In this way, hair loss is yet crueler than we tend to realize. We think, Yes! Hair transplant is the permanent solution! And while it is, it comes with certain prerequisites. The biggest catch is that, even though hair loss has started, that does not mean it’s finished. A hair transplant restores lost hair, but it can’t keep future hair from falling out.

What Happens When Hair Transplant Is Done Too Early?

Many have gone after this wonderful solution too early. And as male pattern baldness continues to progress, the newly implanted DHT-resistant hair stays in while the hair around it falls out. This creates hairline and temple-point recession preceded by a strange, surviving wall of hair still framing the face.  It creates a “halo” effect at the vertex, with mid-crown density surrounded by a circle of baldness. And while these deformities can now be corrected through follicular unit extraction, or body hair transplant (in extreme cases), they are nonetheless avoidable.

If you don’t want to have to undergo the emotional and financial cost of hair transplant surgery more than once, you must be patient. You must wait until you are at an age where your prospective surgeon can determine where your hair loss is heading and thus decide the best overall implantation design and pattern to suit you.

How Old Is Old Enough?

A younger hair transplant recipient with successful results.

The standard age for hair transplant is no less than 24 years old. Anyone younger is usually not yet a practical candidate. There are always exceptions to the rule, though; every now and then there are particularly young patients with successful long-term results (or who are preemptively willing to undergo a second procedure later). However, on the flip side of this, there are surgeons who require even greater age to qualify, possibly depending on the area of baldness. For example, one surgeon who is recommended on the Hair Transplant Network will not restore crown density on anyone under the age of 35.

If you have begun losing your hair at an early age, you may very well progress to a NW 6 or 7, which could continue developing well into your 30’s. Being the right age for a hair transplant requires the patience and foresight to recognize the dangers of undergoing surgery too early. Plan a free consultation with a known and respected hair restoration surgeon to find out what the right age is for you.

Hair transplant cost is heavily influenced by the spectrum of surgeons (and the techniques they practice), ranging from novice to experienced to widely revered. Typically, surgeons are first classified by their specific niche, or the main hair restoration technique they practice. Some niches/techniques are:

• Follicular unit transplantation, also known as strip surgery
• Follicular unit extraction (FUE)
• Eyebrow transplant
• Body hair transplant

Surgeon Training And Technique Affect Hair Transplant Cost

A practitioner who is an expert at FUE may not be greatly experienced with strip surgery. And visa-versa, a surgeon with vast knowledge of strip surgery may know nothing about performing FUE.

Generally speaking, it is safe to say that the more experienced the surgeon, the more hours he has put into training and practice, the more he charges for his service. A novice surgeon will be much cheaper than a greatly practiced one. However, hair transplant cost is also affected by the technique practiced. With FUE requiring longer hours during the procedure, it is a more expensive technique to start with. And since FUE is also the more advanced and intricate technique, a skilled FUE surgeon is the cream of the crop. Thus an advanced FUE surgeon will usually be more expensive than an advanced strip surgeon, even if they are comparably skilled in their respective techniques.

Eyebrow transplant and body hair transplant are niches within FUE that become even more advanced in and of themselves. Thus, they naturally require a higher skill level on the part of the surgeon.

Why The Most Expensive Surgeon Is Not Always The Best

Unfortunately, there are other things to be considered in regard to carefully selecting the most qualified surgeon with cost in mind. It is imperative that a prospective patient not fall into the time-tested psychology that more expensive equals better. Because, with hair transplant surgeons, that is not so. The most expensive surgeon does not always translate to the best quality work. Some clinics inflate their fees simply because of high operating costs, advertisement, location (rent), etc.

The best way of knowing whether you’re really getting what you pay for is to observe the clinic’s photo or video documentation of previous work. Videos are especially valuable in evidencing combs-throughs and verbal patient testimony.   Additionally this type of documentation will speak for the clinic instead of costly advertising—the price of which ends up getting passed on to the unknowing patient.

Hair transplant cost, no matter how expensive, should never sway the decision to use a widely trusted and respected surgeon. Bear in mind that hair transplants are permanent; quality of care is not something to compromise.

Botched hair transplant surgery can be a nightmare. It is prevalent enough to possibly deter a potential patient, or at least add to the existing anxiety that comes with the pursuit of hair restoration. Hair transplant technology has come a long way over the past 50 years, and many of these botched procedures may have happened before newer techniques, like follicular unit extraction, were invented. However, even with the most sophisticated tools and techniques, there is no guarantee of a successful outcome. To minimize the chance of complications or subpar long-term results, choosing the right surgeon is paramount.

How To Determine A Good Hair Transplant Surgeon At A Glance

First and foremost, a good surgeon will have:

• The proper licensing and board certifications
• Experience!
• Enduring SUCCESS and video/photo documentation of said success

The proper tools, namely handheld extraction devices since robotic devices like ARTAS and NeoGraft are still in their developmental stages

What To Expect of A Good Hair Transplant Surgeon

Once you’ve chosen a surgeon on a preliminary basis, ask for a consultation. Through your consultation, you should discuss the “look” you’re after, your goals and expectations, and your financial capabilities. Make sure to review the photos and/or videos of previous cases similar to yours to gauge the realistic outcome. In a nutshell, your surgeon is responsible for:

1. Not over-promising. He or she should be upfront with you about having realistic expectations.
2. The overall design of your new hair, especially hairline design. Artistry is key when it comes to hair transplantation. Your surgeon should be able to place each follicular unit at the appropriate angle and direction, with the proper symmetry and evenness. He or she should build a hairline that appears gradual and natural in and of itself while it also compliments your facial features and bone structure. Both science and artistic vision are components in hair transplantation.
3. The integrity of the grafts extracted, namely in follicular unit extraction. In FUE, each extraction is considered a (micro) surgical procedure, thus the surgeon (a properly licensed/certified associate is also acceptable) is the one who does the extracting. This means that the number of grafts that survive, as well as the number of grafts that die or go to waste (due to transection, for example) are the surgeon’s responsibility.

If you are interested in hair transplantation, Dr. Umar offers a free online consultation, and is happy to answer any questions you may have.

He continues, “Like any work of art, it is part technical skill, part instinct, and part passion. A hair transplant surgeon needs all three components.” As Dr. Umar states, a surgeon who possesses all three components will recognize that every individual is different. It is akin to being presented with different sets of colors and brushes, and working with a different landscape to portrait each time. The patient’s facial anatomy, hair color, degree of hair loss, age, and goals will all vary with each case, and the surgical plan needs to vary as much as each of those factors dictates.

This is what nature does when an individual is being put together genetically. It is that which the hair transplant surgeon tries to reproduce. Thus, a hair transplant surgeon is held to even higher standards than an artist working on a canvas. Because in hair transplantation, the canvas is not disposable, there is no option to erase your work and start over. The surgeon has one chance to get it right. The one chance that could make or break a person, his life, his social support system. Hair transplantation is not all about moving hair from one area to another. It is a life altering art form.

A Life-Changing Art Form Put To The Test

Dr. Umar feels strong convictions about the artistry of hair transplantation. It is important to him to be able to gift his patients with a reflection of nature, in the donor follicles selected, the angle and direction of implantation, the shape and progression of the hairline.

Patient renewed by Dr. Umar's vision and skill for the art of hair transplant.

One patient, whose advanced androgenic alopecia likened a completely blank canvas, was awed by the renewal Dr. Umar achieved. “The hairline was an exact match to what I had about 16-18 years earlier,” the patient said. “I looked at my old photos and it surprised me that the hairline he gave me was spot-on. The fact that he was able to do this without having seen my old photos is truly amazing and exemplifies the skill he has. I used to wear a baseball cap to hide my baldness and was finally able to get rid of it”

Although the causes are undetermined, alopecia totalis is believed to be an autoimmune disorder in which the white blood cells attack the hair follicles. This means that the body reacts to the hair follicles as intruders, like a sickness, and must get rid of them. Stress, another autoimmune compromiser, may exacerbate hair loss for someone suffering with alopecia totalis.

Alopecia totalis can affect people at any age, but generally targets both men and women less than 40 years of age. Children and young adults are most often victims of this traumatic hair loss. Research has found that, in Western society, approximately one in 250,000 women and one in 125,000 men will suffer with alopecia totalis or alopecia universalis.

For those with alopecia areata, hair loss may correct itself within about one year. However, those suffering complete hair loss from alopecia totalis may not be so fortunate. While there have been instances of total hair restoration, the chance of hair recovery is slight in the majority of alopecia totalis cases.

There is good news, yet. There are several hair loss treatment options for alopecia totalis, universalis, and especially areata. This includes:

1.     Topical steroids (creams, lotions, etc).

2.     Injectable steroids or intra-lesional steroid injections where the doctor injects low concentrations of steroids directly into the bald patches.

3.     Oral steroids. This is often used briefly in patients with hair loss from alopecia totalis or universalis.

4.     Contact allergy inducers or irritants: akin to inducing poison IVY in the hair loss areas, chemicals are applied to the area and the changes in immunity may resolve the condition.

The white cells that attack the native hair causing alopecia totalis would also attack grafted hair; hence hair transplantation is not advised as a treatment for this condition. The Hair Peace Foundation and other hair loss organizations can be a valuable resource for more information on alopecia totalis, alopecia areata, and alopecia universalis.

Those are among the reasons a skilled surgeon is needed to perform the delicate task of eyebrow restoration, and why the SFET and the Follicular Unit Extraction is an excellent approach. The procedure involves transplanting individual strands of hair from another part of your body to your eyebrow area. The new hair will look a little different from your original eyebrows and have a different growth rate, but over time it will begin to mimic your existing eyebrow hair.

Keep in mind, because your new eyebrow hair comes from a different part of your body, it will continue to grow, so keep your scissors handy for regular trimming!

Have more questions about ways to improve your eyebrows? Contact Dr. Umar for a free online consultation today.

The first attempts at surgical hair restoration of hair loss was recorded in 1822 by J. Dieffenbach. During his inaugural thesis, he described animal investigations in allo and auto-transplantation of hair, skin and features.  As early as 1930, a Japanese surgeon Sasagwa reported hair follicle transplantation, then by 1939, Okuda, a Japanese dermatologist, described the correction of alopecia of the scalp, eyebrows and mustache areas using small cylindrical punches to remove the donor tissue and smaller ones for recipient hair. Japanese physicians were successfully grafting and harvesting multiple and single hairs into other areas of the body including face, scalp and pubic regions. The reports of these procedures were documented in Japanese, but due to the emergence of World War II, the historical hair movement was still not revealed to the public.

However, Norman Orentreich, a  New York dermatologist reported hair-bearing scalp autografts from the same person, successfully transplanted from  the back of the head to the balding front and top in 1959. One of the focal points of hair transplantation surgery is that donor dominance is the central functional principal. Basically, if the hair follicles are harvested from the scalp and then transplanted into the balding areas, the donor hair characteristics will be dominant.

With this procedure, the concept of ‘donor dominance’ was introduced and the research and evolution of hair restoration surgery had begun.

If you would like additional information about Dr. Umar and his procedures for hair loss, please contact the DermHair Clinic in Los Angeles. A hair restoration consultation can easily be arranged online via for free. For an in-office appointment, please call the office at (310)318-1500 to check about appointment availability. In-office schedules for the most part are a bit more limited, so any information you can provide over the phone is great.

What Are Some Treatments For Hair Restoration?

• Propecia is a common finasteride drug used to stop hair loss by fighting the male hormone, DHT.
• Hair restoration surgery, such as “strip harvesting” or follicular unit extraction.
• False hair, such as hairpieces, wigs, and toupees.

Like with most conditions, early treatment of hair loss is better and will result in more successful results. For this reason, hair restoration patients have started getting younger.

For more information on hair loss or about Dr. Umar and his hair transplant procedures, please contact the DermHair Clinic in Los Angeles. A hair restoration consultation can easily be arranged online for free.