Greetings,
Here is a new hair transplant vedio patient testimonial discussing his experience before, during, and after his hair transplant procedure. It is very informative for anyone considering the procedure.
All the best,
Marc Dauer, M.D.
Greetings,
Here is a brand new hair transplant patient testimonial of one of my patients. His story is touching and personal, and his results dramatic. This is after a single procedure so the hairline is very conservative, but in additional procedures we may lower the hairline slightly. I prefer to be conservative in the placement of the hairline on the first procedure, giving the patient a higher density of hair, as opposed to a lower hairline and lower density of hair. My patients are very happy with this plan and the results it affords them.
All the best,
Marc Dauer, M.D.
Greetings,
I have just begun using Hypothermasol -New Storage Media For Hair Transplant Grafts which is a new storage media for storing hair grafts while they are out of the body and awaiting transplant. In the past we have had excellent results storing the hair grafts in saline or lactated ringers solution, but recent studies have shown that there can be an increased growth yield of the transplanted hair grafts by storing them in hypothermasol. Hypothermasol has been used for a number of years to store organs awaiting transplantation. It is thought to keep the cellular mechanisms more stable while the organ is out of the body, thus decreasing any cellular degradation. Applying the same concept to hair transplants, some new studies have shown that this storage media can lead to possibly better growth rates. Even though the hypothermasol is much more expensive than the traditional storage solutions, in my quest for the best hair transplant results that can be achieved, I have decided to incorporate this into my storage process of the hair grafts. I will check in with an update on this topic in 6-9 months with the results that I am seeing in clinical use.
All the best,
Marc Dauer, MD
Greetings,
I just completed a private Hair Transplant teaching course with Dr. Alejandro Jaime Ledesma from Mexico. It was a pleasure hosting Dr. Ledesma in my clinic for the week and I know he will put to good use the knowledge he gained during our time together. As always, it is enjoyable for me to conduct these teaching courses, especially one to one, as it allows me to impart quality private instruction to physicians entering the field of Hair Transplant Surgery. I am greatly looking forward to attending the annual meeting of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery in Anchorage, Alaska in a few weeks. it is always a great opportunity to hear the latest and greatest in the field, and to reconnect with old friends, colleagues, and students. I will post my thoughts of the conference in a few weeks.
All the best,
Greetings,
Today I will discuss the first few weeks following Eyebrow Transplant surgery. Eyebrow Transplantation has become a much more popular procedure as of late. More people are discovering how effective and natural the procedure can be when performed by the right surgeon. I was one of the first surgeons in the country performing the procedure and as such have had the opportunity to perform a great number of cases. In addition, I have refined the overall technique in ways that greatly improve both the immediate post operative period and the final result.
In a typical Eyebrow Transplant procedure I will place between 100-300 single hair grafts per eyebrow. The number depends on the patients facial symmetry, gender, hair color, and eyebrow hair loss, among other factors. The entire procedure is performed under local anesthetic. In the immediate post operative period I tell patients that they should expect to see some swelling around the eyes and possibly even some bruising around the eyes. This typically peaks at around day 3 and resolves by day 5. Within 24 hours of the grafts being placed they form tiny scabs around the grafts that look like little grains of sand. Immediately after the procedure the patient gets a good idea of how the eyebrows will eventually look because I place the eyebrow hairs at about the same length as typical eyebrow hairs. Within a week most of the crusts fall out and a few of the transplanted hairs may fall out, but for the most part the patient is left with most of the new transplanted eyebrow hairs. Beginning in the second week the transplanted eyebrow hair grafts begin to fall out. Usually by the end of the first month, most of the transplanted eyebrow hair grafts have fallen out and the patient is left with eyebrows similar to what they had before the procedure. During this “in between” time the patient may continue to put on eyebrow makeup just as they did before the procedure.
At around 3 months post eyebrow transplant the new eyebrow hair grafts begin to grow in. Usually the patient will notice more hair between 4-6 months post operatively and at 12 months the patient will see the full result from the eyebrow transplant procedure. Below I will show a patient of mine pre operatively and 2 weeks post operatively to give you an idea of the typical look in the immediate post operative period.
If you have additional questions about Eyebrow Transplants please feel free to contact me.
All the best,
Marc Dauer, M.D.
Greetings,
Today I will discuss the general timeline post hair transplant. Typically within 24 hours after the procedure tiny crusts that look like grains of sand form around the transplanted hairs whether they are on the scalp, eyebrow, face, or body. These tiny scabs begin to fall off around post op days 3-4 and are usually gone within 7-10 days. Keeping the grafts moist or applying an antibiotic ointment may loosen the crusts and have them fall off earlier. Most of the transplanted hairs being to fall out at around 2 weeks post operatively and usually by the end of the first month post transplant most of the transplanted hairs are all gone and the patient looks like they did prior the procedure. Typically , the hair begins to grow back at around 12 weeks. The patient usually does not notice any change until around 5-6 months, at which point approximately 50% of the new hair growth may be seen. Full growth is usually not achieved until 12 months post procedure and continued growth may be seen for up to 24 months post procedure. Patients who have undergone a second or third procedure may see a slightly delayed growth timeline.
I hope this information is helpful to all of those considering Hair Restoration.
All the best,
Marc Dauer, MD
Greetings,
I just completed a private teaching course with a very skilled physician from Saudi Arabia, Dr. Wissam Adada. He works in a well known medical institution in Riyadh, and came to my clinic to learn my approach and techniques in Hair and Eyebrow Restoration. I always enjoy these teaching opportunities because it allows me to work with a physician one to one and share my knowledge in the field. We had a nice combination of cases including an eyebrow transplant and a number of hair transplants both via follicular unit extraction using the new SAFE scribe and strip harvesting. I look forward to keeping in touch with Dr. Adada as his practice grows and continuing to be a resource for him in the field of Hair and Eyebrow Restoration.
Greetings all,
Today I would like to discuss the issue of donor strip scars and how to approach them when they are too wide, or noticeable, or the patient just wishes to cut their hair very short. In the world of Hair Restoration today there are many physicians trying to push the envelope of grafts in a single session. Physicians trying to perform 4000, 5000, or even 6000 grafts in a single session. Using the strip method, the only way to achieve these numbers is by taking a donor strip that is very wide. This puts undue tension on the skin closure and can then result in very wide donor scars. Sometimes though, even under the best of circumstances and a proper closure, a wider than expected donor scar can also occur. I have been seeing more and more of these patients from other physicians recently.
After much experience I am finding that when you attempt to excise these scars, often times they will just come back again. The best approach to this situation is to harvest grafts via FUE ( Follicular Unit Extraction) and then transplant the grafts into the scarred areas that are devoid of hair or have very little hair in them. Typically the grafts grow nicely through the scar tissue and provide hair coverage of the scar which acts to conceal the scar thus making it more feasible to cut the hair short.
I have included photos below of a patient who had multiple strip scars from a procedure performed by another physician. The ‘before’ photos show the donor area shaved and the donor scars. The ‘after’ photo shows the FUE punctate sites (these heal in about a week) and the hair immediately transplanted into the donor scars. A difference in the donor scars with hair transplanted into them is immediately visible and when the hair grows in this should provide nice coverage to the donor scars and allow the patient to cut their hair much shorter than was possible before.
Greetings,
In years past patients who underwent hair transplant procedures experienced a significant amount of facial swelling in the forehead and around the eyes post procedure. Typically the swelling occurred at around 3 days post operatively after the hair transplant and usually resolved by around 6 days post operatively. Oral steroids have been used in the past to combat this swelling and definitely helped to reduce the swelling in many instances, but taking oral steroids, even in small doses, can subject the patient to other possible complications. This led the hair transplant community to look for other options. In the context of any hair transplant procedure I use what is called “tumescence” to allow for easier graft placement. Tumescence is where saline fluid is injected into the scalp in the regions where the new hair is to be transplanted. This accomplishes a few different things. Firstly, it compresses the vasculature down below which then allows us to cause less vascular injury when placing the grafts. Also, it stretches the scalp which also causes less bleeding, thus allowing for better visualization. Finally the stretching of the scalp also “widens the playing field” of the area to receive the hair transplants, thus allowing us to place the grafts closer together. When the scalp shrinks back to it usual size this helps to create optimal density. What I now routinely do is mix in a small amount of injectable steroid solution, diluted in the saline that is to be used for tumescence. In addition, I no longer give any oral steroids. Since there is no downside to diluting such a small amount of steroid into the tumescence fluid, this make it much safer for the patient then taking oral steroids and the results have shown that greater than 90% of my patients experience no post operative swelling after a hair transplant procedure. In the rare case that swelling does occur, it is then possible to treat with oral strides if so desired. This truly has been a major advance in the field and one that greatly benefits the patients and decreases possible complications.
All the best,
Marc Dauer, M.D.
Greetings,
Today I would like to discuss Facial Hair Transplants. Many people of varying ethnicities have varying amounts of facial hair due to hereditary factors or even due to facial scarring secondary to trauma or surgical intervention. Facial hair transplants are also beneficial in female to male transgender patients to allow the individual to grow more of a full beard. It is possible to take hair from the head and transplant it to areas of the face where the patient may desire more hair. It is possible to harvest the donor hair for facial hair transplantation by either the strip harvesting method or follicular unit extraction. The hairs placed on the face are almost entirely single hair follicles and they are placed in receptor sites that are created with a custom size blade that measures between .5mm-.7mm depending on the caliber of the individuals hair. It is imperative that the receptor site angles are created almost parallel to the skin to make the new hair grow in as naturally as possible. Is it also very important to follow the changing directions of facial hair as you move along to different areas of the face. The growth timeline is very similar to other areas where we perform hair transplantation in that most of the transplanted hairs initially stay for about 2-4 weeks and then fall out. The new hairs then begin to grow in at 3-4 months and about 50% growth is seen at 6 months and full growth is seen at around 12 months. Below I have shown an example of a patient with almost no hair in the goatee region. The first photo shows the patient before the procedure with the transplanted areas marked out. The second photo is immediately after the procedure and the third photo is 10 days after the procedure with many of the transplanted hairs still present and appear to be growing. Most of these grafts will fall out in the next few weeks and they will begin to grow back at 3-4 months post operatively. I hope to post a follow up photo at 9-12 months.
All the best,
Marc Dauer, MD
This is a pre op photo of a beard transplant.
This Photo is 2 weeks post operatively after a beard transplant.
Immediately Post Op Beard Transplant