Posts

Engineering Organs- Is Hair Cloning Next?

Greetings,

Today I want to highlight a new article I just saw on CNN discussing how various organs were engineered in the lab to create new organs for individuals that were missing these specific organs.

This is a huge step forward for organ cloning as the closer we get to being able to clone tissue, the closer we get to being able to clone hair. Once we can clone hair we will no longer need to harvest donor hair from the scalp and every person will have unlimited supply for whatever demand they have for scalp hair. I am not trying to say that we are a few years away from being able to clone hair in practical terms, but I know think that we may see hair cloning in the real world in 10-20 years.

I can’t wait for that day!

I have attached a link to the article below.

All the best,

Marc Dauer, M.D.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/10/health/tissue-engineering-success/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

/by Los Angeles Hair Transplant Specialist

Hair Transplant Patient Testimonial

Greetings,

Here is a new hair transplant patient testimonial of one of my recent patients. This particular patient is a well known actor and he describes his experience undergoing the procedure both the day of and the subsequent healing period. I also describe my surgical approach to this particular patient.

I hope you enjoy watching.

All the best,

Marc Dauer, M.D.

/by Los Angeles Hair Transplant Specialist

Early Growth Post Hair Transplant Procedure

Greetings,

Typically the information I give patients is that at around the 6 month post hair transplant procedure time period they should see 50-60% of the transplanted hair growing and that by 12 months post procedure they should see most of the  growth. From 12-18 months the hair thickens in caliber thus increasing the cosmetic density.

I have recently been seeing patients who are showing more significant growth at 6-7 months post hair transplant than I typically see and I wanted to post these photos for you to see. Nothing specific was changed for these cases so I am assuming they are just fast growers, but I will continue to keep you updated to see if this is a trend that continues.

All the best,

Marc Dauer, M.D.

Hair Transplant Photo

Hair Transplant Photo

Hair Transplant Photo

Hair Transplant Photo

/by Los Angeles Hair Transplant Specialist

Celebrity Hair Transplant

Greetings,

Today I want to highlight an article I came across from the UK. A well known athlete Phil Tufnell underwent a hair transplant recently and discussed his experience with the British press. More and more celebrities are discussing their hair transplant experiences allowing people to know that hair transplants are very common amongst the celebrity crowd. In most cases the public never knows if the celebrity has underwent a hair transplant procedure as most tend to keep the information to themselves, and of course we as physicians guard the privacy of our patients extremely closely. Privacy is of the utmost concern in most of these cases. However, when the occasional celebrity decides to go public with their experience it helps to give people a feeling of confidence in the procedure. If someone who makes their living based on their looks is comfortable undergoing a hair transplant, than certainly the average person should feel comfortable that in the “right” hands they can have completely natural results with a hair transplant procedure. I have provided a link to the original article below.

All the best,

Marc Dauer, M.D.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/phil-tufnell-hair-transplant-isnt-3062284

/by Los Angeles Hair Transplant Specialist

FUE- Follicular Unit Extraction-Harvesting the Healthiest Grafts

Greetings,

Today I want to discuss the tool I use in performing Follicular Unit Extraction otherwise known as FUE. Every person’s scalp is different and therefore it is important that we do not approach what we do as Hair Transplant surgeons as a one size fits all approach. Along those lines, I recently started using a sharp tip punch with serrated edges as an option for my FUE cases. Prior this the only punch I had found that produced good results was a blunt tip punch. I will still continue to use the blunt tip as an option in some cases that do not respond well to a sharp tip punch, but I can truly say that these special sharp tip punches with serrated edges allowed me to harvest FUE grafts that are completely on par with strip harvested and dissected grafts, which continue to be the gold standard by which all hair transplant grafts are measured by. In the photo below you can see the perfectly intact FUE grafts and the large hair grouping that are present in these grafts harvested with a 1mm sharp serrated punch. In one side you can see the single hair grafts that were dissected out of the larger grafts in order to restore the patient’s hairline. In the other corner you can see the total of transected grafts which amounted to under 50 grafts. Based on this case of 1656 grafts harvested total the transection rate was approximately 3% which is incredibly low for any sort of FUE case, manual or automated. If you look closely at the grafts you can also see the amazing consistency of the grafts which you do not see with FUE grafts obtained with automated machines. I have showed this photo to a number of highly respected hair transplant surgeons and they have stated that these FUE grafts look just like dissected strip grafts which is the biggest compliment one can give to an FUE graft.

In summary, every individuals scalp and anatomy are different and it is imperative that we as Hair Transplant surgeons have many useful tools at our disposal in order to give each and every patient the best result possible.

All the best,

Marc Dauer, MD

These are FUE grafts harvested with a serrated sharp tip. The natural intact groupings are seen in the bottom right and top left corners, the single hair grafts in the top right corner, and the transected grafts in the bottom left corner.

These are FUE grafts harvested with a serrated sharp tip. The natural intact groupings are seen in the bottom right and top left corners, the single hair grafts in the top right corner, and the transected grafts in the bottom left corner.

/by Los Angeles Hair Transplant Specialist

Keeping Grafts Moist Post Hair Transplant Procedure

Greetings,

Today I will discuss the importance of keeping the hair transplant grafts moist during and after the hair transplant procedure. It is imperative that the grafts are kept moist throughout the procedure as drying out of the grafts is one of the most common causes of poor growth. To that extent, my nurses are constantly spraying the grafts as they dissect them under the microscope, the grafts are submerged in saline before and after dissection, and my nurses use small “ring dishes” that have saline in them and allow the grafts to stay submerged in the saline even after they are taken out of the petri dish, but just before they are implanted.

Post hair transplant procedure, I give all my patients a specially formulated copper peptide solution that they use to spray the grafts every 4-6 hours to keep them moist, and I also cover the grafts in a generous amount of vaseline that functions to keep them moist and create an anaerobic environment which minimizes any possibility of infection.

All these steps contribute to great survival rates and thus great growth rates of the transplanted hair follicles.

I have included photos of the copper peptide solution and the graft ring dish holders below.

All the best,

Marc Dauer, M.D.

Copper Peptide Spray Graft Ring Holder

/by Los Angeles Hair Transplant Specialist

How Many Linear Donor Scars With Multiple Hair Transplant Procedures?

Greetings,

Today I want to address the question I am commonly asked, “will I have a different donor scar for each procedure?”. Every patient that has a hair transplant procedure, has more than one procedure. This is for 2 reasons. Firstly, the patient loves the results of the first procedure and at some point wants to add density to those results. Second, the hair we transplant is permanent hair and should never fall out, but the native hair that is present will erode over time, so additional procedures are usually needed to keep up with the continuing hair loss. In the strip procedure a small linear scar, usually between 1-3mm is left from the harvest of the hair from the back and sides of the scalp. When I perform additional procedures, I always make every attempt to resect the previous donor scar so that the patient does not have train track  like multiple scars in their scalp. Sometimes I see multiple stacked scars from other Doctors and it makes absolutely no sense to me that one would create an entirely new scar if the original scar was within normal limits. The instances where this is unfortunately not possible are where the previous donor scar is too wide and by resecting it we would not get any hair but just scar, or in a situation where the previous donor scar is too low or too high and taking it out would risk creating a much wider scar, or moving into an unsafe region of impermanent hair. The photos below show a patient who came to me from another physician with multiple strip scars from previous procedures and I consolidated the multiple scars into one fine scar that is much more cosmetically acceptable.

All the best,

Marc Dauer, M.D.

This is a photo of multiple strip scars created by another Hair Transplant surgeon.

This is a photo of multiple strip scars created by another Hair Transplant surgeon.

This is a photo after the multiple scars were removed and consolidated into a single fine line strip scar.

This is a photo after the multiple scars were removed and consolidated into a single fine line strip scar.

/by Los Angeles Hair Transplant Specialist

Hair Loss That Is Not Genetic In Origin

Greetings,

Today I want to discuss a patient who recently presented to me for a consultation for his hair loss. He stated that he had been gradually losing his hair over the past 10-15 years and now it had reached a point where all the hair in the frontal and mid scalp had fallen out. He was seeking a hair transplant.

Most of the cases of male hair loss I see in my practice are typical genetic hair loss which responds amazingly well to the hair transplant procedure. In this case, a close examination of the scalp revealed that the skin in the frontal and mid scalp was completely smooth and devoid of sweat glands that you normally see in healthy skin, including balding regions of the scalp. In addition the hair follicles on the periphery of the balding regions showed tiny red dots of inflammation surrounding them and they were easy to pull out. The patient also showed hair loss on his sideburns and eyebrows. I suspected a scarring form of alopecia and referred the patient to a dermatologist for a scalp biopsy and confirmation of my diagnosis.

On biopsy the diagnosis of Lichen Ploanopilaris was confirmed. This is an inflammatory scarring alopecia of the scalp that presents clinically in this exact manner. The biopsy also showed that the LPP appeared to be inactive. The patient came back to me and I explained that we could do a very small hair transplant procedure of test grafts in 3-4 different locations of the scalp to see if the transplanted grafts grew well. If they grew well, we could then proceed to a larger procedure to create some degree of cosmetic density in the areas of hair loss. I also explained to the patient that even if the transplanted hair grew well, there was still a chance that the LPP could reactivate in the future and destroy the transplanted grafts.

The patient decided to move forward with the hair transplant test grafts and we should know in 3-4 months if the growth is successful. I will continue to update you on the progress of this interesting case.

All the best,

Marc Dauer, M.D.

Lichen Planopilaris of the scalp.

Lichen Planopilaris of the scalp.

/by Los Angeles Hair Transplant Specialist

What Is The Best Age For A Hair Transplant?

Greetings,

I am often asked what is the best age for a hair transplant? The answer is that this is different for everyone.

In the past 2 days my patient’s ages were 28 and 83. Mt 28 year old patient was just beginning to thin in his hairline region and was requesting increased density to keep up with his recent hair loss.

My 83 year old patient had undergone multiple hair transplant procedures in the past and was requesting additional density in his frontal and mid scalp. He is a very healthy 83 year old taking no medications and with no major medical conditions. He still had good donor supply and was deemed an excellent candidate for an additional hair transplant procedure. I harvested 1000 grafts via the strip method and the hair transplant procedure went very smoothly.

My 28 year old patient had undergone a small hair transplant procedure with another doctor a few years ago and was requesting additional density in the hairline and frontal scalp. He had robust donor supply and his previous hair transplant procedure was performed using the strip harvest procedure. I harvested a new strip, including the old scar (so the patient still has only one scar), and transplanted just over 1500 grafts into the frontal and mid scalp.

So to answer the original question, the best age for a hair transplant can be anywhere from 25-85. It is the time when there is enough thinning in any particular region of the scalp that transplanting hair in between the native hair will lead to an increase in hair density. This is something that must be evaluated by an experienced hair transplant surgeon, but when done properly in the “right” time, this procedure can lead to excellent results.

All the best,

Marc Dauer, M.D.

/by Los Angeles Hair Transplant Specialist

Hair Cloning- Are We There Yet?

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Greetings,

Today I will discuss hair cloning as it seems everyone is talking about it these days. It is one of the most common questions that I receive on a daily basis as a hair transplant surgeon.

There is no question that hair cloning will forever change the course of hair transplant procedures and hair loss in general. The obvious questions is, we can clone a sheep? Why can’t we clone a single hair follicle?

The answer unfortunately is much more complicated. The ability to clone individual hair follicles at all is a very challenging prospect, and then try to create the ability to clone numbers of follicles that would be needed in practical use with economics that would make it cost effective, and we’re a long way away. Whether that means 10 years, 15 years or even 20 years, who knows. What is does mean is that we as hair transplant surgeons need to plan our patients treatment  plans based on the fact that we will not have hair cloning for the foreseeable future.

There are certainly many entities working on hair cloning. The entity to figure it out first will make billions from it. It will allow us to create skin so we will no longer need to harvest skin grafts from the body. It will completely change the course of medicine and will probably lead to other organ cloning abilities.

What I find interesting is the question of will we be injecting cloned stem cells from other hair follicles that just grow into new permanent hair? Or will be still place individual hair follicles like we do now that are just created via genetic engineering in the lab? Either way, the closer we get to hair cloning the more exciting things will become in the field of hair transplant surgery.

All the best,

Marc Dauer, M.D.

/by Los Angeles Hair Transplant Specialist