Many patients that come in to my office have a common complaint; hair shedding (some even bring in a ball of hair they have collected from their brush and bathroom floor) and in most cases they are women with long hair. For the most part hair shedding alone is not a sign of hair loss. Shedding is losing thick hair that has completed its growth phase and started its resting phase.

• Examples of Normal Hair Shedding

All humans experience a level of hair shedding. It can be up to 100 to 200 hairs per day. Hair shedding is sometimes more exaggerated in people who have had a large surgery, trauma, experienced physiological or emotionally stressful events and women who have recently delivered a child. This is called Telogen Effluvium (excessive temporary loss of telogen hair). In most cases hair shedding is typically temporary and the affected hair will grow back within a few months. There is no cause for concern, unless you have a more visible scalp or thinning of the scalp hair. In which case, you should come in to see a certified hair restoration surgeon.

• The 3 Stages of Human Hair Growth

1. Anagen ( Growing stage)
2. Catagen (Transitional stage)
3. Telogen ( Resting stage)

• Active Hair Loss Determined by Miniaturization Study

Almost every patient that visits US Hair Restoration will have a miniaturization study performed on them, to evaluate their degree of the fineness of their scalp hair which are signs of active hair loss, or in other words scalp hair miniaturization. People with active hair loss show 20-30% more thinning hair than the average person who experiences normal hair shedding. If you feel that you are experiencing active hair loss, we recommend you come into one of our five offices in California( San Francisco, San Diego, Orange County, Beverly Hills and Encino), for a free consultation.

Hello blog readers,

I have some great news about US Hair Restoration’s current hair transplant costs!!

As the result of a recent meeting between my staff members and I, there will now be a Holiday Special beginning on December 1, 2010 at US Hair Restoration. This special will be offered for an extremely limited time and is one of the lowest prices for quality hair restoration yet.

We realize that holidays are quite busy for some people and that certain patients will need to book their procedure on a specific date in order to keep their schedules in tact. To accommodate this need of many of our patients, a rare discount of 40% off regular hair transplant costs will be offered to all of our valued clientele who have flexible schedules and are willing to book their procedures within 7-10 days of the procedure itself. By offering this discount to our patients with flexible schedules, we hope to accommodate the needs of all of our valued patients while not sacrificing the high quality that US hair Restoration stands by and is known for worldwide.

With this limited time discount, hair transplant costs at US Hair Restoration will be:

• Follicular Unit Transplants (FUT) — Regularly $4.00 per graft;  *WITH HOLIDAY STANDBY DISCOUNT $2.40 per graft
• Follicular Unit Extractions (FUE) — Regularly $8.00 per graft;  *WITH HOLIDAY STANDBY DISCOUNT $4.80 per graft

Offer only valid until January 31, 2011. Call 888-302-8747 to schedule your free consultation today. For additional information on the procedures we offer here at US Hair Restoration, feel free to check out our detailed webpages on Follicular Unit Transplants and Follicular Unit Extractions. We look forward to meeting you all in office soon!

In regards to the question of whether or not there is a minimum age requirement for hair restoration, Dr. Mohebi stated: It is not unusual for a hair transplant surgeon to discourage a person younger than 24 from pursuing a hair restoration surgery.  However, nowadays microscopic techniques being used to evaluate the miniaturization of susceptible hair can assist surgeons in predicting the final pattern of hair loss. By being able to predict each patient’s final balding stages, we are able to see where the pattern of baldness is heading and based on that, we can now recommend hair transplant surgery at an earlier age.

When asked about the donor scar following a hair transplant and whether or not it will be visible, Dr. Mohebi responded: If you do not plan on shaving your hair after your hair transplant surgery, your donor wound will never be visible. However, if you plan on shaving your head for any reason, you may choose to have a FUE or Follicular Unit Extraction procedure done rather than the general FUT procedure through removing a strip from the donor area. FUE transplant eliminates the visibility of a linear scar on the back of your head and is the best option for patients who plan on shaving their head or keeping their hair very short in the future.

To determine recommended options or graft numbers for your personal case, Dr. Mohebi suggests attending an in person consultation in any of his five California regional offices. In addition, he stated: Yes, the initial consultation with me (Dr. Parsa Mohebi) is complimentary in any of our California hair transplant offices in Beverly Hills, Encino, Orange County, San Diego, and San Francisco.

Lastly, the interviewer inquired as to what clients should bring with them to their free consultations and the doctor replied: Anything related to your hair loss and hair restoration, including family history of hair loss, other medical conditions that may have been attributed to ones hair loss, medical, surgical or even cosmetic changes that you like and may help you have a better result after a hair restoration procedure.

Q:

Dr. Mohebi,

I live outside of California and am interested in seeing you for my hair restoration procedure. I have attached my pictures to this email along with a few quick questions that I have in regards to hair restoration. Could you please check them out whenever you have a free moment and let me know what your personal recommendations are?

- What is the approximate number of grafts required to achieve sufficient density (if not a lot) and the approximate cost of the whole process?
- How long will it take me to get back to my work and how soon I will see the results?
- Lastly, please do let me know any other important information that is relevent to the his whole procedure.

Thanks!

A:

Dear Inquirer,

First off, I just want to thank you for your interest in our hair restoration services and let you know that I have forwarded your information and pictures to be included in our patient information system for further review. I also wanted to take a quick moment to look over your photos and respond personally to your inquiries.

Here are my responses to your questions in the order they were received:

- What is the approximate number of grafts required to achieve sufficient density (if not a lot) and the approximate cost of the whole process?

You are a class VI hair loss patient and would require the maximum number of grafts possible in one session to acheive the density you are striving for. The number is generally above 2500 grafts for people who have never had a surgery, but may fluctuate through the range of 2500 to 4000 grafts based on your own scalp laxity and density of hair (to be determined when you are here in our office).

The cost for hair transplants at US Hair Restoration are based on the number of grafts transplanted and the standard charges are as follows for Follicular Unit Transplants:

• $4 per graft for the first 2500 grafts; all additional grafts are charged at half price ($2 per graft).

In addition, your travel expenses will be reimbursed towards 10% of the cost of surgery (up to $500).

In addition to reimbursement on travel, we will book a hotel near our office for you for 2 nights with free transportation between the hotel and our office for your visits.

Lastly, we also have a standby program available for anyone which a flexible schedule and willingness to book their surgery date within 7-10 days of the procedure itself (visit us at www.ushairrestoration.com for more information on that offer).

- How long will it take me to get back to my work and how soon I will see the results?

The procedure for a strip hair transplant takes one whole day (from approximately 7am to 5pm) and you are required to return the day after for your procedure for a hair wash. With these basic requirements, you have the capability to fly back home as early as the day after your surgery and continue all routines as before (aside from hair washing which you will do as instructed for the first 4 days following the procedure). You will be fully functional the first day after surgery, but you may have some swelling for 3-4 days following.

Visible results of your hair transplantation will be seen approximately 6-10 months following the procedure itself and may continue to develope into the year and a half mark.

- Do let me know any other important information that is relevent to the his whole procedure.

You can find more great information about hair transplant methods with US Hair Restoration on our website: www.ushairrestoration.com or our blog: www.ushairrestoration.com/blog

Hair Transplant Surgeon Dr. Parsa Mohebi of Los Angeles, California was just approved for recommendation on well known website, the Hair Transplant Network, one of the largest online site that support hair loss patients. Dr. Mohebi has hair transplant offices in LA, Beverly Hills, Orange County with consultation offices in San Diego and San Francisco.

California Hair Transplant Surgeon, Dr. Mohebi

Hair Transplant Network has truly changed the industry of hair restoration because of its viewer participation and their high demands from its members who participate on the Hair Transplant Network along with the participating physicians. All participating members of this site have such high expectations and constantly demand superior quality results, only physicians with a solid reputation and proven results are approved for recommendation through their lengthy and meticulous evaluation and assessment of the hair transplant surgeons.

Over the last two years, the hair restoration forum and participating community on HairTransplantNetwork.com have had the chance to review Dr. Mohebi, his technique, and corresponding results from his patients to determine his recommendations. Following the lengthy and worthwhile examination process, we are now happy to say that Dr. Mohebi is among the few qualified hair transplant doctors to be recommended by the renowned Hair Transplant Network.

We are hoping that US Hair Restoration and its medical director Dr. Parsa Mohebi can continue educating hair loss patients about hair loss treatment and hair restoration surgeries that are available to them. It made it easier for a larger group of hair loss patients to be able to see Dr. Mohebi’s outstanding hair transplant results. Please feel free to check out some of our patient results and physician comments on this site at anytime and do not hesitate to ask questions on the forum if you have any.

Thank you all for your support!!

New FUE Transplant

FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction) Transplant devices have been improved in the last few years.  Among the new methods are different devices for making the procedure more automated. US Hair Restoration is a leader in hair restoration and is launching a new research to compare different methods of hair restoration with FUE method. The study will be goin on between May and July of 2010. There are only a few spots available for the participants of the study and candidacy of the patients should be determined by US Hair Restoraiton first.

Who is a candidate for our FUE Study?

Please make an appoitment to be evaluated by Dr. Mohebi before planning for your surgery. You will be spending one hour with the doctor and at the end you will have a master plan for your hair loss treatment. The discounted rate of the FUE does not apply to any of our other hair transplant procedures being offered at our offices.

How Can I start?

Applicants can call  1 (800) 302-8747  to schedule their free consultation with Dr. Mohebi.  We will be comparing manual techniques with Neograft and Harris’ Safe System that are amoung the leading companies in automated FUE industry.  We hope that by performing this study, we will be able to make more clear the advantages and disadvantages of each method and eventually adopt one of them for our regular use in the office of US Hair Restoration.  The results of this study will be released on our website and in future medical literature.

Hi, Dr. Mohebi:

Several weeks have passed since my hair restoration surgery. These days, when moving my neck, I feel some sort of tension and sensitivity at the donor area. I’m wondering if this tension will ever subside and return to how it was before. I want to get back to playing in my basketball league.

-

A:
We have elaborated comprehensively on the care after hair transplant surgery in our website that could be referred at. You need to wait several more weeks and then do light exercises such power walking, ride a bicycle, or some light jogging. Make sure to not overstretch that donor area by staring at the floor or the ground beneath you. As long as you don’t do that, you’ll be fine.

Make sure to stay away from the following sports or exercises: street basketball or indoor basketball, grappling or mixed martial arts, soccer, kickboxing, abs-sculpting activities, or windsurfing or water sports.
Remember not to put a lot of pressure on the donor part of the head. It must be guarded and protected as if your life depended on it (well, maybe it’s not that important, but it’s still crucial to protect that area).

Exercises that create high pressure at the ends of the scar wound in the donor area, such as pumping iron and other activities requiring a bent neck are to be avoided. I recommend waiting about five to seven months to do strenuous activities so as to keep the wound from opening again or to prevent the donor scar from becoming wider.

Thanks,

Q:

Hello, Doctor,

I’m an adult female in my early thirties. I’m trying to find a way to enhance my appearance but I don’t want to go under the knife, like breast enhancement or even lip enhancement. I’m not really a young girl anymore and feel like I need to look as good as ever to attract a good-looking man. I happened upon Latisse on the Internet and I’d like to know how to order it.

-

A:

Hi,

Thanks for the email. It’s always good to get inquiries from the general public. You can only obtain Latisse from a physician, and that’s with a prescription. Make sure not to buy Latisse anywhere except at a credible pharmacy or from a doctor’s office. It’s possible there may be phony Latisse-like products you may find on the street or on the Web. Stay away from these imitations; they may have dire side effects.

Side effects from taking Latisse are things like your eyelids becoming darker, likely temporary, and a likelihood that iris color may become much more brown, which is more likely to be a permanent condition.

On the flip side, Latisse will make your eyes look prettier. No doubt about that. People, women especially, want a soft, doe-eyed a look. With the chemicals found in Latisse, it will give your lashes a thicker look and make them longer. Latisse will actually increase the length of your eyelashes, for a certain period of time. Then they will return to their original look.

If you really desire your eyelashes to be longer, Latisse is for you. There are also doctors who perform eyelash transplants. I know people diagnosed with Alopecia Totalis sometimes get an eyelash transplant. Then there are those who don’t have a lot of eyelashes and want more, to enhance their physical appearance.

We do offer Latisse in all our Southern California hair restoration offices.

Q:

Hey Dr. Parsa Mohebi,

I’m grateful you took time out to see me on Saturday. The letter that gave a summary of what we talked about was very thorough and I just wanted to say thanks for that.

Since the last time we met, I did some of my own research and came up with a few queries:

1) When it comes to giving a name to my hair loss pattern, is Alopecia the correct way to describe it?

2) Would a Cortizone shot be an option for me?

3) Is laser therapy OK?

4) If I happen to use minoxidil, I’m wondering if it has to be 2% or would a higher percentage result in more hair growth and faster hair growth?

5) I was told to receive a complete medical evaluation, do you know of a doctor I can go to? I want someone I can trust.

Thanks again for taking the time to see me and also to accommodate my questions.

Sincerely,

Stephen

-

A:

Hello Stephen,

I’ve provided answers to your questions in chronological order.

1) When it comes to giving a name to my hair loss pattern, is Alopecia the correct way to describe it?

Alopecia, literally, would be defined as hair loss. There are many different types of alopecia or hair loss, such as male patterned alopecia or female patterned alopecia or alopecia cicatricial. I believe the pattern on your head is a male pattern since hair was lost in the frontal area as you kept hair on the donor area intact. This is the reason you may be a potential candidate for a hair transplant since your medical evaluation stated that you’re not medically treatable for hair loss.

2) Would a Cortizon shot be an option for me?

Absolutely not. But steroid shots are sometimes used for Alopecia Areata (AA), which is an autoimmune disorder. Alopecia Areata is a hair loss condition with patchy hair loss spots. Your condition is not Alopecia Areata.

3) Would you consider laser therapy?

I do not recommend laser therapy for hair loss in the form of laser comb or laser machines because of the lack of solid medical evidence that support their effectiveness at this time.

4) If I were to use Monoxidil, does it have to be 2% or a higher percentage would yield more and faster hair growth?

You can start with 2% and then you need to be re-evaluated in six to 12 months and a treatment plan might need to be adjusted at that time.

5) you recommended a complete medical evaluation, could you please recommend someone that you trust?

Any good internist or endocrinologist could follow through with the lab works that you need. Our letter includes the list of medical conditions that should be considered and lab works to rule out those women like you who have hair loss. You can share my letter with any good internist or endocrinologist and he or she should be able to follow through with your lab result and treat any treatable conditions that could possibly be found.

Have a great day,