There is an abundance of hair transplant ‘before and after’ photos at the fingertips of anyone interested enough to perform a search online. However, educated consumers need to understand that certain clinics and physicians will deliberately publish misleading photos that do not accurately depict the true quality of their transplant outcomes.
When basing a hair restoration surgery decision on a physician’s photos, make sure the images are large, clear and very detailed. Doctors who are proud of their work will have nothing to hide and no qualms about posting high-quality images, showing details such as the patient’s hairline. Excellent hairline work should have a gradual “feathering” effect and a natural look. Look for consistent lighting in before and after photos; overexposure of the results photos can be misleading. There should also be consistency in hair styling (whether hair is wet, dry, gelled, styled, etc.) and the angles from which the patient is photographed.
Some doctors’ websites provide only small, dimly lit images, in an effort to disguise details that may detract from the results they wish to convey. Some photos may even be deliberately out-of-focus or blurred. Doctors who are trying to disguise the lackluster quality of their work will avoid showing detailed hairlines in their patient galleries, or will style the patient’s hair so as to conceal the hairline. Some doctors will even digitally alter images, using software such as Photoshop, to blur hairlines. One way to detect whether the images have been altered is to look carefully for detail; watch out for ‘blobs’ (where an editor may have tried to smooth the hairline appearance) and a lack of individual discernable hairs. Beware of doctors who hide behind poor quality images in hopes that prospective patients will not notice the lack of clarity or detail in their results images. A top quality physician will have nothing to hide.
I am now 29 and have been using propecia for around 6 years and my hair sitution has now got worse.
I was wondering With your expertise and vast knowledge if you would recommend me trying avodart to help my situation alongside propecia or take it by itself?
The studies that have been performed show that Avodart does work better than Propecia. The only problem is that we don’t know the long term consequences of taking it. You are blocking both forms of 5 alpha reductase. We don’t know if this will produce problems later on such as depression.
The other problem is we don’t know the proper dose because it has not been studied. People take it once a day or as little as once a week because it has a long half life. There are many patients on it because it works better than Propecia, but I’ve heard a few say that the Propecia worked better than the Avodart.
Shedding probably means it is working for you because hair shedding occurs when resting hairs return to the growing phase and push the old resting hair out. This means that the drug is stimulating growth or Anagen. Of course it could take up to one year before you see a noticable improvement. I think it will always work best when you have some existing hair. If your hair line is bald, don’t expect much benefit. If the hair line still has hair, then the Avodart could stimulate new growth. The main thing all these products do is prolong the life of hair. It is actually rare to see a significant improvement in coverage, but when it occurs, it can be amazing.
My dermatologist just recommended me to take accutane for my acne. I’ve been doing some research and I read somewhere that one should be off of accutane for atleast 6 months before having a cosmetic surgery, because of scarring reasons
No one really knows for sure. Accutane is supposed to affect the sebaceous glands and as such it had an affect on skin resurfacing. It has not been studied in hair transplant surgery, but the general rule of thumb is that you should be off Accutane for 6 months prior to a hair transplant. I’ve done a strip on a patient who did not tell me he was taking Accutane until after his surgery. He healed just fine. Patients on Accutane probably respond well to FUE. Going with the general rule though, you should wait 6 months after stopping Accutane prior to having a hair transplant.
There are also a few reports of hair loss on Accutane.
You can probably have a hair transplant and safely start Accutane a month later, but this has not been studied either.
.
I had a consultation and the doctor said that FUT is more powerful procedure than FUE and has more advantages, What is Dr. Cole opinion?
FUE allows for the harvesting of hair all over the permanent zone. This allows for potentially more hair than one may achieve from strip surgery especially if strip surgery is limited to a single strip scar. The disadvantage to FUE is that you will thin out the donor area. This should be carried out in a manner such that the area is equally thinned out. Also FUE is not a completely scarless procedure. In some individuals white spots may occur at the extraction sites. Overall these white spots are considerably less noticeable than the strip scar.
Strips result in distortion of hair growth angles. Properly performed FUE does not distort the direction of hair growth angles. FUE is a far better procedure that is in the hands of the physician. Conversely, strip surgery yields fewer hairs per graft and the graft dissection is in the hands of the surgery technicians with varied degrees of skill and no medical license to practice medicine.
FUE is a far more advanced procedure with greater potential to the patient. Patients have the capacity to receive more hair from fewer grafts. This results in better results from fewer grafts. The transection rate from FUE is better than with strip surgery in nearly 100% of the cases.
Dear, Dr. Cole my nature of hair is curly can i use my body (leg. chest hair) in crown area by FUE in your clinic. i did no more donor area but the doctor said to me i can’t do FUE because my hair is curly!!! and the grafts will be damaged during extarcting. Is it true?
Those with curly hair can be good candidates for FUE, however, it is very important that these individuals select an experienced physician who is properly trained in how to remove such grafts. The extraction process must be modified slightly because it is more difficult to detect the direction of follicle growth underneath the surface layer of the scalp. Curly hair will generally take more time to extract but, as with all hair types, the transection rates and yield will ultimately depend on the physician’s expertise and skills.
One advantage to curly hair is that it provides more coverage value than straight hair, meaning that less grafts will be needed, per square centimeter, to achieve desired results.
