I am over a year post-op from a disastrous facelift by a ‘top’ UK surgeon who surgically removed my sideburns without my consent and elevated my hairline above my ears. It’s difficult to find anyone with significant experience of female sideburn reconstruction. There are just a few pics on the Internet and it’s the same few pics constantly circulating.
Some hair restoration surgeons appear to have fantastic results with female sideburn reconstruction using follicular unit transplantation (FUT) but I am a bad candidate for strip surgery as I already have a .8 x 7cm bald strip on my head courtesy the facelift surgeon where he pulled too tight and the scar stretched. My hair fell out and I now have this bald strip. Coupled with the loss of sideburns, I have lost a lot of volume and my hair was thin and fine to begin with so I cannot risk a stretched scar from strip.
I recently had revision surgery to try and minimize the elevated hairline (flap rotation and temple redraping) and to excise the bald strip but this, unfortunately, failed. The bald strip simply stretched again resulting in yet more hair loss and the rotation had no impact on the elevated hairline. My only option now is limited to follicular unit extraction (FUE) and I really need to get it right as the emotional and financial impact continues to devastate me.
Below we’ve compiled some of the most recent hot topic hair loss related questions and answers provided by physician experts and veteran hair transplant patients. You are encouraged to click on any of the links to topics you find interesting below.
Although it’s often overlooked, restoring desirable facial proportion is one of the most important aspects of hair transplant surgery.
However, recreating proportion via new hairlines and follicular unit graft placement is not an easy task. Because of this, recommended hair transplant surgeon Dr. Parsa Mohebi recently took the opportunity to explain the importance of facial proportion and how it’s achieved through meticulous hair restoration surgery:
Hair restoration today is more than just simply a proven treatment for hair loss. In most cases, hair transplant surgery enhances their facial symmetry and proportion. This can make a dramatic difference to a person’s overall appearance, and improve their lives in many ways.
It was the famous artist Michelangelo (not the Ninja Turtle) who said there is a “rule of thirds” when observing the proportions of a human’s face. The “thirds” are evenly spaced sections, with the hairline acting as the top of the frame and the chin acting as the bottom of the frame. These evenly spaced sections: the hairline to the top of the eyebrow, the top of the eyebrow to the base of the nose, and the base of the nose to the bottom of the chin, are what give the face the aesthetically pleasing and well aligned appearance. If there happens to be any inconsistency with these proportions, it can cause the face to look misaligned. Specifically, if the hairline is recessed beyond the optimal starting point, most individuals will look older than they actually are.
Dr. Lindsey, I noticed you use sutures over staples. Is that for every hair restoration surgery you do or just revisions and why do you use them?
I will use either sutures or staples to close a hair transplant donor incision. Both are the “same” if put in correctly. I just happen to be better at sewing than stapling. Plus, as I’ve already sutured a deep layer, I’m all warmed up for sewing.
I figure that I’ve put in more than 600,000 sutures vs. about 2000 staples. For me, sewing is easier, faster, and gives better results. In addition, I charge 100.00 more to staple as the stapler costs me more than sutures and, at least in my hands, the result isn’t as good.
In this hair transplant video interview, hair restoration physician Dr. Vito Quatela discusses his approach to working with a new hair transplant patient.
As the Medical Director of the Quatela Center for Hair Restoration in Rochester, New York, Dr. Quatela has treated thousands of men and women for hair loss and has implanted over one million hair grafts. With 18 years of hair restoration experience, Dr. Quatela and his staff perform high quality microscopically controlled follicular unit hair transplantation.
Dr. Quatela is recommended on the Hair Transplant Network. To learn more about Dr. Quatela, his experience, skill, philosophy and to see examples of his hair restoration results, visit his Hair Transplant Network profile.
Because of its recent spike in popularity and versatile nature, many practitioners are currently researching alternative uses for the Botox injectable serum. One area, continually researched and examined by medical experts, is the potential link between hair loss and Botox injections. However, despite ongoing research, the question still remains: can Botox treat hair loss?
“Botox” is a purified form of Botulinum Toxin A, used medically to treat headaches and cosmetically to decrease the appearance of facial wrinkles. The serum works by temporarily paralyzing muscles, thus decreasing the excessive contractions that cause painful headaches and, cosmetically, wrinkle-inducing tension.
Because Botox’s mechanism of action involves reduced muscle tension and a likely increase of oxygenated blood flow to the treated area, many wonder if the injectable could prove useful in treating hair loss. Until recently, most evidence involving Botox and baldness seemed anecdotal and inconclusive, but a new Canadian study finds a correlation between Botox injections and increased hair growth/reduced hair loss.
During the study, 50 patients with Norwood Scales ranging from level II to level IV were treated with a total of 300 units of Botox over a 24 week period. Using a 2 cm strip of injected scalp (to monitor new hair growth) and a lint roller dragged over participant’s pillows (to monitor progressive hair loss), researchers analyzed the results of the study and found a positive correlation between Botox injections and new growth/reduced loss.
I always read about people having their temple points worked on. Can you look at these pictures and tell me if you think I’m gonna need temple point work?
There are two important pieces of information that need to be known before a hair transplant surgeon can give you the best answer to your question:
How old are you?
Is there miniaturization on top to suggest you are someday going to be a typical Norwood VI bald man?
If you are in your 20′s or early 30′s and/or there is miniaturization on top, then the temple points should be left alone and re-evaluated several years down the line when it is clearer where you are going to end up with your hair loss.
The two reasons not to go charging into restoring temple points if either or both of the above apply in your case are; first, you may be using up precious donor hair in the temple area that is best kept to use on top and second, if you go on to an advanced stage of baldness, then those grafts way out front there are going to stick out like a sore thumb and be unsightly.
In this hair transplant video interview, recommended physician Dr. Jim Harris shares his philosophy on providing world class surgical hair restoration, non-surgical hair loss treatments and patient care.
Dr. Harris is an internationally recognized hair restoration physician and a published author of both medical and consumer publications. He is a faculty member of the University of Colorado School of Medicine, where he teaches hair transplantation to resident physicians in training and community physicians.
I am 10 days past my hair transplant and removing stitches tomorrow. The transplanted hairs are still hanging in there with a few minor scabbing areas but, for the most, part they look healthy right now.
Typically, how long do the transplanted hairs remain before falling out? Do they just start falling out suddenly? Also, how long do you have to wait for the new hair growth to start showing or maybe getting back to the current length?
Do not get too excited about the hairs not falling out immediately after surgery. I have had many hair restoration patients over the years that called me after 2-3 weeks and thought the hairs were not going to shed and even appeared to have grown since the surgery. Most ended up calling back after another week or two and said that most of the hairs ended up falling out after all. But, you never know, you may be one of the lucky patients.
I suffer from Cutis Verticis Gyrata. The dermatologists I’ve been to have been clueless about it and printed off information for me to read which was the same info I had already found. Has there been any progress into treatments of CVG as it’s causing a lot of stress.
First let me say that I do not have a lot of experience with CVG.
After seeing a CVG patient in consultation and seeing email photos of another a couple of years ago, I realized that I had done a hair transplant a couple of years ago on someone with very mild CVG. He had 2 sagittal, slight indentations that could be felt at the time of his hair restoration surgery but not really seen. I wondered at the time if he had a couple of childhood scars he didn’t remember. I since saw him in follow-up and his hair transplant grew well. I believe that his hair loss was caused by androgenic alopecia (male pattern balding). He had a classic 5 pattern on the Norwood Scale and the indentations were most easily felt where his hair was thickest in the band across the mid-scalp. His CVG likely had not progressed.
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