted hairs, however, typically start growing in colorless and fine, barely visible to the naked eye.  Most of the time you will be able to feel these hairs with your finger tips before you see them. 

This is one of the reasons why ahair transplant patient may panic around the third or even fourth month.  Many expect to see visible results at this point, but instead, typically the hair only just breaks through the surface of the scalp starting around this time.  It’s also important to understand that not all the hairs will grow at the same rate.  This may leave a patient with unbalanced growth.  Example:  The right side may be growing in faster and thicker than the left side.  Fear not, however…they will catch up to one another. 

Bill – aka Falceros
Associate Publisher of the Hair Transplant Network and the Hair Loss Learning Center
View my Hair Loss Weblog

Technorati Tags: hair transplant, shock loss, transplanted hairs, hair transplantation, hair transplant patient