Hair Restoration Blog

We have discussed different methods to repair hair transplant donor scar in the past. There was an interesting article in Dermatologic Surgery Magazine last months on repairing the wide donor scar using body hair by Dr. Robert Jones from Oakville, Ontario, Canada.

Dr. Jones has reports revising a wide donor scar after previous hair transplant surgery by body hair transplant. He uses chest hair removed by follicular unit extraction method using a 1mm punch device. He has transplanted the grafts directly into the scar area so follicular unit grafts did not have to wait more than a few seconds.

Three months post-op follow up pictures were shown with some hair growth on transplanted donor scar with some reasonable coverage. The growth of the transplanted hair is not completed before 6-8 months after hair transplant and it is expected to see better coverage by the end of that period.

I have had a presentation on revising neurosurgical scars using hair transplant with follicular unit transplantation in the annual meeting of International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery in 2007. In that meeting, I presented four patients who underwent hair transplant surgeries to revise the widened scar of their neurosurgical scars. The results of the hair transplant on those patients were great and the appearances of the scars were completely vanished in all four of them.

Again the current article by Dr. Jones proves that hair restoration could be used effectively for improving the appearance of scalp scars. My personal preference and the method that I use in our Los Angeles hair transplant clinics is to use scalp scar rather than body hair unless patient’s donor area is completely depleted and there is not enough harvestable hair on the donor area. In those cases body hair transplant could be an alternative if patient have good quality body hair for a body hair transplant through FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction).

Q:

I am a 41 year old woman and have been suffering from hair loss for over 10 years. I have had some type of scalp dermatitis for a long time that has been treated with topical steroids over the last 20 years. Could dermatitis be the cause of my hair loss? Or could I have lost my hair due to the steroid solution that I used on my scalp?

A:

Topical steroids are not generally causing hair loss. Dermatitis on the other hand, can increase the rate of hair loss in people who are prone to patterned baldness. Sever scalp skin inflammation can also cause severe hair loss in some patients. Dermatitis has several types. Dermatitis can also be seen as part of other skin diseases that may cause hair loss. You need to see a good dermatologist or a hair specialist and get your hair mapped for miniaturization. Your hair loss type and whether it is simple female patterned or is associated to other medical problems could be determined after direct examination of your hair and evaluation of its miniaturization status.

Previously I published an article on the Hair Transplant Forum International titled Psychology of Hair Transplant. Our study evaluated the significance of hair loss on men’s psychology. We also discussed the improvements that men experienced after hair restoration surgery.

I just read another article that was just published on the International journal of clinical and experimental hypnosis titled: Hypnotic approaches for alopecia areata. I initially thought they have been able to treat Alopecia Areata (AA) with hypnosis. What they studied though was managing the psychological effects of alopecia areata with hypnotherapy.

Patients with alopecia areata like androgenic alopecia experience increased levels of anxiety and have higher rates of depression. Here are the synapses of what was researched by Willemsen and Vanderlinden from Department of Dermatology of Academic Hospital in Brussel, Belgium and put together as an interesting article:

AA or Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease leading to loss of scalp hairs. The disease is generally triggered by stress. Data on the possibility of using hypnotherapy in the treatment of AA are very limited. In this study, twenty-eight patients with extensive AA, all refractory to previous conventional treatment, were treated with hypnosis at the Academic Hospital UZ Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.

The authors‚Äô hypnotherapeutic approach combining symptom-oriented suggestions was discussed in the article they also came up with suggestions to improve self-esteem. They are suggesting that twelve out of 21 patients, including 4 with total loss of scalp hair, presented a significant hair growth. All patients presented a significant decrease in scores for anxiety and depression. Although the exact mechanism of hypnotic interventions has not been elucidated, the authors’ results demonstrate that hypnotic interventions may ameliorate the clinical outcome of patients with AA and may improve their psychological well-being.

This article again is focusing on the significance of hair loss and hair loss treatment on patients psychology as we discussed before in our article titled: psychology of hair transplant that could be found on the website of US Hair Restoration, the Los Angeles hair transplant center.

Q:

Dr. Mohebi,

What do you think about Nioxin for hair loss treatment? Do you offer it in your Los Angeles hair restoration offices?

A:

We currently do not sell any products in our Los Angeles hair restoration offices. Nioxin makes different products such as cleansers (shampoos), conditioners, reconstructors, and other products for hair and scalp. They are in the market and could be purchased from beauty salon. Nioxin shampoos are popular, but there appears to be nothing in them that will cure hair loss. I have had many patients who used them in the past for a while and they gave me a mixed report. If they are affordable and you are happy using them as cleansers or conditioners I have no problem with that. However, by looking at what is out there on the ingredients on Nioxin products and the reports from my patients, I cannot recommend them as a treatment for hair loss.

Many people ask me on the use of hair products such as shampoos or conditioner after a hair transplant procedure in our Los Angeles hair transplant clinic. My answer as you probably have seen in this blog is that you can go back to your routine hair wash and maintenance after the first five day after your hair transplant surgery. They practically cannot damage the transplanted hair at that time by washing or shampooing it.