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When it comes to hair loss, most people are deeply afraid of the “T” word – transplant. But don’t worry! Today’s hair transplants, when performed correctly, are highly advanced, less invasive, with very little discomfort or downtime, and the results are 100% undetectable, never “pluggy.”
Light-years beyond the old style “plugs,” modern hair transplants create permanent undetectable hair restoration through careful, artistic placement of individual living and growing hair follicles or follicular units. One of the most significant recent advances in hair transplant surgery is the minimally invasive NeoGraft device, which helps the process of harvesting healthy follicles for transplantation. For surgeons, NeoGraft has made it easier and faster to accurately extract follicular units one at a time (a technique known as Follicular-Unit Extraction, or FUE). This replaces the older method of excising a long strip from the back of the scalp (known as the “linear” or strip-harvest method). For patients, this means a dramatically more comfortable hair transplant experience, shorter, less restricted downtime and absolutely no telltale linear scarring at the back of the head.
This less invasive style of hair transplantation, NeoGraft FUE is a highly preferred method sought by hair transplant patients around the globe. The downside of this demand, however, is that it has created the false impression that hair transplants are now easier to perform – that any medically trained professional with the device can do it. This is certainly not the case at all, but it hasn’t stopped a growing number of doctors from entering the hair transplant field.
I first began noticing this trend back in 2010, and issued a public warning about it. At that time, Spencer Kobren, American Hair Loss
Association (AHLA) founder, best-selling author and consumer advocate, joined me in alerting consumers, with this warning:
“NeoGraft may be a helpful tool, but it’s important for consumers to understand that only a handful of hair transplant surgeons in the field have the level of skill and experience that it takes to perform FUE to state-of-the-art standards and artistically achieve an natural result. The message here is to do your homework and choose your surgeon wisely. Not all NeoGraft practitioners are created equal.”
It’s very important for patients to understand that, as remarkable as NeoGraft is, it is still just a “tool” – and it is not a substitute for a qualified hair transplant team. Achieving optimal results in transplant surgery still requires a properly trained and experienced surgeon as well as an experienced surgical team in order to deliver quality results.
By far the most important element of getting a hair transplant is making sure you’ve selected a qualified and experienced doctor to perform it. In the right hands, a hair transplant can be a work of art – it completely restores the hairline, giving the person a more youthful and healthy look, and no one will be able to tell you underwent a surgical procedure to get it. However, in the wrong hands a hair transplant can produce an unsightly and unnatural look, result in scarring, and drain your wallet by having to go back to other doctors to fix it.
But how do you know who’s qualified and who isn’t?
Here’s what every hair loss patient should know:
What are the risks if my doctor isn’t a specialist?
Hair transplant results are most commonly affected by 1) the surgical plan—has the correct number of grafts/procedures been explained? 2) artistic design—for example, is the hairline shape as well as the angle, orientation and position of each and every follicle normal and natural? 3) technical execution—can the surgeon and his team carefully and precisely carry out the plan while keeping the patient comfortable?
The most significant risk facing patients who are treated by under-qualified surgeons is receiving an unsatisfactory transplant, which looks “pluggy” or unsightly, possibly with scarring. This can lead to a great deal of discomfort, as well as downtime, and may even require additional surgeries to correct.
It’s important to realize that inexperienced surgical teams can easily make a number of key mistakes which will affect the quality of the transplant.
For instance, how the harvested follicles (grafts) are handled by the surgical team and how carefully they are artistically placed into the scalp can determine survivability as well as the quality of transplanted hair. If the follicles are mishandled by an inexperienced team of technicians or without appropriate magnification and instrumentation, graft survival may be impacted – thereby squandering precious donor hair follicles and jeopardizing the density of the result. Also, if the surgeon does not have an aesthetic sense and understand the subtle nuances of hairline design and hair angulation, the naturalness of the results can ultimately suffer. In the worst cases, these unnatural hairlines may require repair.
What should I look for in a hair transplant surgeon?
Physicians are ethically, morally and professionally bound to disclose their experience and expertise when it comes to any particular treatment, procedure or technique. Therefore, it is the patient’s responsibility to do their homework and ask the right questions.
One of the most important credentials to look for is a certification from the American Board of Hair Restoration Surgery (ABHRS), meaning he or she is a board-certified hair transplant surgeon. Other key qualifications: Is the doctor “accepted” by the International Alliance of Hair Restoration Surgeons (IAHRS)? Is he/she a member of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS)? Is he/she “recommended” by the American Hair Loss Association (AHLA)?
But as a patient, you also want to check other elements of the doctor’s experience. For instance, how long has he/she been performing these procedures and how often? A qualified surgeon should have at least five years of experience performing manual follicular-unit extraction (FUE) hair transplants and another three years performing NeoGraft-assisted FUE transplants. You should also ask to see the before-and-after photos of previous surgical cases that the surgeon has personally done himself on patients similar to you. This will give you the best idea of what to expect with your own transplant.
It’s also important to ask about the qualifications of the doctor’s surgical team. A typical transplant procedure utilizes four to eight surgical technicians. Make sure they are properly trained, certified and experienced.
What questions should I ask the doctor during the initial consult?
The initial consult is the best time to get to know your doctor. Follow up on your research by asking these additional questions:
Is hair transplantation your primary specialty? And what other surgical procedures do you perform? Hair transplants have evolved to become a labor-intensive “symphony” of detail both technically and artistically. Do you want a doctor who has recently added hair transplants as a “menu-item,” or a full-time hair transplant specialist?
How many FUE hair transplants do you perform daily/monthly/weekly/annually? Highly specialized surgeons and their teams who perform FUE hair transplant surgery on a consistent basis (i.e., daily, as opposed to weekly or monthly) are more apt to be proficient in their procedures. Specialists may perform up to ten times more procedures than their colleagues—equating to thousands more procedures over just a few years.
How many full-time, dedicated hair transplant technicians work in your practice? This number speaks to the volume of procedures that are being performed. If a surgeon’s hair transplant practice only uses part-time or per diem staff or the staff performs other duties, what does this say about the volume of procedures he/she is performing?
How many dedicated hair transplant technicians are used for each procedure? A modern hair transplant procedure which transplants literally thousands of grafts can take 20 man-hours or more to complete. A procedure that uses one or two techs will certainly be a smaller procedure than one that utilizes four or six technicians – given the same amount of time. If your surgeon says you’ll be “done before lunch,” be sure you know the ramifications of a “mini” hair transplant
session.
What have you published/presented in the field of hair transplantation? Your surgeon should be proud to tell you the various scientific publications, abstracts, lectures and book chapters he/she has contributed to in this field.
Where can I go to find a list of qualified doctors?
There are a number of industry resources that help patients find qualified hair transplant surgeons. Two of the best sites to visit are the ABHRS, which has a nationwide directory of board-certified hair restoration surgeons (Go to http://www.abhrs.com/abhrs-membership-directory) and the ISHRS’s “Find a Doctor” page (Go to http://www.ishrs.org/content/finding-hair-restoration-doctor), which lists its member surgeons.
The ABHRS and ISHRS are two of the leading medical organizations for the specialized field of hair transplant surgery, so refer to these sites when trying to narrow down your list.
Top 11 Questions to Ask Your Hair Transplant Surgeon
• Is hair transplantation your primary specialty? What other surgical procedures do you perform?
• How many years have you been performing NeoGraft FUE hair transplant surgery?
• How many NeoGraft FUE hair transplants do you perform daily/weekly/monthly/annually?
• Are you board-certified by the American Board of Hair Restoration Surgery (ABHRS)?
• Are you a member of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS) and how often do you attend their meetings and live surgery workshops?
• Are you an accepted member of the International Alliance of Hair Restoration Surgeons (IAHRS)?
• Did you perform ‘manual’ FUE before NeoGraft FUE became available?
• How long have you been using the NeoGraft device? How many NeoGraft surgeries have you personally performed?
• Are you a member of the NeoGraft Network?
• How many full-time hair transplant technicians work in your practice? How many of them are used for each procedure?
• May I see pictures of your own FUE hair transplant patients, especially close-up hairlines you have designed?
Bauman Medical Group
Hair Transplant and Hair Loss Treatment Center
1450 S Dixie Hwy
Boca Raton FL 33432-7359
www.baumanmedical.com
1-877-BAUMAN-9
