Hair Restoration Blog

Q:

Hello. I am considering getting a hair transplant and had some questions for you. I am 27 years old and began losing hair around age 21 immediately after using the drug accutane. I was on a very high dose and took more than the recommended amount during those couple weeks because I thought I would get better results. Within 3-4 weeks of starting the medication I lost an incredible amount hair. After losing the hair I read online that hair loss is a possible side effect of accutane and stopped taking it immediately . My hair went from being as thick as possible (my barber would using special thinning scissors because it was so thick) to being able to see my scalp within a month. The hair loss started in a diffuse pattern about 1-2 inches above my hairline and initially the affected area was about the size of my hand. Over the next 6-12 months I lost a ton of hair and was probably shedding a couple hundred hairs a day. I also had a burning sensation on my head for several weeks after I stopped using the medication. The shedding gradually slowed down over time but the hair I lost did not regrow.

A:

Many medications like Accutane may have hair loss as one of their side effects.  If your hair loss was only because of the use of this medication, it should have been improved after stopping it.  You  started losing your hair at the time that most people show early signs of Male Patterned Baldness (MPB).  Being on Accutane may have accelerated the pattern that you were supposed to develop, but probably was not the only reason for your hair loss.

Alopecia areata (AA) is a type of local hair loss due to autoimmune reaction of the patient’s body against hair follicles.  Alopecia Areata generally presents as circular coin shape hair loss lesions, but it can progress to involve larger areas of the scalp (Alopecia Capitis) or even the entire body (Alopecia Universalis).

Several treatment options are recommended for inducing hair growth for treatment of alopecia areata. Some patients may recover spontaneously over a period of time; because of this patients should be evaluated and selected carefully.  It is important that the options to forgo treatment are reviewed with the patients, as well as discussing the high failure rate of all the various options available.

Most people who have hair loss on the hair line prefer to treat this condition more aggressively with a variety of medications.  The chance of spontaneous recovery appears to be more in patients who have smaller and fewer hair loss paths.

• Topical Steroids

Topical steroids for treatment of AA has been widely used with little evidence of success.  They are easy to use and more affordable to many patients. However, the current lack of evidentiary success does not make this a valuable recommendation for patients.

• Local Injection of Steroids

Infiltration of long acting corticosteroids into the AA lesions has been studied with some degree of success.  Patients with smaller lesions of alopecia areata may respond better to local steroid injections.

This type of local injections of steroids is most desirable for limited lesions of cosmetically sensitive areas like hair lines and eyebrows.  The most common used medication is Triamcinolone acetonide (5-10 mg/mL).

• Systemic Steroids

Systemic treatment with steroids may stimulate hair regrowth in a limited number of patients.   Continued use of steroids is generally needed in most of these patients to maintain the level of hair growth.  Pros and cons of long term use of steroids should be discussed with these patients before initiating systemic steroid therapy.

• Topical immunotherapy

Topical immunotherapy utilizing allergens has been studied and proven to have some success in patients. The protocol for contact immunotherapy using DPCP has been recommended. Continued use of DPCP is needed to keep the skin irritated for a long time.  The inflammation seems to be able to change the progress of immune reaction that causes hair loss in alopecia areata.

Treatment should be discontinued only after full regrowth is apparent.  This can take an indeterminate length of time, and during this period patients may have to tolerate inflammation of the skin.  A high rate of relapse after discontinuation of treatment makes this option less desirable for most hair specialists.

• Other treatments of alopecia areata

Other medical treatments such as phototherapy, photochemotherapy, minoxidil and dithranol  have shown limited improvements.  Finally patients with extensive stages of hair loss with no response to treatment options may use wigs or hair systems.  That is more desirable for many women with extensive hair loss due to alopecia areata that are having zero to minimal response from any other treatments.

As with all New Year’s celebrations come new resolutions for the next year to be the best one yet! In spite of the predictions for the world to end according to the Mayan calendar, we at US Hair Restoration plan to be here long after 2012, and have developed some very exciting plans for the future.

The most exciting news for the turn of the New Year is our expansion to the two new hair loss treatment offices in Santa Barbara and Bakersfield  . We will have these brand new locations, which will utilize our newest hair transplant technology through the expansion and use of our new assisted telemedicine system.

There has been a growing trend for hair transplantations throughout the world as per ISHRS newly released stats, and we have noticed many of our patients commute from Bakersfield and Santa Barbara. It is our aim to ease the pressures which come from the time and resources needed to travel and thus, we will meet our patients where they are.

Our Santa Barbara Hair Transplant Office serves the city of Santa Barbara, Ventura County, Oxnard and northern cities of San Luis Obispo and Santa Maria. Our Bakersfield Hair Loss Office can serve residents of Bakersfield, Lancaster, Visalia, and Fresno.

We are excited for this new venture and look forward to all that comes in 2012 and beyond!

US Hair Restoration is excited to begin 2012 with a new Webinar series that allows for patients and curious onlookers to connect with Dr. Mohebi personally and ask their hair loss questions first hand. Each webinar will focus on different topics from “why balding happens” to “Breakthrough technology in Hair Restoration.” Each webinar will be equipped with a meet and greet, informative interactive conversation such as hair loss, hair restoration, latest techniques of hair restoration, etc. with Parsa Mohebi, MD. There will also be time for question and answers which may include special incentives for those who are interested in a hair loss consultation and hair transplantation.

Webinars are a growing craze which give a personal touch from the presenter to the audience. More and more corporations and special interest groups are connecting from several places around the world to one central location through this readily available medium. We at US Hair Restoration are excited to have this time to answer the many different questions given by people wanting to know more about the art and science of hair restoration, as well as those wanting simply to know “what do I get out of it?”

There are constant hair loss and hair restoration questions coming to US Hair Restoration that get answered over the phone, email, or have a blog written about them. Still, many feel they don’t have answers readily available for their questions. This hair restoration webinar series will give place for those questions to be answered in an open forum where Dr. Mohebi is available to answer all the questions himself. This is a great way to start the New Year off with an innovative, more personal way to connect to individuals.

We are excited to expand the ways we can stay in touch with everyone in our first webinar on January 9th, 2012 at 6 PM Pacific Standard Time. To sign up please send us an email to webinar@ushairrestoration.com or call us at (888) 302-8747. Space is limited and on a first come, first serve basis. Have a great week and see you on January 9th!

Laxometer II

Often times we receive inquiries at US Hair Restoration about the latest hair transplant technology, and we feel obligated to spread the news about the latest hair transplant technology.  We are excited about the new generation of Laxometer, the newest hair transplant device invented by Dr. Parsa Mohebi. The Laxometer II is a handheld device which revolutionizes the art and science of hair restoration. Being in the growing sector of the cosmetic surgery arena, progressive updates on hair transplant new technology is critical.

Applications

The revolutionary Laxometer II increases the number of hair grafts which can safely and precisely be transplanted in one surgery. A hair transplant of more than 3500 hair grafts once upon a time took two or more surgeries to complete, but with this latest technology in hair transplantation, it can be done in only one procedure.

The Laxometer II, the new technology in the hair transplant industry, is basically a measuring device which is used to calculate the laxity of one’s scalp. An accurate measurement of scalp laxity is critical when determining how large the donor strip can be. This latest breakthrough hair transplant technology gives a precise measurement which can be increased as a result of patients actively doing daily scalp exercises. The larger the available strip, the more grafts can be made available for transplantation.

At the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery’s 19th Annual Scientific meeting in Alaska in September 2011, Dr. Mohebi unveiled his new invention for purchase to all hair transplant surgeons. This latest technology in hair transplant surgery was welcomed with anticipation and applause as it will help to continue the industry progressing forward.

Here is a video demostration of the Laxometer work: Laxometer Instructional Video

Faculties: Drs. Suddleson, Mohebi and Perez in OLSW-17

Orlando Live Surgical Workshop (OLSW 17) of International society of hair restoration surgery (ISHRS) was held one more time in beautiful city of Orlando last month.  Hair transplant surgeons participated from different parts of the world.  We had many great lectures from the leaders of hair restoration surgery to cover basic information about hair restoration methods for new hair transplant surgeons and to refresh and update the more experienced ones.

We had lectures every morning and in the afternoon went to surgery center for hands on procedures to teach the techniques of hair transplant surgery.  I have to congratulate the the whole staff involved with this workshop for the great work they have done this year, coordinating a large group of doctors from all over the world and putting together a great set of lectures to cover a wide variety of subjects about modern hair restoration procedures and medical treatments.

Dr. Mohebi and Dr. Leavitt in OLSW-17

We had lectures about new methods of hair restoration surgery such as robotic hair transplant surgery.   The most updates on robotic surgery was shown to the audience.  There is a hope that the practical model of robotic hair restoration be available within a few months.

There is a woman behind every successful EVENT - Dr. Mohebi and Valarie Montalbano

I had two lectures that were both emphasizing on the techniques of removal of follicular units in hair transplants with large number of grafts using Laxometer.  I also demonstrated the applications of Laxometer in sequential strip removal techniques in live surgical workshop.

Technician training: Patrick Tafoya teaching hair transplant technicians

My second lecture was on Scalp Scars and the methods to revise them.  The lecture was focused on making surgeons more familiar with the proper techniques of scar revision and indications of each particular technique.

I went over trichophytic closure methods for a variety of different scars.  I discussed the implications of Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) to revise scalp scars.  I presented a variety of several scalp scars treated with FUE methods.  I went over the pros and cons of FUE to revise scalp scar and provided a guideline that hair transplant surgeons can decide what method should be used for each type of scar.

Searching for the best Los Angeles hair transplant surgeon may not be an easy task, but Los Angeles has always been a referral center for most cosmetic surgeries, even though hair transplant surgery is one of the newer branches of cosmetic surgery. You can find a wide variety in style and levels of Los Angeles and Beverly Hills hair transplant surgeons. Some of the most updated hair transplant surgeons practice in Los Angeles and San Diego, California, but you can also see lousy surgeries done by some hair transplant surgeons. Overall, hair restoration surgery like any other cosmetic surgery is a buyer‚Äôs beware market, and one must be careful not to fall into the trap of signs such as “Number one Beverly Hills hair transplant surgeon” or “the most experienced Los Angeles hair transplant surgeon”. You can see similar advertisements and a lot more like Extreme make over hair transplant surgeon or doctor 90210.

The good news is that today, most hair transplant surgeons offer free initial consultation. It is importantto take advantage of this situation and shop around. It is your look and your desire to live with it for the rest of your life after all. It is not enough to visit several hair transplant doctors; you also need to educate yourself on hair transplantation process, surgical techniques and hair transplant surgeon’s background before visiting the doctor. This way, you can appreciate a good technique and knowledgeable doctor when you see one while you can find the most affordable hair transplant. US Hair Restoration – a Los Angeles hair transplant surgery center offers free physician consultation for everyone. We offer state-of-the-art hair transplant surgery with exclusive follicular unit transplants (FUT), mega sessions for people with extensive hair loss and follicular unit extractions (FUE) or noninvasive hair transplants that does not leave an scar in the donor area.

Los Angeles is Hollywood and in Hollywood “appearance” is everything. Modern hair transplant surgery with undetectable results has become a demanding field in Southern California in last few years both because of the number of people looking for hair restoration surgery and the ones looking for the best hair transplant surgeon in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills and Southern California over all. Many people travel the world to get their hair transplant surgery done in Los Angeles or Beverly Hills. Los Angeles is and will probably always be the Mecca of hair transplant surgery for people who cannot accept anything but the best.