* a) in prone position on the operating table
* b) in supine position on the operating table
* c) on his side on the operating table
* d) to his friends and family about getting a hair transplant
* e) none of the above

2) Local anesthesia is administered to numb the donor area and intramuscular hypnotics are administered for what purpose?

* a) as further pain medication
* b) to put the patient to sleep
* c) to relax the patient
* d) to make the patient hallucinate
* e) all of the above

3) What is the major tool used for extraction of follicular units?

* a) a handheld micro-punching tool that looks like a pen
* b) a needle device
* c) a scalpel
* d) a) and b) combined
* e) all of the above are possible

4) To preserve the extracted follicular units until implantation, they are stored in:

* a) a bowl of jelly because of its preservative properties
* b) a Petri dish
* c) a holding solution
* d) a cup of distilled water
* e) none of the above

5) Local anesthesia will also be administered to the recipient area before implantation of follicular units.

* a) True
* b) False

6) For implantation, the surgeon uses customary blades to make thousands of _____________ in the bald area.

* a) .2 mm holes
* b) long, parallel slices
* c) tiny squares
* d) microscopic slits
* e) none of the above

7) The following image shows:

* a) a manual FUE extraction tool
* b) a powered FUE extraction tool
* c) the ARTAS System
* d) the NeoGraft
* e) none of the above

8 ) The wounds created by FUE are closed up using:

* a) staples
* b) stitches
* c) bandages
* d) they are tiny enough incisions to close on their own without the aid of any sutures.
* e) none of the above

9) When surgery is over, the patient will be given:

* a) a prescription for antibiotics
* b) topical medication
* c) mild pain killers
* d) all of the above
* e) none of the above

10) The donor site should heal within:

* a) twenty-four hours
* b) seven days
* c) fourteen days
* d) one month
* e) none of the above

11) FUE is considered a minimally invasive procedure.

* a) True
* b) False

12) The recipient site should heal within:

* a) twenty-four hours
* b) seven days
* c) fourteen days
* d) one month
* e) none of the above

13) Hair growth should start at four months and progress until:

* a) five months
* b) six months
* c) one year
* d) eighteen months
* e) two years

14) The following image shows:

* a) the donor area immediately post-op
* b) the back of a scalp
* c) a strip scar
* d) a) and b)
* e) none of the above

Answers: 1: a, 2: c, 3: d, 4: c, 5: a, 6: d, 7: b, 8: d, 9: d, 10: b, 11: a, 12: c, 13: d, 14: d

Celebrities Who Have Trusted Hair Transplantation

Being on the A-list means keeping up appearances. Speculation and deductive logic lead many to believe that certain now-aging heartthrobs (or even a few with early signs of pattern baldness) have gone under the micro-surgical knife—which, in hair transplantation, is not actually a knife but rather a sharp, .8mm punching tool. Sir Elton John’s once-bald hairline and mid-front scalp is now burgeoning with vigorous, natural-looking locks. The same can be said of Mel Gibson and hair transplantation, along with several others. A short list of balding stars who’ve allegedly undergone hair transplantation also includes:

* Kevin Kostner
* John Travolta
* Mathew McConaughue
* Jude Law
* Tom Arnold
* Dennis Miller
* Football star, Tom Brady

Seeing current pictures of these men up close as compared to a year ago or more, it is obvious they’ve had some hair transformation. The result appears permanent and looks incredibly natural and healthy; all signs of a sophisticated hair transplantation performed by a highly skilled practitioner.

Hair Transplantation At DermHair Clinic

At DermHair Clinic in Los Angeles, Dr. Umar is able to restore hair in even the most dire of cases. With his signature UGraft procedure, which incorporates body hair to head transplantation, even the severely bald can now undergo a successful hair transplant. This means that celebrities who we’ve noticed have no head hair to speak of could start showing up in magazines with a full head of real hair. No more hairpieces needed for roles requiring hair, and no more scrutiny from the public.

I’m Not A Celebrity: Is Hair Transplantation Right For Me?

Hair transplantation is not the right choice for everyone, nor is everyone a candidate for even the most advanced procedures, like follicular unit extraction. Choosing hair transplantation is a personal choice dependent on many varying factors. Balding celebrities like Bruce Willis and Prince William seem to have accepted their hair loss. Contrarily, one does not need to be famous to endure the social misgivings baldness so often causes.

If you suffer from pattern baldness and want more information on hair transplantation options, contact Dr. Umar for a free online consultation.

Tags: Bald celebrities, Celebrities hair transplantation, Follicular Unit Extraction, Hair Transplantation

Follicular unit extraction (FUE) is a method of hair transplantation that was first invented in the 1980’s and blossomed into global use in the 1990’s. With this sophisticated technique, surgeons harvest hair by grafting follicular units one by one from the donor pool. This means:

* A minimally invasive surgery
* Donor hair is not confined to the mid-back portion of the head
* No staples, stitches, or sutures of any kind
* No more linear scarring (as with strip harvesting)
* A quicker healing time than other methods

FUE Branches Out

With the advent of follicular unit extraction, another major advantage followed suit: the vast potential for development and further use. There are several ways in which follicular unit extraction has been refined or expanded to reach a broader scope of hair loss sufferers. Today, FUE is a multi-faceted technique branching out into:

* Eyebrow transplantation: the use of specifically selected donor hairs to restore thin or bald eyebrows. People may lose eyebrow hair for congenital reasons, an accident, or over-plucking. Ideal donor hair comes from the legs.
* Hairline Design or Hairline Refinement: the use of nape hair or other fine hair to build a softer more gradual hairline. Often done as a corrective procedure after another surgery.
* Body hair to head transplant: an advanced form of FUE that incorporates the use of body hair for donor sources. This can include the beard, shoulders, chest, stomach, arms, and legs.
* Facial hair to head transplant: an advanced form of FUE that incorporates the use of only or mostly beard hair as the donor source.

Leg healed after BHT surgery with cosmetically negligible scarring.

Leg healed after BHT surgery with cosmetically negligible scarring.

Why Would A Person Lose Their Eyebrow Hair?

Causes of eyebrow hair loss may range from being congenital in origin to having a psychological foundation. A list of possible causes includes:

* A genetic/natural lack of eyebrow hair
* Trauma from an accident; possibly a chemical burn or an electrical burn
* Alopecia universalis
* Course of treatment for some systemic diseases, like various cancers, can result in all body hair falling out (i.e. chemotherapy treatment)
* Trichotillomania, an impulse control disorder that causes obsessive plucking/pulling of scalp hair and eyebrow hair
* Excessive cosmetic plucking that ends up in permanent loss of hair

What Is Eyebrow Transplantation?

Eyebrow transplantation, similar to regular hair transplantation, is a surgery in which hair is extracted from a donor source and implanted into the bald recipient site. Traditionally the donor source has been head hair. With the follicular unit extraction (FUE) method of transplantation hairs can be chosen specifically for this purpose. If a person’s eyebrow follicles are naturally thicker, thick mid-rear scalp hairs can be extracted—if the eyebrow follicles are thinner, thin nape hairs can be used. The problem that subsists, even with FUE, is that even when hairs are uprooted and implanted elsewhere, their character does not change. Thus, a head hair will continue to act and grow as a head hair, even after implantation in the eyebrow site. This denotes frequent trimming of new eyebrow hairs.

Refinement Through Body Hair Transplantation

Body hair transplant is the use of advanced FUE to remove donor hairs from various places on the body. For this purpose, body hair can be extracted from the beard, chest, shoulders, stomach, arms, and legs.

That’s where refinement of eyebrow transplant comes in. The legs are an ideal source of donor follicles for those without eyebrow hair. They tend to be similar in stature to eyebrow hair and are naturally slow-growing, which means less trimming for the recipient. However, other non-head hair may also be used for the eyebrows if it’s decided it will provide a more pleasing result. The product is ultimately a better quality transplant, a better outcome, and a higher level of long-term patient satisfaction.

Before eyebrow enhancement through eyebrow transplantation.

Before eyebrow enhancement through eyebrow transplantation.

After eyebrow enhancement using chest hair for eyebrow transplantation.

After eyebrow enhancement using chest hair for eyebrow transplantation.

The best first step when facing hair loss is to seek counsel from a medical professional. Obtaining an accurate diagnosis from an experienced hair restoration practitioner will speed up the recovery process.

Testing For Pattern Baldness

Before writing any prescriptions or suggesting a surgical solution, a physician will conduct certain tests and ask specific questions. This will include:

* A detailed medical history
* A physical exam
* A scalp examination

These assessments are typically enough to determine whether the patient is experiencing androgenic alopecia (pattern baldness). This genetic condition is generally much easier to diagnose in men than it is in women. Female pattern baldness can be more elusive and tricky to pinpoint, since women are more likely than men to suffer hair loss for other reasons, such as hypothyroidism.

When Initial Assessment Goes Beyond Pattern Baldness

Testing for pattern baldness should be a relatively simple process, and the majority of hair loss sufferers will receive this diagnosis. Additional diagnostic assessment is not usually required for such patients. However, assessing other possible causes of hair loss may include the following scalp examinations (some of these are done only in extreme or highly unusual circumstances):

* Phototrichogram: a designated area of the scalp is shaved and observed by photograph for three to five days to assess the growth rate and quality of hair.
* Hair window: similar to phototrichogram, except hair growth is observed for 30 days.
* The hair pull: with a gentle pull of scalp hair, it is normal for a few hairs to come out. These are hairs in the telogen phase of the growth cycle. If more than 25 hairs come out in the hair pull it is an indication of some abnormality.
* Hair shaft evaluation: microscopic examination of a hair shaft that has fallen out, for example, during the hair pull.
* Hair analysis: an advanced laboratory test that provides no information on systemic disease or malnourishment of the hair follicle, but rather assesses various inherited abnormalities and drug or heavy metal pollution.
* Scalp biopsy: no relation to a cancer biopsy, this is one of the non-standard tests performed. It tells the physician what condition is affecting the hair follicles if other tests have not made this information apparent.

In the early 1900s hair loss became a prominent enough problem for someone to develop a technology to combat the condition. The dawn of hair restoration developed in Japan during this time, and has continued to evolve ever since. We have seen scalp reduction, flap surgery, and in the 1950s we saw the first of hair transplantation with punch grafting. Hair transplantation itself has come a long way; from the punch graft, to strip surgery, and now, to follicular unit extraction (FUE).

The follicular unit extraction technique first came about in the 1980s, also in Japan. It was an improvement of the punch grafting method, which used 4mm punch grafts for hair transplant. The result with punch graft hair transplantation was always unnatural and pluggy hair, with 4mm round bald scars in the donor area (generally the back of the head). To vastly improve results, they refined the size of the grafting area, making it much smaller and more precise. But what is follicular unit extraction, really?

How Follicular Unit Extraction Is Done

Follicular unit extraction is the removal of hairs from the donor area, generally being the back and/or sides of the head, in follicular units—natural groups of one to four hairs. These follicular units are then implanted into the recipient area, which is usually the crown, hairline and temple points.

Follicular unit extraction requires a highly skilled practitioner, as surgery is long, laborious, and detailed. FUE hair transplant surgeons generally use a manual handheld device resembling a pen to excise the follicular units one by one. Of late, there have been campaigns for powered follicular unit extraction machines, such as the NeoGraft and Artas. These machines are flawed for several reasons and use of them for FUE hair transplantation is strongly opposed by advanced FUE hair transplant surgeons.

The Advantages of Follicular Unit Extraction Over Strip Surgery

On the matter of hair transplantation, the superior between FUE and strip surgery is a popular debate. There are many reasons one researching hair transplantation will find that follicular unit extraction is the better choice. Some of those reasons include:

* Follicular unit extraction avoids leaving an embarrassing linear scar.
* The tiny, individual incisions made during follicular unit extraction result in cosmetically insignificant scarring.
* Follicular unit extraction is a less invasive hair transplant procedure, thus the recovery time is quicker.
* Follicular unit extraction makes it possible to extract specifically chosen hairs, such as those from the nape of the neck or behind the ears, to design a most natural-looking hairline.
* Follicular unit extraction widens the pool of donor hair by enabling body hair transplantation (BHT).
* Those who were once considered poor hair transplant candidates due to a depleted donor pool are now in the running due to BHT.

1. how much time do you have?

2. how much objectivity do you have?

3. how much patience do you have?

As a small business owner, you may know your business better than anyone else,  having an objective viewpoint in the mix is a good idea as well. Make a decision on how much time you can put into the web site, and what your areas of expertise will be…there’s no need to play around in photoshop unless you find it relaxing. You can hire people for the more time consuming elements and focus your skills on the areas that can’t be done by anyone else.

After you’ve decided your level of involvement, then you get started:

1. purchase domain & hosting – Most annual hosting plans will offer you one free lifetime domain registration. I prefer smaller hosting companies that don’t try to upsell you with a lot of products every step of the way (looking at you godaddy and netsol!). You should’nt have to run a gauntlet of advertising and promotions every time you log into your account. And when you’re running a website, you will be logging into your account frequently especially at first.

Shop around a bit, or look to this link to one of my favorite hosting options here: www.dpiazzadesign.com/info.php

Tune in next week for more!

Sustainability is an important issue, seems like everyone is talking about it. Of course, there is the larger scenerio of sustainability – global & environmental. What I’m interested in is a singular sustainability – namely, how we as individuals are sustaining our lives and lifestyles. Keeping pace with the changes in our world is old school –  we need to be in front of the changes, predicting the new and how we’ll react to it. I do this from the perspective of a designer, by both seeking out the new and building upon the tried and true. With over 20 years experience in design, I’ve seen many things change and many ideas, theories and philosophies which stay the same.