The Many Variables of Hair Restoration

As an older guy, I began hair restoration surgery in the late 70's. What they did back then should have been illegal. There was no public Internet of course, so one had to rely on marketing brochures. Claims in the marketing brochure I was given were false and/or exaggerated IMO. Progress in hair restoration surgery has taken longer than it should have. One year after the first 4mm open donor punch surgery, the majority of docs should have realized the obvious... the need to harvest and place follicular units. I even came to that conclusion without any surgical training back in the late 70's after my transplanted hair grew out. At least it grew. Having shotgun scars and no growth would have been devastating. That has happened to some men. The reason doctors continue to get away with poor work is because they either don't care or they have poor aesthetic discernment. One butchered patient I met years ago told me that juries are not sympathetic toward hair transplant patients and even horrible results are treated like "subjective artwork". Simply a difference of opinion between the patient, who knows the work is bad and the doctor claiming his work looks great.

Even in 2012, now that I work at Dr. Cole's office, I see patients come in for repair who have fallen victim to a doctor that left out steps that should be standard procedure among all hair restoration physicians. Bad hair transplants can be fixed, but what a waste of time and money.

On the up side, results by the top physicians have greatly improved. I see hair restoration patients where upwards of 8,000 grafts have been moved with results that appear 100% natural. I personally believe that ACell holds a key to greater scalp donor supply and better coverage for more severe hair loss cases. I have a stack of Donor Analysis Sheets on my desk indicating follicle regeneration of upwards of 60%. After we shot our ACell video, we had a patient that only had 10% follicle regeneration. So there is work to be done and hopefully improvement of these percentages will not be as elusive as the inconsistencies in body hair yields.

35YrsAfter works at Dr. Cole's office

Wow.

That was a good read. I bet you have a lot of stories. I would enjoy it if you shared some more.

Thanks for the info . :)