Balding Banter:

The only two medications that have been FDA approved for male pattern hair loss are topical Rogaine (minoxidil) and oral Propecia (finasteride 1mg).  The only FDA approved medication for female pattern hair loss is topical Rogaine (minoxidil).  A medical device for both men and women known as the Hair Max Laser Comb received FDA approval in January 2007 for its ability to strengthen and thicken existing native hair and potentially re-grow some of the miniaturized hairs that are below the surface of the skin.

We at Ziering Medical are huge advocates of the above mentioned FDA approved medical therapies. The patient has to be educated that a surgical hair transplant can only replace the hair follicles that have permanently become non-functioning.  The surgical hair transplant procedure does nothing to stop the further progression of hair loss of the native hairs surrounding the transplanted follicles- that is where medical therapy comes in.   For men, we encourage the combination use of Rogaine plus Propecia and light therapy as adjunctive therapies along with surgery (if you are deemed a surgical candidate).  For women, we encourage the use of Rogaine plus light therapy as adjuncts to surgery (again, if you are deemed a surgical candidate).

The best way to determine which medical and or surgical therapies are right for you is to schedule an in-person consultation.  One of our hair restoration physicians will give you a thorough examination and together you can individualize a treatment plan that would best suit your needs- whether that be medical, surgical or both.

One common question that we get asked by our patients during the initial consultation is- when can I return to work after my hair restoration procedure? The answer to this question can vary with each patient. If you are able to wear a hat to work or you have enough existing hair to camouflage the grafts, you COULD return to work the next day. However, we generally recommend that you take 2 to 3 days off of work just because you may not feel like going back to work the next day.  You just underwent a procedure that lasted anywhere from 6 to 10 hours (depending on the number of grafts transplanted) so your body may need some re-cooperation time. But I have had patients who have a very casual work atmosphere where they just sit at a desk all day, and they have went back to work the next day wearing a hat and did just great. Everyone heals differently and everyone has a different pain threshold level.

Generally people who can wear a hat to work or have enough existing hair to camouflage the grafts have their procedure done on a Thursday or Friday and return to work on Monday. If you are not able to wear a hat or camouflage the grafts with existing hair, and want your scalp to be back to it's normal color so that it is undetectable that you had any work done, then we generally recommend being off work around 7 to 10 days (depending on your skin type).

Most people who work in the public eye or just don't want any visible traces of having had a hair restoration procedure take a week off work after their procedure. But again, this can vary from person to person.

And now with the Ziering Medical's incorporation of the low level light therapy sessions as part of our special post-operative healing regimen, patients are experiencing a decrease in healing time, discoloration of the scalp and swelling.  And this in turn helps you to get back either to work or with your normal daily routine sooner than in days past.

Having trudged about this planet for some five decades now keenly gazing about and often fascinated by life's inequities - both inherited and acquired - it comes as no great surprise to me that for some of us, some of the time, it is a difficult task to assign proper value to elements within our lives.

This is true even when assessing tangible objects much less ethereal concepts such as the moral imperative to acknowledge equality amongst all people despite obvious and substantial diversity and, closer to home in this forum,  the concept of hair density and associated coverage in the setting of genetic hair loss with (super)imposed efforts at restoration.

Difficult enough conceptually to comprehend and somewhat counter-intuitive at its core, overlay the always present emotional component of the affected and one begins to appreciate the dilemma that continues to loom large in the mind of men and women grappling with the question of how best and affordably to manage a condition largely outside of their direct control. 

Hence I postulate, the passivity displayed by so many so obviously [ to we providers ] within the range of benefit of our contemporary techniques.  No wonder then that, as a result, I find my days as a hair transplant surgeon sometimes consumed with effort directed at attempting to convince individuals deprived of hair and feeling admittedly bereft, that, for a modest percentage of their monthly income their angst over this quirk of nature can be rectified and their associated psycho-sexual anxiety assuaged.  A once presumably easy task has proven itself to be more challenging than the execution of the task itself. 

Analyzing the process it appears to me that a paralysis of sorts seemingly grips some individuals as they attempt to sort out   need     [ am I worth it ? ]     effect [ what will it look like ? ]  and cost   [ can I afford it ? ]   related issues.  The result is a frustration with the analysis and and an abandonment of the mission.  Stepping back for a moment from my insider's vantage point I must concede I am not insensitive to the fact the questions can appear to be slightly daunting.   

After all, if you are born with something it's natural to feel a sense of entitlement pertaining to this and other related entities whereas conversely if one was never afforded an object or opportunity it feels quite natural to assume this commodity is by rights  'out of reach'.  This creates within us a "value scale" that is necessarily arbitrary at the outset by virtue of its inherent lack of perspective.  It is only with a subsequent dedicated effort to task that one begins to develop a more enlightened and expanded view of life's landscape.  In this regard we all benefit by the availability of yardsticks to measure and compare values.

Thus it was with some relish today that I reviewed the debut of the Lamborghini Reveton,  the latest limited production model from the Italian manufacturer's storied facilities and now available to a favored few for a mere 1.4M US.  'Alas, another yardstick'  I proclaimed aloud as I quickly calculated that I could now accurately state to a prospective hair transplant candidate that he could undergo a procedure for a mere .71 % of what he might pay for a fine automobile [ okay one based on fighter aircraft technology ]  But just the same isn't  one's improved appearance worth at least 1 % of the cost of a car ?         

I should think so !   Hopefully my job just became easier and the world will appear a bit more handsome in the months and years to come as more of those in need 'see the light' and that incongruent image of the bald man racing down the PCH alone in his exotic foreign automobile will gently fade into oblivion.

Does age matter? Yes it does, but at Ziering Medical it is not a hard, fast disqualifying factor. I mention this because yesterday I saw a one-year post operative patient of my colleague Dr. Calder who was a 23 year old young man that received over 3000 grafts in a single session. And let me just extend my applause to Dr. Calder for a fantastic job. He looked AWESOME. Yet he had told us that prior to coming to Ziering Medical he was told by other hair restoration practices that he was too young, and that he would have to wait until he was 25 years old at one practice and between 28 or 30 years old at another practice. 

While 23 is on the younger end of the spectrum for a patient to have a hair restoration procedure, it doesn't disqualify them. Just because you are young doesn't mean that you should have to suffer with either your existing degree of hair loss, or even worse, further loss for another 5 or even 10 years before you can have a permanent solution. It just means that you have to have a good working relationship with your hair restoration surgeon, and together you must have an open and honest line of communication about what can and can't be done. 

The young patient has to realize that the hairline will in most cases not be lowered; in fact, it will probably be started behind the existing hairline that they already have. We at Ziering Medical have the forethought to predict the possibility of future loss and at all cost we protect the patient's best interest with regards to their appearance for the next 30+ years.

And while not every 20-something patient will be a surgical candidate, we at Ziering Medical take a very patient-specific approach with each person and individualize the best possible treatment plan that will suit that particular patient- whether that be medical, surgical or both.

So if you are young and experiencing hair loss, please call Ziering Medical today for a FREE consultation so that we can give you a thorough examination and help determine if you are indeed a surgical candidate- you will not be ruled out based on age alone.

"What's the use?  I'm so far gone"  a somewhat reluctant and skeptical prospective patient lamented to me recently during his initial complimentary consultation.  Accompanied to the office by his significant other this gentleman of only modest years and obvious above normal intelligence struck me as someone who, despite prevailing evidence to the contrary, had unnecessarily resigned himself to looking prematurely aged by mistakenly assuming his hair loss was too excessive to remedy.

Yet another example I thought of the failure on the part of our community of hair restoration practitioners to effectively disseminate the good news that has accompanied the tracking of results of improved technology - now fully ten plus years in the making - namely that not only does surgical hair restoration work - in capable hands the results can [ and should be ] be nothing short of amazing !

Outside the scope of this discussion, the elements of optical physics that are at play in creating the miracle of vision as we know it - specifically as they pertain to the vista of a hair bearing scalp - are such that a literal minority of strategically placed and arranged hairs can successfully mimic the appearance of numbers far in excess of those actually transferred. This study confirmed effect is on the order of magnitude of 200 % !  In other words, every hair or follicular unit transferred effectively 'functions' as a number twice its magnitude. How long do we usually wait for our investments to double in value ?

What this translates to is the ability to create the visual impression of a full or at least significantly enhanced head of hair - provided of course that significant and appropriate numbers of tissue hair grafts are deployed into the area. By way of full disclosure these numbers may entail two procedural interventions - but the goal is attainable and met on a daily basis in the offices of the finest transplantation surgeons in the land.

So [ hopefully ] another one [ mistaken premise] bites the dust and the knowledge base grows and the appearance of young and old alike who are stricken by this cosmetic nuisance improves, until one day the world [ of hair ] as we know it is a better place - brought to you by the expert hair 'rearrangers' at Ziering Medical.