| Dr. Michael L. Beehner is a member of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery. Here the Doctor has answered some of the common questions Bizymoms visitors have about Hair transplant.
Q. Please explain the primary procedures performed by your practice.
We do hair transplantation only, and use very small 1-3 hair grafts called follicular unit grafts for most of our work. Occasionally we will use what are called "Multi-FU Grafts" of 4-6 hairs in the central area for increased density and fullness.
Q. Who would be a good candidate for hair transplant surgery?
Any man or woman who has either male pattern baldness or female pattern hair loss, both of which are hereditary in cause. There are some other candidates who are missing hair due to skin disease or trauma.
Q. How does hair transplantation work?
We harvest a narrow strip of hair from the back of the head and occasionally around behind the ears also, and then under microscopes, we have 4-5 nurses cut this up into 1500-2500 separate micro-grafts, which then are inserted into tiny needle holes on the head. They "hibernate" for three months and then start growing, and do so for the rest of that patient's life. It is their own living hair, and can be cut, permed, colored, or whatever.
Q. what can be done for people dissatisfied with previous mini/micrograft procedures?
We do a lot of repair work on old "pluggy" transplants done years ago. There is less of those patients coming in now than 10-15 years ago, thank goodness. We usually concentrate on making the front hairline more natural and "feathered" in appearance, and also in making the top central areas thicker, so you can't see through to the bald scalp.
Q.What are the possible harmful effects of Propecia and Rogaine?
Well, Propecia (finasteride, generically) can only be taken by men. It doesn't work in women, as their hair loss is not related to the hormone DHT like men's is. Also, any woman of child-bearing age who takes finasteride while pregnant with a male infant, runs the risk of having a deformed baby with ambiguous genitalia. For men, it is pretty safe. It reduces prostate cancer incidence by 25%. Around 2.9% of men will have some sexual side effects (usually weaker erection or decreased libido), which is reversible with stopping the drug or lowering the dose. Very rarely there can be a small "button" of palpable breast tissue in a male, which also will disappear with stopping the drug. But generally it is very safe.
Minoxidil (Rogaine) is applied topically and has to be used religiously without skipping, or after a couple of weeks, one can lose all the gains they have achieved while taking the medication. The usual liquid is a little greasy, especially in the 5% form. Some people react to the propylene glycol in the liquid, which is the preservative in the liquid. There is a new Rogaine Foam 5% which is much nicer to use and less messy, but unfortunately more expensive as it's not available generically. The only risk with Rogaine would be if it was applied to raw skin and was overly absorbed, then the blood pressure could drop and the patient could become dizzy, as it is a very strong blood pressure medication.
Q. How many grafts/hairs are needed for hair transplant surgery?
Most of our female sessions have sessions of around 1600 grafts, and most come twice overall. Our male patients have sessions anywhere from 1000 to 3000 grafts in size, depending on how large of a balding area there is and also which sizes of grafts the patient chooses.
Q. What are the advanced hair transplant techniques?
The main new technique that has made hair transplantation look so natural now is Follicular Unit Transplantation, as I described above.
Q. What are the new hair restoration treatments available for men and women?
Besides the two medications we described above, about the only other thing new is laser therapy, which I am not that excited about. It can be applied with a "wand" that the patient passes over their scalp every day, or as a hair-drier type apparatus at a clinic where they go in and sit underneath it a couple of times a week. It seems to have a stimulating effect for a certain percentage of patients, but I'm not convinced that it lasts very long or is worth the cost involved. I am quite skeptical about its value in treating hair loss. |
