Like many women, Alden Wicker felt self-conscious about her naturally high hairline and burdened with the high-maintenance of trying to keep her bangs perfectly positioned to cover her forehead. Alden discovered an article on Dr. Robert M. Bernstein, founder of Bernstein Medical – Center for Hair Restoration and pioneer of Follicular Unit Transplantation, and decided to see if he could fix her hairline. In an article she contributed to Racked, an online magazine published by Vox Media, Ms. Wicker describes her experience with Bernstein Medical and how thrilled she is will the results of her hair transplant.
Synopsis: Hair restoration has advanced dramatically in the past 25 years, most recently with the growing popularity of FUE. The challenge of FUE is that the grafts are more fragile compared to the follicular units generated in traditional FUT/strip procedures. Innovations such as the ARTAS Robot and other devices attempt to address this problem. With the increasing participation of ISHRS members – now 1,200 strong – progression in this field should continue at an accelerating pace.
Q: I was thinking of having an FUE procedure done in Turkey, but I am concerned that it will be done with just technicians. Any thoughts? — E.E. ~ Mount Vernon, N.Y.
A: I do not have first-hand information on the clinics in Turkey, but there is a recent “Letter to the Editor” in Hair Transplant Forum International, the official publication of the “International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery” that you might find informative. From the article:
“In Turkey, there are 300 FUE clinics in Istanbul alone, but unfortunately at only 20 of them operations are done by doctors. We do not exactly know how many of those 300 clinics have legal permissions, but we know very well that an average of 500-1,000 FUE operations are done per day.”
If you would like to read the entire article, the reference is: A Report from Turkey – the situation in a top FUE destination. Hair Transplant Forum International July/August 2017 p 162.
After years of jokes about his continually receding hair line, LeBron James, winner of two NBA championships and four NBA Most Valuable Player Awards, stunned the sports world on September 16th, 2014 when he revealed a newly restored hairline while promoting his new LeBron 12 shoe at Nike World Headquarters.
Folks are now asking – what the heck happened all of a sudden? Where, when and how did LeBron get that great new hair line?
The 12th edition of Castle Connolly’s America’s Top Doctors includes Dr. Bernstein for his work in hair transplant surgery and hair restoration. The list of doctors represents just the top 1% of medical specialists in America.
Dr. Bernstein is quoted extensively in an article on robotic hair transplantation in the online magazine American Health & Beauty.
In “ARTAS: A Faster and More Accurate Hair Transplant Using Robotics?” Dr. Bernstein explains the benefits of robotic FUE over traditional FUE hair transplant procedures. He describes how the new robotic device overcomes some important limitations of FUE when performed manually. To better understand the role of the new instrument, Dr. Bernstein simplifies the FUE procedure into four basic steps and discusses where the image-guided robotic system fits into this process.
In the March/April 2011 issue of Hair Transplant Forum International, we see a review of research on stem cells and progenitor cells, and another indication of the importance of this research in achieving the goal of being able to clone human hair. Read more about this exciting line of research.
Dr. Bernstein is featured in a New York Times article — “New Stratagems in the Quest for Hair” — about the latest advances in hair restoration. The article mentions Dr. Bernstein’s pioneering research on hair cloning, including his studies on hair multiplication using the breakthrough biotechnology of ACell’s MatriStem® extracellular matrix.
Dr. Bernstein was interviewed by Dana Tyler, host of the television program “Eye on New York” on CBS, for the show that aired on April 17th. The wide-ranging interview was the feature in a 9-minute segment on hair transplantation and hair loss. Read further for a partial transcript of the interview.
Q: I have read your page on robotics in hair restoration and am interested in learning more. Are there any updates in the development of the system you mentioned? — W.T., London, UK
A: Restoration Robotics, Inc. — based in Mountain View, CA — has spent the last few years developing and testing a robotic hair transplant device for follicular unit extraction (FUE). The ARTAS™ robot system has recently received 510(k) approval from the Food and Drug Administration, meaning that the company may now begin marketing the system for use in hair restoration clinics.
Telemundo47 — a Spanish-language media outlet based in New York City — interviewed Dr. Bernstein for a segment on hair loss (pérdida del cabello) and how hair treatments and styles can lead to long-term damage.
Robert M. Bernstein, M.D., F.A.A.D., the renowned hair transplant surgeon and founder of Bernstein Medical – Center for Hair Restoration in New York, is studying four different applications of ACell MatriStem™ extracellular matrix in a type of hair cloning, called hair multiplication, as well as current hair restoration procedures. Click the link to read the whole press release.
Q: If a person is graying on the top and sides and you do a hair transplant from the back, will the top look darker after the hair restoration? — W.C., Houston, TX
A: The hair is taken from the back and sides of the scalp and the follicular units, once dissected from the donor strip, are randomly inserted into the recipient area. That way, the color of the harvested hair will be mixed and will match perfectly.
Usually, people’s hair is lighter on the top because of the sun, so when you move the hair from the back and sides to the top, it will actually lighten to match the surrounding hair, if it didn’t match already.
Q: How are grafts distributed in a hair transplant? Are they distributed evenly? — B.V., Jersey City, NJ
A: Actually, we don’t make the transplanted hair evenly distributed. It is usually front weighted, so that the hair restoration will look most full when looking at the person head on.
Framing the face is the most important part of the restoration. Covering the top is the next most important region and, if the patient has enough donor supply, then hair can be added to the crown.
CBS News’ The Early Show has picked up the “balding buzz” that first started to grow when the National Enquirer reported that New England Patriots star quarterback Tom Brady is seeking advice on how to treat his hair loss.
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has a multimillion dollar contract, a supermodel wife, and not one, not two, but three Super Bowl rings. He also has androgenetic alopecia, or genetically inherited male pattern baldness, and future prospects of being a balding celebrity. Or does he?
An article in the New York Daily News reports that Mr. Brady has consulted with a hair transplant physician about his hair loss. The Daily News interviewed both Dr. Bernstein and a patient at Bernstein Medical – Center for Hair Restoration for the article. Read the full post for quotations from the article and some links on hair loss genetics.
Dr. Bernstein was interviewed by Spencer Kobren of The Bald Truth on the recent breakthrough in hair cloning, using ACell MatriStem®, an extracellular matrix. Click the link to listen to the interview, courtesy Bald Truth and the International Alliance of Hair Restoration Surgeons (IAHRS):
New developments in regenerative medicine, presented at the 18th Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Society for Hair Restoration (ISHRS) this past week, may have opened the possibility that a patient’s hair can be multiplied in his own scalp.
ACell, Inc., a company based in Columbia, Maryland, has developed and refined an Extracellular Matrix (ECM), a natural biological material that can be implanted at the site of an injury or damaged tissue in order to stimulate a unique healing response. The ECM stimulates the body’s own cells to form new tissue specific to that site (a process referred to as “Auto-cloning”).
The ACell MatriStem devices have had some preliminary success in allowing plucked hairs that were placed into recipient sites on the patient’s scalp to grow. Although this is a major breakthrough, significant work remains in order for hair multiplication to become a practical treatment for hair loss in men and women.
It is also anticipated that the regenerative properties of Extracellular Matrix will facilitate the healing of the incision in the donor area after a hair transplant. We are currently offering ACell to all patients undergoing follicular unit transplant procedures at no additional charge.
We are currently studying the use of ACell for scalp hair multiplication as well as the facilitation of wound healing in follicular unit transplantation procedures. We are also treating select patients outside the studies. If you are interested in participating, please give us a call.
Q: I am a 34 year old male and my dermatologist prescribed Propecia for me today. Most of my hair loss is at the hairline, but there is some loss on top as well. It’s not bad, I just want to stay ahead of it. If I get a transplant I want to get it at your clinic, but I will give the Propecia a try first. I am going to be overseas for a couple of months starting this Sunday and I was wondering about the necessity or desirability of having someone measure my hair density prior to starting the Propecia. Would you advise waiting to start the Propecia until I come back in two months and having my density examined at your clinic? — M.R., Great Falls, Virginia
A: I would start Propecia as soon as possible. What is important for a hair transplant is the density in the donor area and this is not affected by Propecia (or minoxidil). Your donor density can be measured anytime at an evaluation prior to surgery. If you want to wait to see the effects of Propecia prior to the hair transplant, you really should wait a year; since growth, if any, can take this long. If you just want to have Propecia on board for the hair restoration procedure, or to make sure you don’t have side effects, then generally a month will do. If you would like to do a photo consult through our website to get some preliminary information about how many grafts you might need, you can do that at your leisure, but start Propecia now since the longer you wait the less effective it will be at regrowing hair.
Q: Is transplanted hair the same length as existing hair? — G.E., Buckinghamshire, UK
A: The hair is first clipped to about 1-mm before it is transplanted. The transplanted hair will look like stubble for the first few weeks after the hair restoration procedure. It is then shed and the newly transplanted follicles go into a resting phase for about two months.
Two new avenues of scientific research, discussed in an article in the New York Times, might just help enable human beings to regenerate tissue. If we could tap into this capability, the possibilities for medical treatment are limitless. We could regrow an arm, a leg, a hand, repair a heart after a heart attack, or even regrow hair.
It is not a stretch to assume that if scientists can undo the inability of animals to grow heart muscle or limbs, we might someday be able to genetically reverse the inability of a bald person to grow 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).
Dr. Robert M. Bernstein, founder of Bernstein Medical – Center for Hair Restoration, was selected by Castle Connolly as one of the New York metropolitan area’s top physicians through a peer-review survey of medical professionals.
New York, NY — Robert M. Bernstein, M.D., F.A.A.D., world-renowned pioneer of the hair transplant techniques, Follicular Unit Transplantation and Follicular Unit Extraction, and founder of Bernstein Medical – Center for Hair Restoration in Manhattan, has been included in New York Magazine’s “Best Doctors” issue for the eleventh consecutive year.
Q: I had a hair transplant about a month ago and I had scabs and some dead skin until day 16 or 17. Will that endanger the growth of the hair restoration procedure? — S.P., Hoboken, N.J.
A: No, it will not. If follicular units were used for the hair transplant, the grafts should be permanent at 10 days. After this time, you can scrub as much as you need to get the scabs off.
The American consumer’s best source for finding top medical specialists — Castle Connolly’s America’s Top Doctors — recently published its 8th Edition.
Dr. Bernstein is included for his work in hair restoration and hair transplants.
Q: I understand that seeing the result of a hair transplant is a process – what can I expect? — L.L., Highland Park, T.X.
A: It generally takes a year to see the full results of a hair transplant. Growth usually begins around 2 1/2 to 3 months and at 6-8 months the hair transplant starts to become comb-able.
Over the course of a year, the hair will gain in thickness and in length and may also change in character. During this time, hair will often become silkier, less kinky or take on a wave, depending upon the original characteristics of the patient’s hair.
In subsequent hair restoration procedures, growth can be slower.
Bizymoms.com, the premier work-at-home community on the Internet with more than 5 million visitors per year, has interviewed Dr. Robert M. Bernstein in order to answer readers’ common questions about hair restoration and hair loss.
Eyebrow transplant procedures are growing in popularity. More women are realizing how much damage they can cause to their appearance by overplucking, shaping, and over-styling their eyebrows. Today, the New York Times reports on the trend of repairing eyebrows with hair transplant techniques and the use of camouflage products to cover up eyebrows that have been “tamed into oblivion.”
As the article’s headline declares, it is time to call in the professionals. The author of the article, Ms. Catherine St. Louis, turns to hair transplant pioneer Dr. Robert M. Bernstein for guidelines on performing a cosmetically-pleasing eyebrow transplant.
Celebrity hair loss is becoming an increasingly hot topic in the media. The continuing demands on celebrities to keep their good looks, seems to be of great interest to the tabloids. This is evidenced by the recent interest in the hairlines of stars like John Cleese, Mel Gibson, John Travolta, Kevin Costner, Dennis Miller, Tom Arnold, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, David Beckham, Matt Lauer, Tiger Woods, Tom Brady, and many others.
Interest in celebrity hair transplants is not just reserved for film and TV stars, but for all kinds of professions in the public eye. Read on for the full article about celebrity hair transplant procedures.
Q: Can the crown be transplanted first instead of frontal area? Why is the crown the last choice? Any reasons behind it? — H.H., Ladue, M.I.
A: The crown can be transplanted first in patients who have very good donor reserves (i.e., high density and good scalp laxity). Otherwise, after a hair restoration procedure to the crown you may not be left with enough hair to complete the front and top if those areas were to bald.
Cosmetically, the front and top are much more important to restore than the back. A careful examination by a trained hair restoration surgeon can tell how much donor hair there is available for a hair transplant.
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? — S.S., Glencoe, I.L.
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.
A new study, using hair cloning therapy to regrow hair, shows promise for all individuals suffering from alopecia areata. The study — conducted by Marwa Fawzi, a dermatologist at the University of Cairo Faculty of Medicine, and reported on Bloomberg.com — used stem cells from the scalps of eight children with alopecia areata to regenerate their own hair.
Dr. Bernstein has been selected to be in the New York Magazine‘s “Best Doctors” issue for 2009. His selection marks the tenth consecutive year he has been included in the special issue.
The physicians are chosen through a peer review process by Castle Connolly Medical, Ltd., publishers of the guidebook Top Doctors.
The New York Times interviewed Dr. Bernstein for a full-length article on hair loss and hair transplant options for women interested in hair restoration. The article — titled, “Tricks and Transplants for Women’s Hair Loss” — covered modern hair transplantation techniques, hair transplant costs, camouflage techniques, and more.
What thoughts go through the head of your average hair loss sufferer before, during, and after a hair transplant?
The answer to that question may now be revealed. ABC News correspondent Cari Nierenberg and associate producer Ryan Stevenson take us directly into the mind and life of Bernstein Medical patient Adam Khoudja in a three-part video diary and feature on hair loss and hair restoration.
Announcer: PRWebPodcast.com, visiting with newsmakers and industry experts.
Interviewer: I am here today with Dr. Robert M. Bernstein, Clinical Professor of Dermatology at Columbia University and founder of Bernstein Medical – Center for Hair Restoration in New York. Dr. Bernstein is the co-author of the highly anticipated Hair Loss & Replacement for Dummies book. Welcome, Dr. Bernstein.
Dr. Bernstein: Good morning, thank you for having me.
Interviewer: Dr. Bernstein, why don’t you tell us a little bit about the book?
Dr. Bernstein: Sure. We wrote Hair Loss & Replacement for Dummies for anyone who wants to learn more about hair loss and its treatment. In the book, Dr. Rassman and I not only discuss common balding, but we cover a host of other conditions that can all lead to the loss of one’s hair. In the book, we give readers a basic understanding of hair and offer tips for taking better care of both the hair and scalp. Most importantly, the book describes the most up-to-date treatments for both male and female pattern hair loss.
Interviewer: This sounds interesting, why did you and Dr. Rassman decide to write the book?
Dr. Bernstein: Well, hair loss affects so many men and women. There is lots of information available on the web, but much of it is unreliable and the medical literature is often a bit too technical for the average reader. We wanted to provide a resource that was factual and comprehensive but, at the same time, very easy to understand. Hopefully, this book will allow those experiencing hair loss to be able to get straightforward, honest information and be able to make informed decisions if they require treatment.
Hair Loss & Replacement for Dummies is filled with important information for men and women of virtually all ages anxious to preserve their full head of hair, put the brakes on balding, or explore the safest and most reliable hair replacement techniques currently available. The book offers readers not only the full gamut of modern-day hair-care options but crucial tips on how to avoid unscrupulous hair transplant doctors and potentially harmful products as well.
Follicular cell implantation (FCI) is based on the ability of the dermal papilla (DP) cells, found at the bottom of hair follicles, to stimulate new hairs to form. DP cells can be grown and multiplied in culture, so that a very small number of cells can produce enough follicles to cover an entire bald scalp.
In order to produce new follicles, two types of cells must be present. The first are Keratinocytes, the major cell type in the hair follicle, and the second are dermal papillae cells (DP) which lie in the upper part of the dermis, just below the hair follicle. It appears that the DP cells can induce the overlying keratinocytes to form hair follicles. There are a number of proposed techniques for hair regeneration that use combinations of cells that are implanted in the skin. The two major techniques involve either transplanting dermal papillae cells by themselves into the skin, or implanting them with keratinocytes.
Robert M. Bernstein, MD has been selected as one of New York Magazine’s “Best Doctors” for the eighth year in a row. He is the only hair restoration surgeon honored to be included in this list of prominent physicians for eight consecutive years.
The physicians are chosen through a peer review process by Castle Connolly Medical, Ltd., publishers of the guidebook Top Doctors.
The Trustees of Columbia University have named hair transplant pioneer Dr. Bernstein Clinical Professor of Dermatology. This promotion was based on Dr. Bernstein’s teaching, lectures, research, original scientific papers, and outstanding patient care.
NY Japion — a weekly newspaper in the Japanese language, published in the New York tri-state area, and distributed for free in the Japanese community — has featured Robert M. Bernstein, MD, in their series on hair loss in men and women.
In the series, TV producer, Hideo Nakamura, who is bald himself, goes on a mission on behalf of fellow bald men. His column hopes to help others with hair loss to have a more fulfilled, fun life and to raise their self-esteem.
In this paper, Dr. James Harris presents a blunt tip instrument to be used in a 3-step FUE hair transplant procedure. The instrument is described as a 1-mm dissecting punch that has a tapered blunt edge. After scoring the skin with a sharp punch, the dissecting punch is advanced to a depth of approximately 4-mm.
This instrument is similar to the one recently described by Bernstein and Rassman in New Instrumentation for Three-Step Follicular Unit Extraction, recently published in Hair Transplant forum International New Instrumentation. Dr. Bernstein’s instrument was, in turn, based upon ideas presented in a paper written by Dr. Harris in 2004.
Q Do Rogaine and Propecia work synergistically? — N.W., Chappaqua, N.Y.
A: They are synergistic, since the mechanisms of action are different.
Rogaine directly stimulates hair growth, while Propecia is permissive for hair growth by blocking DHT, the byproduct of testosterone that causes hair to miniaturize and eventually disappear.
The important thing to remember, however, is that for most people, Propecia is far more effective.
Q: Dr. Bernstein, I remember Senator William Proxmire. He was one of the first sort of high-profile people who had a hair transplant probably, what, thirty years ago, and to be honest with you, it wasn’t all that great. It looked kind of funny. Have we made any progress in the last twenty-five, thirty years? — A.E., Fort Lee, N.J.
A: When hair transplant surgery was first developed in the late 1950s, early 1960s, everybody was so ecstatic that it grew – that one could actually move hair from the back of the head to the top, and it would grow – that no one really considered either the long-term implications or the aesthetic aspects of the procedure. And the fact that the hair grew is actually a problem because it never went away when it was transplanted poorly.
Over the years the grafts have gotten smaller and smaller. So where in the ’60s and ’70s they were the size of pencil erasers, they gradually decreased in size until doctors were performing hair transplants using just a few hairs at a time. The major breakthrough came in the mid 1990s when we realized that hair doesn’t grow individually but grows in little tiny groups and these groups are called follicular units.
In modern hair transplant surgery (which began in 1995) hair is taken from the back of the scalp and moved to the front and top of the scalp in these individual groups of one to four hairs.
In this way the results can completely mimic the way hair grows in nature.
Q I am 35 years old and have been using Propecia for the last 3 years, waiting to save enough money for a hair transplant. I no longer feel comfortable using it due to side effects. Can hair transplantation still be effective even without continuing to take this drug afterwards? — Y.C., Matinecock, New York
A Many people choose not to take Propecia or choose not to take it due to side effects and the surgical hair restoration is just as effective. The only difference is that medications can prevent further hair loss whereas surgery cannot.
Medications are not needed for the hair transplant to be successful or the transplanted hair to grow and be permanent.
Q: I have read on numerous websites that Propecia and Minoxidil work synergistically, and that a hair loss suffer will see better results using them together than either one alone. Do you believe this is the case, or do you think Propecia is enough treatment by itself for someone who just began to experience slight hair thinning and is too early for hair transplantation? — K.V., Hewlett Bay Park, New York
A: They may act synergistically since their mechanisms of action are different.
Rogaine (Minoxidil) stimulates the hair follicle directly, but Propecia (Finasteride 1 mg) permits hair growth by blocking the negative effects of DHT. Of the two, Propecia is far more effective. It is reasonable to use the two together as long as the medications are used regularly.
Robert M. Bernstein, MD has been selected as one of New York Magazine’s “Best Doctors” for the seventh year in a row.
This special annual issue in New York Magazine, June 13, 2006, presents the findings of Castle Connolly Medical Ltd., publishers of the guidebook, Top Doctors: New York Metro Area.
Dr. Bernstein is the only hair restoration surgeon honored to be included in this list of prominent physicians for seven consecutive years.
The physicians are chosen through a peer review process by Castle Connolly Medical, Ltd., publishers of the guidebook Top Doctors.
Hair loss has a variety of causes. Diagnosis and treatment is best determined by a board-certified dermatologist. We offer both in-person and online photo consults.