Post Hair Loss Questions and Get Answers

Our popular hair loss forum community includes dozens of active patient and physician members devoted to answering your hair loss questions daily. Get past the hype and learn about proven treatments that really work to stop baldness.

Below, we’ve compiled answers to hot topic questions we received from real patients and expert hair restoration physicians.

Feel free to ask your own questions and get answers on our hair restoration forum or privately by using the contact us form.

Graft Survival Rates and High Hair Densities (Dr. Brad Limmer)

Claims that Hair Multiplication is Available Today

Female Hair Loss Due to Hair Straightening and Blow Drying

Why Some Clinics Can Perform Hair Transplant Sessions Exceeding 5000 Grafts

Bill Seemiller – aka Falceros
Managing Publisher of the Hair Transplant Network, the Hair Loss Learning Center, the Hair Loss Q&A Blog, and the Hair Restoration Forum
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While no cure for hair loss yet exists, millions of balding men and women worldwide hope that hair multiplication (HM) will end baldness once and for all. By cloning derma papilla cells and injecting them into hairless scalp tissue, hair multiplication/cloning may eventually provide balding men and women with an unlimited supply of their own natural hair.

Intercytex and Aderans Research Institute are two major contenders in developing hair cloning amongst other treatments. However recently, Intercytex announced that they’re closing the doors after several long hard years of working to develop this hair loss treatment.

Patrick Hennessey, publisher of the Hair Transplant Network visited Intercytex’s hair multiplication operation in Manchester, England when he visited the Farjo Clinic back in May of 2007. While they appeared to have good management and promising preliminary results, their subsequent Phase II testing on humans failed to produce cosmetically significant hair regrowth.

Given the inconsistencies in hair growth observed in clinical studies, it would appear that discovering the potential of hair multiplication is still in its infancy stages. It’s suggested that the key to success may lie in growing stem cells in vitro to a hair follicle stage and then transplanting the hair follicles using today’s state of the art surgical hair restoration techniques.

To learn more about Intercytex and who may be taking over their research, visit “Intercytex discontinues its hair multiplication development operations”. You can also discuss this topic on our hair restoration forum.

Having attended the annual International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS) meetings over the past ten years, while publishing the Hair Transplant Network, I now seem to know or be known by almost all of the prominent hair transplant physicians.

Those who have become famous online for doing outstanding work typically greet me warmly, while others who I have chosen not to recommend often stiffen up and scowl when they encounter me.  One hair restoration physician last week even took me aside in the hallway and threatened to sue me for having his recommendation discontinued.

But, like it or not, most physicians have come to realize that our patient based community and our open forum are here to stay and that we will continue to say when the “emperor has no clothing” even if it may be awkward or embarrassing. As the publisher of this community, I will continue to critique various techniques, treatments and those who perform them, while keeping an eye out for top-notch hair transplant physicians and clinics. I know the active members of this community will also continue to do the same.

In this report I’d like to share highlights from the 15th annual ISHRS scientific meeting that was held in Las Vegas from September 26th to the 30th.

I will focus on what may be of most interest to hair loss sufferers and patients such as presentations on the potential dangers of Dutasteride (Avodart), new advances such as hair multiplication (follicular cell implantation), the effectiveness of low light laser therapy (LLLT) in treating hair loss, the pros and cons of FUE (follicular unit extraction) and other topics.

Despite the many claims of a “cure” for baldness, to date there are only a few viable methods hair restoration. 

The first one is through hair loss medication such as finasteride marketed as Propecia and minoxodil marketed as Rogaine – the two FDA approved medical treatments for hair loss.  The second is through hair transplantation – a surgical procedure where hair is removed from the donor “safe zone” (the sides and back of the head where hairs are not vulnerable to Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) – the hormone responsible for the loss of genetically predisposed hairs) and then transplanted into recipient incisions in the balding areas made by a hair transplant doctor.

Though some options are more viable than others depending on the hair loss sufferer, none of them offer a “perfect” means of hair restoration.  Hair loss medication MIGHT restore some hair but is generally better at combating future hair loss.  Hair Transplantation may give a patient a cosmetically pleasing look and the illusion of density – one can never restore a full head of hair.

But what about the future of hair restoration?  Will there ever be a hair loss cure? 

Hair loss is being researched from two different perspectives as far as I can tell.

The first perspective is finding and curing the cause of hair loss by attacking it at the core.  WNTs proteins and the signaling pathway is one such possibility in discovering the root “cause” of hair loss in order to find a cure.

Can you transplant hair that’s not from your own head and put it in
your balding areas?

If people could donate their hair follicles to another person for a hair transplant I can just imagine the strange scenarios that would come about. But unfortunately (or fortunately) only hair from an identical twin could be successfully transplanted without being rejected. But since hair loss is genetic I can’t imagine the identical twin would want to give up their hair.

I use to tease my younger brother who has ridiculously thick hair that he should donate some for my next hair transplant. But he was never willing. Eventually he found out that this would not work and I was no longer able to tease him about it. What a shame.

Pat – Publisher of the Hair Transplant Network, the Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center, and the Hair Loss Q & A Blog. To share ideas with other hair loss sufferers visit our Hair Restoration Discussion Forum.

Technorati Tags: balding, hair transplant, hair loss

Meeting Report by Pat Hennessey – Publisher of the Hair Transplant Network and the Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center

Each year the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS) hosts a four day meeting that is attended by ISHRS members from around the world. I have attended several of these international meeting as both a guest and as a member of the press. The highlights that I thought would be of interest to hair loss sufferers are presented in this report.

This years annual ISHRS meeting was held in San Diego, California from October 18th to the 22nd. Over four hundred hair restoration physicians from around the world attended this international meeting along with over 100 medical technicians and staff members. It was impressive to see so many hair transplant physicians sharing and debating the fine points of hair restoration. I found it interesting that many of the issues that have been discussed on our forum over the past couple of years were the hot topics at the meeting. These topics included – optimal session and graft sizes, ultra dense “super” mega sessions vs traditional density mega sessions, sub follicular unit grafting vs follicular unit grafting, growth rates, hair multiplication, FUE, and trichophytic closure techniques.