The Cole hair transplant group now offers Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) to his patients. Platelet rich plasma, (PRP) is derived from the patient’s own blood and is rich in growth factors. Because it is derived from the blood, it is termed autologous and is safe. It is a cell based therapy using the patients own growth factors. The growth factors are concentrated however. The concentration of platelets is increased often over 5 times their natural concentration. This results in a super concentration of beneficial growth factors. The benefits of this therapy have been understood for years in many disciplines of medicine, but only recently have they been applied to hair restoration surgery and hair restoration in general. There are numerous reports that PRP promotes faster healing, but it is still to early to say that it increases hair coverage or a higher yield of graft growth.

Dr. Cole plan to treat the CIT extraction sites with PRP to improve dermal healing. Dr. Cole also interested in reports that injection of PRP into the grafted area may improve hair yield. For example, Ubel found that PRP improved graft growth by 15%. Greco has reported that up to 75% of patients respond to when he combines his patented matrix complex. Therefore, they are considering its use in the recipient area. There are some that feel it may be useful in the treatment of miniaturizing hair associated with Androgenic Alopecia. Dr. Cole feel it is too early to make any claims with regard to improved yield or improved coverage, but is very interested in the possibilities. Current recommendations on the treatment of native hair with PRP suggests that the treatments should be repeated every 10 to 11 months.

Dr. Cole and the Cole hair transplant group are also offering microneedling to our patients to improve natural collagen induction in dermal layers.

Will stopping to use Nizoral have as dramatic of an effect as stopping Propecia? I know whatever benefits you get from using the shampoo will be lost upon stopping to use it but would it be as bad as stopping Propecia?

I’ve never seen a remarkable result from Nizoral or Minoxidil. I have not seen improved hair growth with Nizoral alone, but it is supposed to work as well as Minoxidil alone. They both stimulate some hair growth and may slow hair loss in some patients. I have seen rare remarkable results with Propecia, but most of the remarkable results on Propecia seem to occur when patients combine both Minoxidil and Propecia. When patients stop any of these medications, they will loose what ever benefit they received from the medication. If your benefit from any one of these medications was slight, your loss will be slight. Most of the time patients simply note a reduction in the rate of hair loss with these medications. Therefore, you can expect the rate of loss to increase once you discontinue any of them.

I have been recommended 600 to 1000 grafts to the front.  I would like to know what is the highest density and graft count with more aggressive density on the front hairline.  I would like to have the front hairline to be suitable for a 36yo that is not on meds.

You can go with the maximal density, but I’ve seen many patients from physicians who claim to place 70 to 100 grafts per sq cm that are growing 20 grafts per sq cm. One of two things occurred. One is that the patients received 20 grafts per sq cm, which is not likely. The other is that they received 60 to 70 grafts per sq cm and they lost 50 grafts per sq cm because the placed density was much higher than their scalp could tolerate. There are studies out there showing that densities of 40 per sq cm grow only 73%. I like to keep my maximal density between 40 and 50 per sq cm because I have seen consistent growth rates above 90% in my hands. The other problem with poor growth from an attempt to achieve maximal density is that it may poison the scalp for future surgery and nothing may grow subsequently. It is best to stick with a safe density of 45 per sq cm on the hair line and in the rest of the scalp. This seems to work best for my patients. It’s not as if 70 per sq cm will not grow in some patients. The problem is that you cannot tell which patients it will grow in and which patients it will not grow in. The only way to tell is to try it and if it does not work, the patient is in real trouble.
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How long after an FUE hair transplant before a person can – A, shave his head with a razor and B, shave his head with a number 1 or 2 setting? Also, how does HGH affect hair growth and hair loss?

Often times the head is shaved in preparation for an FUE procedure. It is possible to shave the head immediately after a procedure, but it is probably best to wait about 3 weeks. The appearance of the shaved donor area will depend on the total number of FUE grafts obtained in a procedure. FUE removes intact follicular units from the donor area. This will result in fewer follicular units. If 25% of the follicular units are removed from the donor area, this will leave gaps in the donor area where follicular units were removed in an effort to relocate them to the top. A number 1 guard will conceal these gaps, however. It is possible to clip to a number one at any time after a FUE procedure. If you are concerned about gaps in the donor area, one way to minimize these is to add body hair into the FUE extractions at the same time that grafts are removed.

There is no scientifically documented relationship between human growth hormone and hair loss or hair growth. There are anecdotal reports of grey hair regaining color and an increased rate of growth with HGH.

I am recovering from trichtilomania and the hairs that are gone that place stopped growing hair all together and you can see the scalp, I was wondering if there is a miracle to help me regrow or start regrowing my hair…my currant shampoo is nioxin and nizorel…

Patients who’ve suffered from trichotillomania for awhile may damage or even remove the hair roots by excessive pulling, making non-surgical hair regrowth next to impossible.
Hair transplants will restore the hair, but it is very common for those with trichotillomania to resume pulling out the hair after the transplants begin to grow.
First strp will be to address the trichotillomania from a medical/psychiatric medication or therapy approach and solve the underlying problem. Once the patient knows that the cause of the trichotillomania has been fully addressed (fo a long period of time, then the reward can be a hair transplant to put their hair back.