Author Archive for Blaine Lehr, MD

Perhaps the greatest compliment and best introduction to Blaine Lehr, M.D. is a statement from O'Tar Norwood, M.D., one of the true pioneers in the field of hair transplantation (creator of the Norwood Baldness Scale, author of 1st two textbooks of hair transplantation, cofounder of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery, founder of the Hair Transplant FORUM International, and recipient of two of the highest awards---Golden Follicle Award and Manfred Lucus Award). Before he retired, Dr. Norwood stated, "Over the last 30 years, I have been associated with, worked with, and in fact trained many of the other leading hair transplant surgeons in the world. As the demand for my services increased , I knew I needed an associate, and I knew because of my reputation, I could choose anyone. I did not want to sell out to one of the large nationwide franchises. You have no control over their integrity or the quality of their work. I first began working with Blaine in 1993. I recognized his natural ability immediately. Just as importantly, I found him to be honest in all circumstances. He is a hair transplant surgeon of the highest quality". Dr. Lehr now runs the Norwood and Lehr Hair Transplant Clinic in Oklahoma City where they utilize 100% microscopically dissected follicular units. Dr. Lehr is a member of the International Alliance of Hair Restoration Surgeons and recommended by the American Hair Loss Association. Visit Dr. Lehr's Website: www.norwood-lehr.com

Is It Possible To Have My Hair Transplant Grafts Removed? Will My Head Look Normal?

I am 28 years old and had a hair transplant procedure of 1800 grafts two years ago. The transplant isn’t really horrible or anything, but it just Isn’t as natural as I hoped it would be. What I really want to do is just have the grafts removed, shave my head and move on with my life. Can this be done? And if so, will my head look relatively normal after?
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If you are convinced that you really just want to shave your head, my guess is that there is a pretty good chance you could make your head look relatively normal. Let’s start with the recipient area. The first thing you should probably do is to closely shave a small area of transplanted grafts to make sure that you don’t have any scars there that would bother you if there were no hair to hide it. If your hair is dark and coarse, you might even choose to pluck a small area of grafts or to use a small amount of chemical hair remover designed for beard hair to really get an idea of what your scalp would look like bald. Assuming you are comfortable with the look and you want to proceed with graft removal, I would suggest laser hair removal. This may require 3 or 4 sessions and occasionally touchup sessions every couple of years, but the advantage is that it is relatively quick and it does not scar. You should understand, however, that it may not work well for blond hair. Read more

How Can I Minimize The Visibility of My Hair Transplant Scar?

I had a transplant surgery about 5 years ago & ended up shaving my head anyways. I did not realize the scar from the donor area would be so noticeable. Are there any surgical procedures that can minimize the visibility of the scar? - John
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There are a variety of ways that you could consider. If you are bothered by the width of the scar, it is possible to undergo scar revision whereby the scar is reexcised and sutured back together with the hopes that the resultant scar would be thinner. While this is a quick and easy remedy, it is unfortunately unreliable. Because the elastic fibers in your skin surrounding the scar are continuously pulling at the scar edges, scars naturally have a tendency to widen. If you had enough elastic fibers to cause the original scar to widen, the same fibers may cause the second scar to widen no matter how good the technique of the surgeon. Another option would be to try to tattoo the white scar with a color that matches the surrounding skin, but it seems difficult to ever perfectly match colors. Read more

Are Megasessions Really The Best Way To Have a Hair Transplant?

I’ve been reading a lot about megasessions online, and I am wondering if this is really the best way to have a hair transplant and is it safe? - Sean
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I would define a megasession as a transplant of 2000 or more follicular units. I think most hair transplant surgeons would agree that such a session is perfectly safe as long as you are dealing with an experienced clinic. I would consider the following as potential risks if you have a megasession with an inexperienced clinic. First, it is possible that if the grafts are out of the body and not inserted in a reasonable amount of time, you could experience less growth. Second, if the surgeon attempts to obtain large number of grafts by excising too wide of a strip, you would be at increased risk for a wide scar in the donor area. Third, when larger numbers of grafts are transplanted, there is sometimes a tendency to create too low of a hairline or to fill in the vertex. While working in these areas is not always a problem, it is important to remember that male pattern balding does tend to be progressive over a man’s lifetime. If the transplant is not designed correctly, it is pssible for a low hairline or a transplanted vertex to come back and haunt the patient if he becomes significantly more bald. Fortunately, these problems are greatly minimized with a little homework. Read more

Minimum Number of Grafts Needed For a Hair Transplant To Make a Difference

What is the minimum number of grafts needed for a hair transplant to make a good cosmetic difference? I think I am a Norwood III, would 1800 hair transplant grafts be enough?
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The minimum number of grafts necessary to make a significant difference will obviously vary from patient to patient. There are 3 primary factors to consider. First is the caliber (diameter, thickness) of each individual hair shaft in your donor area. It goes without saying that the greater the caliber of an individual’s hair, the greater the resultant density will appear after the transplant grows in. However, it frequently surprises people how much of a difference this can make. If you compare the diameter of an individual hair in someone who has very fine flyaway type hair to someone with coarse hair, you can quickly understand why the person with the coarse hair might have a results that look 4 times or more denser. The second consideration has to do with the amount of curl of the hair. When curly hair grows in after a transplant, it has the tendency to look much denser than straight hair. Read more

Propecia Has Slowed My Hair Loss - I Am 41 And Interested in a Crown Hair Transplant

I’m 41 years old and have been losing my hair since around the age of 24. I’ve been on propecia since it came on the market which has really slowed my hair loss down. I’m around a Norwood class 4 but I have a lot of hair in the hair line. Do you think it’s ok to have a hair transplant performed to fill in my crown now that I am above the age of 40 and have maintained a lot of hair for all of these years?
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Without seeing your scalp, I will have to speak in generalities. I am very pleased you have been on Propecia. As I am sure you are probably aware, Propecia is able to stabilize male pattern balding in up to 90% of men as long as they continue to use it. Before talking about transplanting your crown, I would like to focus on the last part of that statement. Propecia controls hair loss, but it does not cure it. If you were to stop taking Propecia, your balding would resume. However, worse than that, it is possible that your balding could actually catch back up to where it would have been at age 40 had you not been using Propecia at all. If you have been using Propecia since age 24, that suggests that you could lose a tremendous amount of hair over a year or two period if you stopped taking Propecia. So before considering whether you want to have your crown transplanted, you need to be certain that you are willing to continue taking Propecia indefinitely. Even if you are committed to long-term use of Propecia, please keep in mind that it is possible that you could develop side effects down the road that would necessitate its discontinuance. That would be quite unusual after having used it for such a long period, but we very rarely see men who develop enlarging breasts (gynecomastia) after many years of taking Propecia. Read more

70 Years Old And Considering a Hair Transplant, Am I a Candidate?

I am 70 years old and considering a hair transplant. My wife thinks it is complete absurdity and won’t even discuss it with me, but it is something I would like to do for myself. What else am I going to spend my money on? I can’t take it with me when I die, so why not have more hair for the rest of my time on this earth. My hair probably most resembles Jack Nicholson in hair loss pattern and thinness. Do I qualify for this procedure?
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I see no reason why your age would disqualify you. If your hair loss bothers you, why not take advantage of a relatively easy but consistently successful procedure? Follicular unit hair transplantation is a minimally invasive, outpatient operation with an easy recuperation period and very few side effects (almost all of which would fall in the nuisance category rather than dangerous). If your hair resembles Jack Nicholson’s, it would be simple to create a hairline that reframes the upper portion of your face.

Being 70 years old actually offers 2 small advantages. First, at your age the necessity of utilizing medications such as Propecia or Rogaine to save the remaining hair is less important. Second, the donor scar in older patients tends to be much less noticeable. However, your age could also be a disadvantage. Read more

A Hair Transplant Gift For My Son’s 20th Birthday - Is This A Good Idea?

My 19 year old son has been very depressed about his hair loss. He has been talking to me about taking the drug propecia but I am very uncomfortable about him taking this drug with all of its side effects. I’m also concerned about the long term side effects. I was thinking about just gong him the gift of a hair transplant for his 20th birthday so that he can put this behind him an go on with his life. Do you think this is a good idea and what is the best hair transplant procedure for a young person?

Dealing with hair loss in young men can be very challenging. Most of his friends probably have not started losing hair, so I am sure it makes him self-conscious. The problem with performing a transplant at age 19 is that it is extremely difficult to predict how advanced that man’s hair loss will progress in the future. Frequently, men who begin noticing hair loss in their late teens will bald rapidly through their early 20s. Without having a good idea of future balding patterns, it makes it difficult to judge where to safely place hair (keeping in mind that transplanted hair is permanent hair). Young men seem to invariably want transplants that create low hairlines and that fill in the bald spots in the vertex so that they look the same as most of their friends. Please be warned that if hair is placed too low in the hair line or in the vertex, future balding can lead to a very awkward hair pattern. Read more

Frequency of Hair Transplant Shock Loss

I am thinking about getting a hair transplant but I would like to know what percentage of people experience shock loss. Is there any data for this? Is there any way to know beforehand what your chances are of having that happen?

Unfortunately, I am not aware of any scientific studies which have sought to determine the exact frequency of post operative shock loss. Even if such a study were performed, the results might not be applicable in the real world because there are so many individual factors that influence its occurrence. Nevertheless, it is clear that it is a real problem, especially for certain subsets of patients. Patients who seem to be at highest risk include: 1. Those who are experiencing rapid hair loss; 2. Women; 3. Those who have miniaturized hair in the recipient area; and 4. Those who are having a transplant densely packed into an area of the scalp with a lot of the existing hair. The incidence of post operative shock loss in each of these cases varies. I would estimate that some shock loss occurs in up to 50% of the high risk cases; whereas, I would estimate some occurs in about 10% of regular cases. Read more

Can a Hair Transplant Be Done In Several Stages?

Hello, I have been losing my hair since I was seventeen years old and have always wanted to do something about it. I just saw an commercial for the hair transplant process by Bosley so I went on line to do some research and found your organization. I am glad that an organization like this exists. Anyway, now that I have been balding for almost ten years I think it’s time that I have a hair transplant. Is it possible to do it in stages since I don’t have access to more than about $5000 dollars or so per year of disposable income? And how many hair grafts will it take to give me a full hair line and some hair behind it since I’m pretty bald right now. Thank you for your time.

It is absolutely acceptable to have hair transplantation performed in stages. In fact, for men with more advanced hair loss, that is the way it had always been approached up until the last 5 years. Read more