Below is a sample of the interview:

Q: Who would be a good candidate for hair transplant surgery?

In general, men and women age 30 and older can be candidates, but there are a host of factors that determine if a person is a good candidate…

Q: How does hair transplantation work?

Hair removed from the permanent zone in the back and sides of the scalp continues to grow when transplanted to the balding area in the front or top of one’s head…

Q: What can be done for people dissatisfied with previous mini/micrograft procedures?

If the grafts are too large they can be removed, divided into smaller units under a microscope, and re-implanted back into the scalp (the same day)…

Q: What are the possible harmful effects of Propecia and Rogaine?

The main side effect of Propecia (finasteride 1%) is sexual dysfunction, which occurs in about 2-4% of men taking the drug. Fortunately, these side effects are completely reversible when the medication is stopped. [...] The main side effect of Rogaine (minoxidil) is scalp irritation. [...] Both Propecia and Minoxidil can produce some hair shedding at the beginning of treatment, but this means that the medications are working…

Q: How many grafts/hairs are needed for hair transplant surgery?

An eyebrow restoration can require as few as 200 grafts, a hairline 800 and a scalp, with significant hair loss, 2,500 or more grafts. An equally important consideration is the donor supply…

Q: What are the advanced hair transplant techniques?

Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT), where hair is transplanted exclusively in naturally occurring follicular units, is the state-of-the art. [...] A more recent means of obtaining the donor hair, the follicular units are extracted individually from the back of the scalp. This procedure, called Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) eliminates the need for a line-scar, but is a less efficient procedure for obtaining grafts…

Q: What are the new hair restoration treatments available for men and women?

Low-Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) utilizes cool lasers to stimulate hair growth and reduce shedding of hair. [...] Latisse (Bimatoprost) is an FDA approved topical medication for eyelash growth.

Go to Bizymoms.com to read the full interview.

A: In the International Journal of Cosmetic Surgery and Aesthetic Dermatology (Vol. 5, Number 2; 2003), a study on low level laser therapy (LLLT) was conducted which indicated that there was a 55% increase of growth (hair count) in the temporal area as well as 64% in the vertex of the female subjects who were treated with LLLT for hair loss. The study also indicated a 74% increase in the hair counts of the male subjects in the temporal area and 120% in the vertex region. These results would initially indicate that LLLT works better in men than in women, but there were four times as many men in this study so the results might be different in a larger test group.

However, even in this notably smaller female group, the tensile strength of the hair increased dramatically over the tensile strength observed in the male subjects after treatment. This would indicate that, at least in this study, there was not only an increased hair count in women, but the tensile strength of that hair was greatly improved as well. This would be initially indicative that LLLT may be found to be more beneficial to women than to men.

It is important to note that this study was published in 2003. Further studies need to be conducted to confirm the initial results and to further elucidate the possible mechanisms of low level laser light therapy in both men and women with alopecia. As important, long term data needs to be accumulated to show the continued efficacy of this treatment. It had been our clinical experience that LLLT is not as effective as one would assume from the results of the initial studies.

Visit the Bernstein Medical – Center for Hair Restoration page on Laser Therapy for more information on the topic, or read more on laser therapy at the Hair Transplant Blog.

The article — Can Lasers Stimulate a Hair-Growth Spurt? — discusses the efficacy of the HairMax LaserComb and low level laser therapy (LLLT) and also touches on Dr. Schweiger’s main area of expertise, the diagnosis and treatment of hair loss in women:

Eric S. Schweiger, a clinical instructor of dermatology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, says the LaserComb helps grow hair, but adds that effects are often modest, typically take at least six months and aren’t seen in all patients.

The only home laser device cleared for hair growth by the Food and Drug Administration is the LaserComb, which claims to increase hair growth in men. While used by Dr. Schweiger and others for women, the device isn’t FDA cleared for them; a clinical trial is continuing, the company says.

Read more about low level laser therapy (LLLT) and the HairMax LaserComb on the Bernstein Medical – Center for Hair Restoration website. For further reading you can explore the Laser Therapy topic on the Hair Transplant Blog.

Michael Hamblin, PhD from Harvard Medical School/Wellman Center for Photomedicine, compared a dose of laser energy and a reference dose on the growth of hair in a lab culture to show that laser energy stimulated hair growth. Isolated follicles were placed in the Philpott hair culture medium, exposed to low level laser irradiation, and measured for hair length increases. Analysis of hairs grown ex-vivo exposed to the two laser doses, were photographed at regular intervals over ten days.

The conclusion of the study was that the wave length dose studied induced statistically significant increase in hair growth vs. control dose at the conclusion of the study.

The significance of these results is that it documents the ability of laser light to stimulate hair growth in vitro. The results showed that laser energy stimulated proliferation of cells in the hair matrix.

For more information, see the Bernstein Medical – Center for Hair Restoration section on low level laser therapy.

A: The advantage of the in-office LLLT systems are that the units are more powerful and that the delivery of the energy is the same each time. The treatment is also not dependent upon the patient having to remember to do the treatment and does not require the person to spend 15 minutes each time concentrating on using the hand-held machine correctly. It also had the important advantage of requiring an initial evaluation by a physician who can diagnosis the hair loss and make sure that it is the genetic type that may respond to this type of therapy. And the effectiveness of the treatment can more readily be monitored over time.

The disadvantage of the office- or medispa- based system is that the treatments are significantly more costly than the home machine and require periodic visits over an extended period of time – a nuisance for working people, or for those who do not live close to a facility offering this service.

The advantage of the hand-held system is that it is much less expensive than the office based machine and it is much more convenient to do the treatment at home than to go to a doctor’s office several times a week. There may also be a potential advantage for patients that still have a significant amount of hair. In these people, the hand-held system (that is able to part the hair) may allow the laser light to more effectively reach the scalp.

The major disadvantage of the hand-held device seems to be with patient compliance as people get tired of having to run the instrument through their hair for 15 minutes several times a week. It is also hard for the person himself to judge if the treatments are working, how to taper the treatments and if, and when, to stop.