Q: I’m concerned that finasteride might result in unwanted body hair on the arms, back, etc. Is there any truth to this? My thinking is that since finasteride blocks the enzyme 5 alpha-reductase which converts testosterone to its more active form, DHT (dihydrotestosterone), is it possible that it might actually have some effectiveness in ameliorating unwanted hair?

A: Yes, finasteride does have some ability to decrease body hair, since growth of body hair is stimulated by DHT. However, the effects of finasteride are mild and not observed by everyone, so if you have unwanted body hair you will probably need some other means to remove it such as waxing, laser hair removal or electrolysis. The important thing is that finasteride doesn’t increase body hair.

Q: I had a hair transplant in 2004 of mostly plugs. The plugs are in an angle which doesn’t really look natural, far from it. I have lost a lot more hair since I did the hair restoration procedure. I regret ever doing a hair transplant. I prefer to reverse the surgery. I have read a lot about repair work on the net, and I have come to the conclusion that using FUE to take the plugs out, and put them back into the scar might be an option, but it may just make it worse on top. Also I can do electrolysis to remove the plugs, might be better because the possibility of scarring is smaller, and as I already have a lot.

A: If you had plugs, then a graft excision with suturing will generally give a better result than FUE, since a graft excision removes the underling scar tissue as well as the plug. FUE only removes the follicles, but leaves the underlying scar tissue. In addition, the shape of the follicles in scar tissue is often distorted, making extraction difficult and leading to more transaction (damage to follicles).

Q: I was looking at your prices for repair work and you mentioned that you charge $85 per graft removed. I had a hair transplant and received follicular unit grafts (one-hair follicles) but I think my hair loss is going to continue so I might in the future want to remove them. Am I interpreting [...]

Q: After a bad hair transplant, can you use lasers or electrolysis to remove the transplanted hair? A: Electrolysis does not work well, because the follicular anatomy is distorted and it is too difficult to insert the needle in the right position. Lasers will work as well with transplanted hair as it will with normal [...]

Surgery of the Skin: Procedural Dermatology; published in 2005 by Elsevier-Mosby and Edited by Robinson, Hanke, Sengelmann and Siegel; is monumental work that covers the entire spectrum of dermatologic surgical procedures.

Dr. Bernstein was honored to write the chapter on hair transplantation, with a focus on Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT), the technique that has changed the face of surgical hair restoration over the past decade.

The chapter discusses strip harvesting, follicular unit extraction, the use of anesthetics, ways to optimize density and ensure the naturalness of the procedure, as well as a host of other important topics.