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The patient members of our hair loss forum in collaboration with quality hair restoration physicians have revolutionized the hair transplant profession by demanding only the best results.  That’s why only those physicians with a solid reputation for producing outstanding results are approved for recommendation on the Hair Transplant Network.  

With approximately one billion largely English speaking Indians you can imagine the amount of emails we get asking for a solid recommendation in India.  We are pleased to announce that we’ve finally found an impressive physician to recommend to our community in India.  To see how we democratically recommend surgeons on our patient driven community, visit “How We Recommend Hair Replacement Physicians”.

Over the last several months, Dr. Pathuri Madhu of Hyderabad, India has received an impressive number of accolades from his patients online.  Thus, Dr. Madhu, his technique, and results were carefully reviewed by our community. 

Dr. Pathuri Madhu has the experience and staff to perform large densely packed sessions exceeding 3000 follicular units when appropriate for the patient, the largest of which is 4800.  Dr. Madhu has impressed our community with his results and willingness to transparently respond to the initial questions and concerns expressed by our members.

After extensive research and receiving an abundance of positive feedback from patients and physician peers, we are excited to present Dr. Madhu as our recommended hair transplant surgeon in India.  Be sure to congratulate and welcome Dr. Madhu to our community by visiting the “Potential Recommendation of Dr. Pathuri Madhu of India.” thread.

This hair loss question was answered by Dr. Glenn Charles of Florida who is a member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians.  His professional answer is below.

I was wondering, when a graft is extracted via follicular unit extraction (FUE), how long can it be kept outside the body before it is placed in the recipient area?  Will keeping it outside the body too long impact hair growth?

The goal for most hair restoration physicians is to have all the grafts placed back into the recipient sites within 6 hours. Grafts are very resilient, but must remain well hydrated to survive.

 It has been proven that dehydration is the the numbe rone factor than can have the most negative effect on the grafts and inhibit hair regrowth. This is why in large cases 2500 follicular unit or more it is necessary to have enough assistants to get the job done within the proper time limits.

Since follicular unit extraction (FUE) is a slower process, not as many grafts should be retrieved from donor area before time would become a factor, and the grafts would need to be placed into the recipient sites. 

Dr. Glenn Charles, D.O.

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Bill Seemiller – aka Falceros
Associate Publisher/Editor

Technorati Tags: hair loss, follicular unit extraction, FUE, hair growth, hair restoration, hair regrowth

This hair loss question was answered by Dr. Glenn Charles of Florida who is a member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians.  His professional answer is below.

How many hair transplant procedures do doctors perform each day?  Shouldn’t they only perform one for the benefit of the patient?  Maybe I’m too critical, but my thinking is that your surgeon should give each patient their undivided attention.  

The number of hair transplant procedures per day a physician performs should not be the only factor used in deciding where to go to have your surgery. For example there may be a hair restoration clinic that performs 2 or 3 procedures a day, but uses 20-23 surgical assistants/ technicians. This clinic would have the ability to divide the staff up to have 7-7 assistants in each surgery. On the other hand there may be a clinic that only performs one procedure each day, but only uses 4 assistants/ technicians.

Where would you rather go? It should then depend on several other factors. What does the patient feel comfortable with? What kind of results is the doctor getting consistently? What are the patients saying about the hair loss doctor? What techniques are going to be used? Along with many other pieces of information. I usually only perform 1 large procedure a day, unless the cases are small or just repairs. However, I know a few physicians who have very large staffs and get excellent results doing 2-3 procedures per day.

Many hair loss sufferers who visit our educational hair loss forum community quickly become mesmerized by extremely large hair transplant megasessions sometimes referred to as “ultra megasessions”. Given that the reduced number of sessions needed in patients who are candidates for such large sessions, there’s no doubt as to why it’s often the procedure of choice for patients.

But there is a problem. Many are under the terrible misconception that sessions between 4000 and 5000+ true follicular unit grafts are the norm rather than the exception. While a physician’s skill and the size and experience of their staff are vital to be able to provide this type of procedure, these ultra megasessions are reserved for balding patients with exceptional donor characteristics even in the most skilled hands.

Many balding men and women would like to be a candidate for a “one and done” hair restoration procedure. However, these single “wow” transformations aren’t always possible nor are they always within a physician’s control. Additionally, though ultra megasessions often produce a “wow” result, they don’t always. Sometimes smaller hair replacement sessions can produce a “wow” result, even in a larger bald area. Does this mean that a particular surgeon does better work? This often is the typical but usually wrong conclusion drawn by some visiting our online community.

This insightful information was posted on our hair restoration forum by Dr. Timothy Carman of La Jolla, CA, who is a highly esteemed member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians.

Has anyone depleted their donor hair supply after 2 or 3 hair transplant surgeries? What options are available if you have done this and need further work? Is FUE an option if strip is not?

One of the issues to be addressed in the initial hair restoration consult, and, in my honest opinion, the most critical concept, is the surgical plan created by the physician in conjunction with the patients’ age, degree of hair loss, donor supply, scalp laxity, and genetic background (familial history); all in an effort to “predict” the future hair loss pattern for that individual. Ideally, then, knowing the limitations given the patients “lifetime supply-demand balance”, as I like to call it, the initial plan will be implemented so as not to ever get to such a distressing or “impossible” situation as described above.

This concept can be difficult to communicate, especially to younger patients, who may want a more aggressive (less receded) hairline than they will have supply for in the future.   In  my opinion, the successful hair transplant is just as much about creating the conservative, less “wow” result as it is the obvious large hair transplant megasession out of the ballpark results; probably even more so. 

The long term picture is a very important concept, thought I should just give it some thoughts here.

Many veteran hair transplant patients are familiar with the term “follicular unit grafting” and have come to know this as the today’s “Gold Standard” in surgical hair restoration.  What many don’t know however, is that a “follicular unit” falls under a particular category of “micrograft” – a term often wrongfully associated with a much less favorable and also misconstrued term “minigraft“.

Believe it or not even some of the leading hair loss doctors in the hair transplant profession today use some “minigrafts” when appropriate for the patient. But what exactly is a “minigraft”? Are they really as bad as some have perceived them to be?

Unfortunately, the terms for the various types of grafts have been misunderstood and misconstrued in our hair loss forum community for a long time.

Recently, Coalition member Dr. Ron Shapiro wrote an article to help hair loss sufferers understand the differences and appropriate use of various types of grafts.

I encourage you to read through Understanding Hair Transplant “Graft” Terminology to learn the various graft types and how they’re appropriately used. You are also encouraged to give your feedback on this hair loss forum topic discussing graft types.

Bill Seemiller – aka Falceros
Associate Publisher/Editor

Technorati Tags: hair transplant, hair restoration, follicular unit, micrograft, minigraft, hair loss doctors, minigrafts, hair loss

This hair loss question was answered by Dr. Glenn Charles of Florida who is a member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians.  His professional answer is below.

Many hair restoration doctors don’t perform hair transplant megasessions and they appear to be limited to do only 3500 grafts or maximum 4000 grafts.  The few doctors that do perform megasessions go up to 5000 grafts plus.  What’s the reason for this?  Are megasessions unsafe due to limited blood supply?  I know doctors recommended on the Hair Transplant Network do perform megasessions and their patients have great results, but why do other doctors limit themselves?

The answer to this question is quite complex. It would depend on what hair restoration physician was performing the surgery. Meaning does a particular surgeon and their staff have the actual capability of carrying out a procedure of greater than 4000 follicular unit graftss in a reasonable period of time?  As important, does the hair transplant patient have the donor hair density and scalp laxity?

If all of the above is true there are still many other factors that should be considered. How large is the balding area in which the grafts are to be transplanted into? Would the patient prefer to have 5000 grafts placed into a specific area and have 4000 grafts actually grow hairs. That is an 80% success rate. Or would they prefer to have 4000 grafts placed into that same area and 3800 grow successfully? Giving a 95% success rate. Saving those other 1000 follicular units for later if needed. Is the physician really giving that patient those large number of grafts? It is awfully hard to go back and count.

While many men would rather not experience hair loss at all; those that do, experience many degrees of baldness. While some hair loss sufferers lose hair only at the front, others lose it in the crown while others lose it all over the top.

While restoring a natural looking hairline and frontal core is standard in surgical hair restoration, the bald or thinning crown is often considered the “black hole” for grafts. Thus, patients need to decide how much hair (if any) they want to designate for the crown as they discuss their hair restoration goals with their physician.

Recently, forum member “Mike the Dane” who’s already had a couple of hair transplants posted a thread with photos asking for input from our community as to whether or not he should start to focus on his balding crown. To offer your advice and/or share your experience, visit “To Crown or Not To Crown”.

Bill Seemiller – aka Falceros
Associate Publisher/Editor

Technorati Tags: hair loss, baldness, hair restoration, bald, hair transplants, balding

The goal of hair transplant surgery is to give patients more hair than they had prior to surgery. However, unlike other cosmetic procedures, sometimes patients look worse after surgical hair restoration before they look better.

Some patients are plagued by a temporary hair loss condition known as telogen effluvium or “shock loss” which can occur anytime hair is transplanted in between or around existing hair.  This is true whether the hair is natural or previously transplanted. This often causes great concern for those who don’t expect it, and even those that do; it can be a real brain buster causing mild anxiety.

View this hair loss discussion thread to learn and discuss why shock loss occurs and how to get through the doldrums while waiting for new hair regrowth.

Bill Seemiller – aka Falceros
Associate Publisher/Editor

Technorati Tags: hair transplant, hair restoration, hair loss, telogen effluvium, shock loss, hair regrowth

Most balding men and women would love to restore their natural full head of hair by waving a magic wand and/or by popping a miracle pill. However, hair restoration involves careful and strategic planning with a skilled and experienced hair loss doctor. While Propecia (finasteride) and Rogaine (minoxidil) are typically good at slowing down or stopping the progression of male pattern baldness, hair transplant surgery is the only method of hair restoration proven to grow hair in completely bald areas.

Today’s state of the art hair transplants are very natural looking and undetectable by even the harshest critics. This explains its increase in popularity over the last several years. But while advancements in surgical hair restoration are indeed exciting, it’s crucial for men and women considering this procedure to develop realistic expectations. What can realistically be achieved with hair transplantation varies for each patient. Below, we’ve cited a few important tips in helping you learn what to expect from hair replacement surgery.

Supply Verses Demand: What can be realistically achieved depends on the supply of donor hair and the amount of baldness in demand of new hair. Most patients can typically only achieve an illusion of fullness even under the best circumstances. Thankfully, this is usually enough to provide patients with a cosmetically significant improvement. Those with advanced balding may have to make additional sacrifices and leave some balding areas untouched. To see what hair transplants can accomplish on patients of varying degrees of lost hair, view Hair Transplant Photos by Norwood scale.