I have been smoking for going on 20 years now. I have tried dozens of times to quit with no real success. I desperately want a hair transplant so I think that might be just the motivation to get me to quit. How soon before my transplant do I need to quit smoking and how does smoking affect the hair transplant?
Answer:
Obviously, the further before the hair transplant that you can quit smoking the better. However, we insist that everybody quit smoking for at least one to two weeks before the hair transplant and for one to two weeks after the hair transplant. If you are a seriously heavy smoker and if you should smoke during the hair transplant, certainly the possibility of having a poor take of the hair follicles can happen and you would be getting an unsatisfactory result.
I am 52 and about a IV verging on a V of the Norwood Scale. I am most interested in filling in my crown and was wondering about how many grafts this would take.
Answer:
This will depend on the kind of look that you are after, the kind of hair that you have and how your hair lays. In general, however, if you are a IV or V on the Norwood Scale and you are interested in filling in the crown, I think you are at least looking at 2,500 to 3,000 hair grafts to cover this area adequately. You may need more and you may want to do a second procedure. You have to remember that there are 6,000 to 8,000 transplantable hairs available to any patient, even if you do less at any one particular time. However, 2,500 to 3,000 as a start would be a good way of assessing your success and happiness with the hair transplant to cover this particular kind of area.
I am a 56-year-old male and had a hair transplant years ago. The scar from the previous procedure never healed well and I was wondering if it would be possible to do anything to repair it. How would this be done and what sort of result can I expect?
Answer:
We do a large number of scar repairs on people who had previous hair transplants, mostly at other places. If you have a scar that is either a hypertrophic scar or widened scar, many times it is possible to do a w-plasty or some other procedure that can effectively remove the scar and give you a much better result. We can also at times, if need be, transplant hair follicles into the scar to camouflage it. We will be able to advise you of the best procedure for your particular case upon seeing you. But again those are the two particular methods: one would be a scar revision which we do very successfully and the other would be transplanting hair follicles into the scar itself to camouflage it.
How do you know if you are a good candidate for hair transplant or not? Are there some people who do not make good candidates?
Answer:
In today's work, it is possible to get good hair transplant results with almost every patient because of the many improvements in the field and our extensive experience with different kinds of patients. However, there are some people who, because of their hair color, hair texture and scalp color, are better candidates than other people. Patients who have extremely pale scalps and thick, dark, straight hair may have a little tendency to be more difficult to transplant naturally than others, however good work will make a good result on almost any patient there is. If you have any questions regarding the texture of your hair and your scalp, you can certainly e-mail pictures to us or get a consult and we will go over it in great detail.
Is it really necessary to consult several surgeons for hair transplantation before picking one?
Answer:
In my opinion, if you go to one of the surgeons from the Foundation of Hair Restoration and Plastic Surgery, it is not necessary to see a number of different surgeons. I can say this honestly because we have so much experience in doing hair transplants. By far, we do the best hair work and we can show you pictures of thousands of patients that attest to this so that you should feel comfortable in choosing us. However, I would never tell anyone not to go to another surgeon because seeing anyone else should show you clearly that the best, safest, most natural work you can get would be with one of the surgeons at the Foundation for Hair Restoration and Plastic Surgery.
I have been thinking more and more of getting a hair transplant. I think I would like to make the next step and schedule a consultation but I am still hesitant, I suppose because I have no idea what to expect. Can you tell me what happens during the consultation?
Answer:
I am happy to walk you through a typical consultation. When you come to the office, you are signed in and all appropriate information is given to the nurse, such as your medical condition, any kind of medications that you may be on, anything that would put you at any particular medical risk, and allergies and other things that are important for any surgeon to know. Once all that information has be given to us and once we know the condition of your medical situation, you are then brought to a private room where you will meet with both the doctor and a patient consultant. At that point, the doctor examines you after finding out what your particular concerns are and he then shows you what the likely results from a hair transplant would be and what the best procedure is for you. Then we will show you lots of pictures of before and after, especially patients who have the same similar kind of hair loss. After that is done and you know what to expect from the surgery, the patient consultant will go over all the aspects of cost and scheduling with you. We make the consultation as comfortable as possible and make sure that all of your questions are answered and that when you leave you have a clear idea exactly what the procedure involves, who the people are that will be working on you, what the costs are and what you have to plan for in terms of recovery at home.
My hair transplant was nearly a year ago. Unfortunately I suffered shock loss. The surgeon said the hair would grow. It still hasn’t. At this point is my hair lost or is there any chance that it will grow?
Answer:
If there is still shock loss at a year afterward, there certainly is a reduced chance that the hair will now grow back. Most shock loss returns within 6 to 12 months and I think at this point you should go see the surgeon and explain the situation to him and maybe consider getting additional transplants if the scalp is healthy at this point.
I have very hairy arms and legs. I am very interested in laser hair removal and was wondering how much time per session is involved and how painful is the procedure?
Answer:
Laser hair removal is often done in stages if there are large areas involved like both arms and both legs. However, you could easily do your arms in one session and your legs in another session or, if you want, you can try and do both the arms and legs in the same session. To do arms and legs you are looking at about an hour or an hour and a half session. The procedure, while it is not painful, does result in a tiny little stinging sensation when the laser is applied. However, a cream can be placed that helps numb the area so it is basically painless.
Again, I would recommend probably trying to do your arms and legs in one session at the same time if you do not mind laying around for about an hour or hour and a half. The procedure would be repeated again in about three or four months as needed, but it would remove the hair on the legs and on the arms very nicely.
I am a 28-year-old female and I have a very pronounced widow's peak. I enjoy wearing my hair pulled back in a ponytail during the summer months but I am very self conscious of my hairline and tired of wearing bangs. Is laser hair removal in this area a good alternative?
Answer:
Yes, you can do laser hair removal in this area. You can also take another approach which involves doing hair transplant work to change the widow's peak hairline to a more natural looking hairline that you like better.
Again, to summarize, you can do one of two things. You can either do laser hair removal in the area to change the hairline but that would have to be repeated at a later date because it is not permanent, or you can have hair transplanted in the area to change the hairline itself, which would be permanent and would also be an excellent way of solving the problem.
Does this apply to facial hair implants as well? Will Monoxidil help the newly implanted hairs on the face grow any quicker or thicker? I don't see why not since the hairs we taken from the head area. I know that the label on monoxidil bottle tells you only to apply it on the scalp.
Answer:
Yes, minoxidil can help speed up the regrowth of hairs transplanted to the face. However, it can cause irritation, which would be detrimental, and besides, because of the excellent blood supply to the face, it really is not necessary.
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