Q: I never kept my hair really long, what length can I wear my hair after a hair transplant to hide that I had a procedure?

A: Hair transplants, whether using the strip method to harvest the donor hair or by extracting individual follicular units one-by-one directly from the scalp, will leave some scarring. If the hair is long enough so that the underlying scalp is not visible, these scars will not be seen.

The quality and density of a person’s donor hair will affect this coverage and determine how short a person may keep his hair. In some cases the back and sides can be cut to a few millimeters, in others it would need to be kept longer. Since there is no scarring in the recipient area (the front and top of the scalp where the grafts are placed) the hair in these areas may be kept at any length.

Q: I just read a press release saying that researchers have developed a successful technique to clone hair by using a wound healing powder called MatriStem MicroMatrix. Is this new technique really a breakthrough in hair cloning? And if so, when can we start cloning hair?

A: It appears from preliminary studies that plucked hairs stimulated by ACell are in some cases able to regenerate new hair. Because the hair is placed into the recipient area and is partially derived from cells in the dermis, it is not yet clear whether the hair will be effected by androgens over time or if it will continue to bald.

The research so far is promising and a number of doctors are doing research in this area, including Dr. Schweiger and myself at Bernstein Medical – Center for Hair Restoration.

Q: There has been a lot of talk circulating on the internet regarding the use of Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) for the treatment of hair loss. Would you be able to comment on whether or not you think this will turn out to be a viable treatment for male pattern baldness (MPB)?

A: It is a bit too early to tell. My sense is that it will not have any practical long-term benefits for the treatment of hair loss (MPB), since it doesn’t get to the cause of androgenetic hair loss, i.e. DHT. Treatments such as copper-peptide, saw-palmetto, laser therapy, have all been promoted for male pattern hair loss, but have not really turned out to have any significant long-term benefits. Further studies need to be done on PRP to get a better sense of its value in combating hair loss.

Q: I have had a hair transplant done in the hairline of 1,000 or so FUE grafts. However, as the hair sheds, under natural light the recipient skin seems bumpy with incisions and holes that are noticeable. Do these tend to go away with time once they have healed?

A: If a follicular unit transplant is performed properly (using either extraction or a strip) there should be no bumps or surface irregularities. When the hair restoration is totally healed, the recipient area should be appear as normal looking skin.

Q: Hi! I wanted to ask if after a hair restoration surgery the transplanted hair will eventually fall out? Because the surgery is to restore hair mainly for people with genetic hair loss which results from DHT, won’t the DHT make the new follicles implanted fall out as well? A: Hair loss is due to [...]