John Cole, MD

I’m 27 years old and I have been dealing with hair loss for the past 5 years.  I would say that I am a Norwood 3, or at least close to it. I am very interested in undergoing a hair transplant surgery, but I wear my hair fairly short and know that I will be left with a scar. I know with FUE that the scars are very small and spread out all over the back of my head so they shouldn’t be too noticeable, but I have two problems going in this
direction.

The first problem is the cost, it seems that FUE is considerably more expensive than a “regular” hair transplant. The second is what I am reading about the yield of the hair grafts. Is it true that FUE does not grow as consistently well as strip grafts? I would try to find the extra money to have this done using FUE if I was certain that I was making the right choice. Read the Story

Is there any ideal season for doing hair transplant, like summer winter? Some of my elders are advising to do a hair transplant in the winter season. I need your expert advice. -Hafeez
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Dear Hafeez,

The ideal season depends mostly on you and the procedure you choose.

Hair loss has a tendency to accelerate in the winter months. We usually see an increase in surgery patients in the fall and winter. As you know, some animals tend to retain more hair in the winter months and have more shedding in the warmer months. With humans, we tend to see more shedding in colder months.

Perhaps this is why we perform more surgical solutions in the winter than in the summer. Perhaps it is because people want a more active life style in the summer.

This leads me toward my recommendations. You are the one who will determine when to have a hair transplant. It will depend on your lifestyle. If you can wear a hat and can get out of public scrutiny in the winter, the winter will be better for you. If the summer is better for a more secluded life style, then have the procedure in the summer. Read the Story

Can hair loss from anabolic steroids be reversed? When I was in college I experimented with a couple of cycles of anabolic steroids. As a baseball player most of us used them to compete. Luckily I came to my senses in my senior year and stopped cold turkey. I noticed during that time that my hair began to thin. It continued to thin several months after I stopped using and then the shedding just topped. It’s now four years later and while my hair has not gotten worse, the hair I lost never grew back.

Is it possible to reverse hair loss caused by anabolic steroids or is this just one of the adverse side effects of steroids use that I will have to live with?
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Anabolic steroids can accelerate hair loss in men or women genetically predisposed to androgenic alopecia.  Certain medications could possibly reverse your hair loss, but it is not likely.  These medications include Propecia and Minoxidil.  At some point your hair loss may begin to progress again.  Medications can help prevent or slow down the future thinning or loss of hair.  You could try a course of medications for 6 to 12 months to see how you respond.  If there is no improvement after one year, you are not likely to see any future benefit in terms of increased hair though progression of hair loss might be limited by
future use of medications.  If you still desire to restore your hair at that point, you might want to consider an evaluation for you suitability for hair transplant surgery.

John Cole, MD
Member, International Alliance of Hair Restoration Surgeons
Member, American Hair Loss Association

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?
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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. Read the Story

I was left with a ear to ear, 1/2 in wide scar after having a mega session in 1996. It is impossible for me to hide the scar and the company who performed my hair transplant insists that they did nothing wrong. This has been a nightmare for more than a decade. I currently wear my wife’s eyeliner makeup to camouflage the scar which works O.K. but I would really like to fix the scar now that I have a little extra money. Is this possible and how much does it cost? Read the Story