Hair Restoration Blog

How do I add this to my RSS reader? Sorry I’m a newbie.

A:

Hi there,

I generally only answer hair loss and hair restoration questions on this blog, but we can make an exception for you since this might be other people’s question too.  It is easy to get RSS from our blog.  You only need to go to the home page of Hair Restoration Blog and under login section find:

• Entries RSS
• Comments RSS

Or simply click on RSS feed on this post to get RSS feed automatically.

Best,
Parsa Mohebi, MD
Author of Hair Restoration Blog

and

Medical Director of US Hair Restoration

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How to choose a hair restoration surgeon has been addressed in our hair restoration blog before.  However we still get a number of questions on a regular basis from other parts of the world from hair loss patients who are shopping around for a hair restoration procedure.  For most of those patients, the quality of a hair transplant clinic is the best factor to decide which hair transplant clinic to choose.

Being in Southern California, I see hair transplantation results from other hair transplant doctors and I might be able to say who can be in a list of best hair transplant doctors in Los Angeles.  It would be hard for me to really say who is the best hair transplant doctor in America, let alone other countries that I have limited exposure to and have not had a chance to see their best hair transplantation results.

As we said before, searching for a good hair transplant doctor can be a difficult job. In large metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles and Orange County, referrals for cosmetic and hair transplant surgeons come far and wide. Compared to other cosmetic surgical procedures, hair transplant surgery and in particular follicular unit transplantation is one of the newer fields. You can find a variety of hair transplant surgeons with different levels of experience in your country. Overall, hair restoration and other cosmetic procedures should not be taken lightly. Just because you see a billboard stating “the most experienced Hair Transplant surgeon in …” does not make it a true statement.

Most hair transplant surgeons now in days offer a free hair transplant consultation. You should know that the end result of hair transplant surgery is permanent and it should be to your liking. Take advantage of the situation and shop around. It isn’t enough to just visit several hair transplant doctors.  You also need to educate yourself on the hair transplant process, the surgical techniques and the hair transplant surgeon’s background before visiting the doctor.

By doing so, you can appreciate a good technique and a knowledgeable doctor when you see one.  US Hair Restoration offers a free physician consultation for everyone and we specialize in state-of-the-art exclusive follicular unit transplants (FUT), mega sessions for people with extensive hair loss and follicular unit extraction (FUE), or minimally invasive hair transplant that does not leave a scar in the donor area.

In today’s world it is getting easier to look your best. Modern hair transplant surgeries with undetectable results have become a demanding field in many large metropolitan areas.  This is my one single advice on how to find the best hair transplant or the best hair transplant doctor: do as much research as you can and then meet your hair transplant doctor prepared with good questions and see if he is someone you can really trust.

Parsa Mohebi, MD
Hair Transplant Surgeon

Hair transplant cost is one of the first questions that come to mind when people start their search for a hair restoration procedure.  We too get questions on hair transplant prices and the cost of hair transplant a lot in our hair restoration clinics.

Asking “how much does a hair transplant cost” is a vague question in regards to hair transplant costs.  The better and more intelligible question would be what the best value for a hair transplant is.  When you do research for something that leaves a permanent change on your face you do not want a cheap hair transplant, but you want the most affordable cost for the highest quality of the work.  That is called value shopping and you will never regret it.

However you should do your homework for the average cost for hair transplants and then if you find a great hair transplant doctor with good credentials and background.  By choosing a good surgeon that offer a reasonable cost of hair transplants, your mission is accomplished and you can leave your hair restoration process to the doctor with no worry about the outcome.

Many people do not do their homework when it comes to making such an important selection and go to the first doctor who knows how to sell themselves through marketing tactics.  Worse than that are the patients who try to find cheap hair transplant or cost shopping instead of value shopping.  The result of that may be catastrophic and patients may end up with an unnatural appearance after their cheap hair transplant procedure is done.  I have seen a number of patients whom received less number of grafts than what they were promised due to technical errors or unethical behaviors from some hair transplant clinics.

We at US Hair Restoration are now offering a variety of payment plans for hair transplant procedures with no or minimal interest that can bring the final cost of hair transplants down to small monthly portions and we also managed to keep our hair transplant prices as low as possible while maintaining our high quality standards.  In addition, to bring hair transplant cost even lower, we have come up with a standby program in which patients can get significant discounts for quality hair restoration procedures.  To get more information on hair transplant costs at US Hair Restoration, you can contact one of our California hair transplant clinics and ask about your eligibility for the low hair transplant costs of our standby program.

US Hair Restoration
1-888-302-8747

1.    When can my son start handling his hair after his hair transplant without any caution whatsoever regarding physically touching or handling his hair, for example, with a full shower head, and rubbing his hair dry with a towel.
2.    He uses his comb just a little right now.  For example, he will comb his hair forward in anticipation for going to school.  Once in a while the comb hits his scalp, albeit pretty gently.  Is that O.K., or is it bad?
Thank you greatly.  All my best,

A:
Any time after the first four days from the day of a hair transplant surgery, patient can go back to his or her regular routine for washing and handling of their hair.

At this point (5 days after hair transplant), there is no limitation in daily hair care except in regards to sun exposure.  I don’t recommend excess sun exposure for 6 months after hair transplant to the newly transplanted area.  It should not be a problem for your son since he is combing his hair forward and covering the transplanted area.

I just read another article that may bring more hope for the people with hair loss.  Kang et al has been working with a plant native to Jeju Island in South Korea by the name of Schisandra Nigra.  They studied the effect of the extract of this plant on hair growth.  The article which is published in the European Journal of Dermatology is the result of a study on application of this product on rat hair with some promise. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of Schisandra Nigra on the promotion of hair growth.

When rat vibrissa follicles were treated with 85% ethanol extract of S. Nigra, the hair-fiber lengths of the vibrissa follicles increased significantly. In addition, after topical application of the EtOH extract of S. nigra onto the back of C57BL/6 mice every other day, anagen (growth phase) progression of the hair shaft was induced. Moreover, the extract increased both the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen in the bulb matrix region and the proliferation of immortalized vibrissa dermal papilla cells.  Both of those showing more activity on hair follicle cells.

In order to determine the mechanism by which the plant S. nigra promotes hair growth, the researchers examined its relationship with the TGF-beta2, which is a signal pathway, known to be a regulator of catagen induction (the phase that come after growth phase in hair cycle).

When the vibrissa follicles in the anagen phase were treated with S. Nigra extract for 7 days, the expression of TGF-beta2 in the bulb matrix region was found to be lower than that of the control follicles that were expected to be in the anagen-catagen transition phase.  These results suggest that S. Nigra extract has the potential to promote hair growth via down regulation of TGF-beta2 and the proliferation of dermal papilla.

In less scientific words, the plant has been able to stop hair follicles from going into their resting phase from their growth phase and thus increasing the number of growing hair follicles.  Could this hair loss product be used as a valid option for treatment of baldness in humans?  We can not be sure yet.  More studies are needed to prove the therapeutic effects of this product on human hair growth.

We do not recommend any herbal hair loss products at this point for treatment of male or female patterned hair loss due to the lack of adequate evidence based on documents that support that in humans.  However, we follow the findings of the new research through the world and keep our readers posted if one becomes available.

My patients and readers of this blog often ask me about celebrities’ hair loss and hair restoration.  Living in Los Angeles and being engaged with Hollywood people, celebrity hair transplantation is not an unusual question.  Of course, I won’t be able to reveal the name of the people who had a hair transplant with us or anywhere else, unless they allow us to do so in advance.  However gossip never sleeps in the world of Hollywood and whether people have had hair transplantation or not is one of them.

If you search the internet you may find the name of a few celebrities rumored to of had a hair transplant or hair restoration.  You can find several male celebrities whom their hair systems could be recognized.  Although wigs and hair systems have become very realistic these days, high resolution photography can reveal them at times.  Many known celebrities had old technique hair transplants that used to be detectable and easy to distinguish. That is why they are bound to a certain hair style to cover their unnatural hairline.  Many others have the problem fixed by doing a repair hair transplant using the follicular unit transplant.  The good news is that many patients with unnatural hair line from old hair transplants could improve their appearance if their donor hair was not violated with old techniques of hair restoration or plug surgeries.

When it comes to hair transplant, California and, in particular, Los Angeles, Beverly Hills and Hollywood seem to be the most concentrated areas in terms of the number of hair transplant surgeons.  Maintaining a good look in Hollywood is not only important, but it could be life changing for anyone especially if you are one who is constantly followed by reporters and Paparazzi.

Q:
Well I am only 18 yrs old from India and I have got a hair problem. usually when I was young I didn’t care much about my hair, but now I have  found that I have  lost my hair and they r falling very rapidly.

Well my diet is also not too good as I am very lean…..now I am getting very worried about my .They have not completely gone…. but volume or (say) quantity of hair has reduced very much from all over the head and the effect can be seen more on the crown area I don’t use much shampoo and usually I didn’t use to use oil but have started now.

My father is too bald so please help me that what should I do …so that I can restore my hair back……

A:
Your hair loss is most likely genetic and you might be experiencing the early stages of male pattern baldness.  Although malnutrition may cause some types of hair loss, it won’t happen until your are severely deficient of some particular elements.

Having said that, it is a good idea to see your doctor to confirm the diagnosis of the hair loss, especially if your hair loss does not follow a typical male pattern like what you can probably see in other male members of your family.  Men hair loss in its male pattern type is seen in men between their early 20s and will deteriorate for many years.  There are many hair loss products out in the market, but none of those are really proven to work except a few medications that are FDA approved such as minoxidil and finasteride.

My recommendation is not to start using hair loss medications before your diagnosis of male patterned baldness is confirmed by a doctor.  Hair transplant might be an option for you in the future so it is good to start your relationship with a hair transplant surgeon now.

Q:

Dear Dr. Mohebi,

Hello, I am really interested in doing hair transplant by you, as my friends in California highly recommended you. I wonder if you can please help me with this questions:

1. Which method would you recommend, FUT or FIT?
2. I have had Alopecia areata in the past in back part of my head. It happened several times, last time 3 years ago. I wonder how it will affect my chance for doing hair transplant. I really appreciate if you can please answer me in details.

Thank you so much for your attention and time.

Sincerely,
S T

A:

Thanks for you interest in our hair restoration services.  I will answer your questions in the order they were received:

1. Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) is the gold standard method in doing hair restoration. FUT is done in two methods 1. strip technique and 2. Follicular unit extraction (FUE, also called FIT).  It has to do with your goals in hair restoration and you can read more about advantages and disadvantages of FUE in my hair restoration blog.  Planning on doing one vs. the other needs to be discussed with the patient during the initial consultation.
2. Alopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune disorder and usually a reversible condition in which a patient loses hair in a patchy fashion.  It affects transplanted hair the same as normal hair.  I generally make sure that patients don’t have active AA before proceeding with hair transplant.  A physical examination is extremely important in differentiating between male patterned baldness and diffuse alopecia areata (a rare type of alopecia areata).  In undiagnosed cases of alopecia areata, if a patient gets a transplant in the balding area that hair is lost due to AA, there is a risk that patient will lose the transplanted hair with the same mechanism.

Looking at the trend of search on our website, I noticed hair transplant cost, hair transplant costs, cost of hair transplant are among the most popular phrases that are used by the visitors who are trying to educate themselves on hair restoration and what is involved including the cost of hair transplant or hair restoration cost or costs in a hair restoration procedure.  There are many people who try to get the best value their money can buy and some people are cheap shopping.  I don’t mind finding a chip product when I am shopping for the same brand that I usually buy at a discounted rate.  However, when it comes to the cost of hair restoration, I don’t recommend finding a hair transplant surgeon merely based on the price of hair restorations.

Affordable hair transplant surgeries or other promotional phrases such as discounted hair transplants, $1 per hair, low cost hair transplants could be found everywhere, however when it comes to hair transplant with its permanent effect on your face, it should be more of a value shopping rather than price shopping.  Remember that you are buying something that is going to stay with you for the rest of your life.

I perform quite a few hair transplant repair procedures every months.  Some of the patients who go through repaire surgery are the ones who had their hair transplantation years ago, before the era of follicular unit transplants, but unfortunately a large number of those patients had their hair restoration surgeries in the last few years.  They either never received the number of grafts that they were promised and end up with less than optimal coverage due to technical problems or got problem with the artistic design of the hairline or issues with distribution of the hair on the balding area.

Among hair transplant surgeons some charge more due the name, brand and the location.  You have probably seen the signs like: “Beverly Hills Hair Transplant Surgeon.  Some of the older hair transplant doctors have been unable to keep up with the new techniques of hair restoration, I don’t see then participating in hair restoration scientific meetings thus are simply are not aware of what is the gold standard in hair transplantation.  Having said that, I do now some of the the pioneers in hair restoration that are always ahead of their time and are involved in hair transplant research and development.  One good example is Dr. William Rassman whom I had privilege of working with closely in the past.  He is one of the few hair transplant surgeons capable of providing quality hair restorations utilizing the new techniques while using his years of experience in the field of hair restoration.

In conclusion, it all comes bacn to the patient who need to realize what he is getting is a procedure that produces permanent changes and they better off doing it right the first time and don’t risk getting a less than optimal hair restoration that might need a repair hair transplant in the future.  Whether you are in Los angeles or elsewhere, you need to do your homework to find a good hair transplant surgeon and even after that know what kind of questions to ask from your hair transplant doctor.

Hair transplant cost is important and is a determining factor for some people, but you should not make your decision solely based on the cost and affordability in your hair transplant surgeon search.  That is why I deliberately avoided explaining about hair transplant cost in Southern California hair transplant centers of US Hair Restoration in this article, which is titled “hair transplant cost in Los Angeles”.

Please call Los Angeles Offices of US Hair Restoraiton for our current rates and promotions on hair transplants:  Telephone: 888-302-8747
Or visit: Hair Transplant Cost

Dear Dr. Mohebi:

Hello, my name is KT I am a chemistry student at Kwansei Gakuin University in Japan.
I found your email address on the ISHRS website. I am doing research on solving hair loss, and I wonder if you might be able to help me. I noticed on your website that you are working with hair loss, so it seems you have knowledge about these issues. I know you must be very busy, but I hope you do not mind if I ask you a question.

In your research and in your opinion, do you think that the biggest cause of hair loss is inheritance?
Thank you very much for your time and attention to my question. I hope to hear from you at your convenience, and I am grateful for your assistance with my research. Thank you once again, and have a nice day.

Sincerely,

KT
Kwansei Gakuin University
Japan

A:

You are right about inheritance and hair loss as male patterned baldness is concerned.  When you are a man (have testosterone) so your body can make DHT (dihydroxy testosterone) and are genetically prone to male patterned hair loss, you have two of the three sides of the balding triangle.  You only need the third side which is time to force the other two factors to work on your hair and cause miniaturization of hair and have them fall out.  Considering that men have testosterone, genetics become the most important factor in men who experience male patterned baldness.