Sure Hair

Having worked as a Hair Transplant Advisor for 5 years, I field questions, myths, realities and wake up calls on a daily basis. I do so because I myself once looked in the mirror and saw hair loss and decided to get a hair transplant at a random clinic which resulted in a horrible looking, unnatural and pluggy hairline which sent me into a depression for years. My salvation came at the hands of the Surgical Centre of Sure Hair International in 2006 who repaired my bad transplant and gave me the natural hairline I enjoy today. It was several years after my hair transplant which I began working for the company which changed my life. I spend most of my time fixing patients who have had horrible results from other clinics. The medical staff at Surehair international saw a problem with the hair transplants being done and addressed this issue by creating a FUT technique that has since been patented and called Uni-Strand®.

Uni-Strand® method has been developed over a 15 year period thanks to our many doctors, technical staff, designers and our hair dressers which brought a unique artistic design and style component to a whole new level. This input gives the Uni-Strand Method the best of all worlds. You will never hear doctors discussing style! Yet the final look is the most important aspect to you. The truth is’ if you plant the hair a certain way, it will grow a certain way. You want a transplant to reproduce what mother nature gave you: i.e. widows peak, the natural swirl in the crown, density placement and dense packing in key areas to give you the best and most natural result possible. This is the Uni- Strand difference! Style, design, lots of hair transferred and careful placement…that’s Uni-Strand method summed up.

Doctors have been doing hair transplants for over 25 years. Over the past 10 transplants began looking natural; however, it is only in the past few years through honing the Uni-Strand Methods that a hair transplant can look, be styled and perform as good as, or better, than the hair you once had.

Uni-Strand® techniques have consistently evolved and been improved upon from our core surgical team that has completed over 5000 hair transplants and transplanted over 6.5million grafts! Think about this: it took us 6.5 million transplanted grafts to perfect Uni-Strand® techniques.
What is so unique about Uni-Strand® techniques?
Uni-Strand® builds upon and combines the most state of art technology and methods while adding our own specialized techniques to:
1) Achieve High Density Transplants 50-75 grafts/cm2 with consistently high (95%) survival rate of transplanted grafts;
2) Ensure a lack of density discrepancies and unnatural angulations between native hair and transplanted hair;
3) Ensure Hairline designs and angulation techniques perfectly recreate the natural head of hair you once had and can have again;
4) Allow huge Mega Hair Transplants above 3000- 4000 grafts (7000-10000 hairs) in one session for those with the available donor hair. We use special closure techniques which allow us to harvest once unimaginable amounts of grafts which while ensuring extremely thin scars. Compare this to most clinics that typically require 2 or more surgeries to achieve 4000+grafts, which result in wider and more noticeable scars.
5) ‘Create the gentle touch technique. Back in 1996 we started offering hair transplants. At all the hair transplant conventions, it was often discussed how painful transplants were and doctors would stand up and say things like’ no pain, no gain its surgery.’ This was the norm and accepted standard. Naturally you have to go through some discomfort but we believed there would be ways to minimize this. One of the directors of the company consulted with dental surgeons, especially children’s dentists to see the techniques used to minimize pain. We also went to a series of pain management seminars to build on their techniques and the gentle touch technique was born. Instead of heavily drugging our patients, which can have other side effects, we give a mild sedative and that’s it. Nowadays, we rarely hear that our procedure results in discomfort and most of the time patients fall asleep during surgery. In the past several years, we regularly get feedback from patients who have had the procedure elsewhere that they were amazed at lack of pain and discomfort when compared to the other clinics. Not to mention the results are always superior.

Sadly, mamy clinics still struggle to do achieve only one of the above benefits of Uni-Strand®. You will find a select few clinics who can achieve one, two maybe even three of the above points, but to date no clinic has truly ever combined all the above consistently. You may have a natural hairline but will not get a high-density transplant. You may get a large number of grafts with a high survival rate but the transplant will look pluggy or the angulations will not be natural.

In essence Uni-Strand® is designed to solve all the pre-conceived worries of a hair transplant. Typically one surgery is needed (versus 2 or 3 surgeries) as we can take 4000+ grafts in one session with minimal scarring. Our Angulation techniques and planting patterns recreate Mother Nature’s imperfect perfections leaving you with a truly undetectable hair transplant in one pass.
It is for this reason that our surgical centre performs over 300 surgeries a year and are currently training doctors worldwide on our techniques. (NICK what would you like me to say about our doctors we are training and what it takes for them to qualify as a Uni-Strand® clinic.)

The informed consumer understands:
“Why would I go to another clinic for two or three hair transplants when by using Uni-Strand® techniques I can get the same amount of grafts in 1 surgery saving me half the money and downtime with truly undetectable results and a head of hair I thought I could never have again?”

Be an informed patient.

 There are a lot of hair loss myths out there. Many of them can affect your decision to treat your hair loss. These myths might be holding you back from consulting with a qualified surgeon to see if you are a good candidate for a hair transplant procedure or other hair restoration procedure. If so, it’s time to get moving! It’s never too soon to see a professional about your thinning hair.

Myth One: If you shampoo your hair too often, you’ll make your hair fall out.

This myth is definitely false. Habits like excessive shampooing can result in hair breakage though, and this may resemble thinning. However, your problem can be solved easily by finding the right hair care products to properly care for your hair! Shampoos that are less harsh and well-formulated conditioners will have your hair growing and healthy in a few months, as new hairs grow in and the broken hairs are replaced. Another tip – don’t brush hair when it is wet. Comb it instead.

Myth Two: You can be suffering with hair loss, even in your late teens.

This belief is absolutely true! You can already begin to permanently lose hair in your late teens and early 20’s. In fact, androgenic alopecia (the most common type of hair loss in men and women) can begin as early as the end of puberty for men! While you may want to have a hair restoration procedure done as soon as possible, hair transplant procedures are more successful when hair loss is stabilized. In the meantime, a qualified hair transplant surgeon will be able to suggest other treatments to help you to retain as much of your natural hair as possible. Look for clinics that offer a variety of hair loss treatments, such as the Sure Hair clinics. These kind of clinics can continue to help you with your hair challenges, from proven medications to hair restoration and hair transplants.

Myth Three: If you wear a wig, it will make your hair fall out.

This belief is false. Again, the culprit is usually hair breakage, rather than true hair loss. Proper wearing of wigs and protection of your natural hair will allow you to wear wigs confidently. Also, keep in mind that it is perfectly normal to lose 50 to 100 hairs a day. However, if you are wearing a wig throughout the day, you will suddenly see all of these hairs being lost as the wig is removed. Don’t be fooled! The wig is not to blame; it’s simply your normal hair loss. So, if you are wearing a wig to camouflage your current hair loss, breathe easy – and make sure that you are taking steps to conserve your current hair and keep it healthy.

There are six main characteristics that will determine your suitability for a hair transplant procedure:

1. Age
2. Gender
3. Extent of hair loss
4. Hair type
5. Density
6. Race
7. Scalp laxity

Normally, young patients between the ages of 18 and 25 are not the best candidates. At this age, any existing hair loss is likely to continue, affecting the long-term results of any procedure. Active hair loss at this stage can be best treated by medications.

Gender will affect hair loss, both in pattern and appearance. Generally, men will have localized areas of thinning or complete baldness, while substantial hair remains elsewhere. Women, conversely, will usually have generalized thinning over the complete head. This difference in how the hair is lost tends to make men better candidates for transplants in general.

The extent of your hair loss will also determine whether you have viable donor areas. If your active hair loss has stopped, your transplant surgeon will also have a better chance of placing hair grafts for the best result. Look for an experienced surgeon to evaluate your hair. In the Toronto area, the SureHair clinics are one possible option for good, qualified hair transplant specialists.

Beyond your level of hair loss, your hair type will actually affect whether you are a candidate for hair transplantation. If your hair is thick and coarse, it will provide more coverage than fine hair. Wavy hair is another advantage, as it also provides more coverage than straight hair.

The actual density of hair on your head is key to whether you have enough hair for donation. The more hair that you have remaining on your head once your hair loss has stabilized, the better the chances that you will qualify as a good candidate for a hair transplant.

Your racial background will also play a part in your evaluation. People from Asia typically have very straight hair and fewer hair follicles. Patients with this genetic background will need to ensure that they consult with a surgeon who is familiar with their unique needs.

Individuals of African descent will usually have curly, coarse hair, which results in a much better cosmetic result. Further, darker skin tones will mean there is less contrast between the hair and the skin. One disadvantage for this racial type is that keloid scarring is a much bigger issue, which may mean that donor site scars are more noticeable.

Those of Caucasian descent will have the widest range of hair and skin types. Generally, those with coarse, dense, wavy hair and a skin tone close to their hair color, will have the best results.

Scalp laxity is the last major factor in your suitability for hair transplant. A qualified surgeon can tell you more about this, but the more lax your scalp, the more hair you can harvest for donation.

Up to 40% of women suffer from excessive hair loss. In fact, most women suffer from exactly the same type of hair loss as men – androgenic alopecia. Despite that, when we think of hair transplantation, we usually think of men.

It’s time to think again.

Women with androgenic hair loss can definitely benefit from hair transplant procedures. Androgenic alopecia in women results from a combination of hormonal issues and genetic predisposition. Androgenic alopecia is a condition that leads to an increasing shortening of the growth cycle of the hair. The end result is that the hair stops growing completely.

Unlike men, women typically do not end up completely bald. Instead, a woman’s hair becomes extremely thin, usually on the top of the head, making styling and camouflage of the problem almost impossible. It’s at this point that many women look for help.

What makes a good candidate for a hair transplant? A thorough evaluation from a qualified hair transplant surgeon is the place to start! You should be looking for an established clinic with a thriving practice, such as SureHair International. But there are some points to keep in mind even before you go for an evaluation.

To begin with, you need to be realistic about your final outcome. Hair transplantation is not a procedure that can make your hair thicker than it already is. In effect, the hair transplant procedure will move hair follicles from one part of the scalp to another – but it does not create new hairs. This means that the best outcome is one that creates a better cosmetic result.

Your surgeon will be looking for a good ratio of potential donor hair to recipient area.  For instance, if you have very thin hair on top of your head, but the hair along the sides and back is also limited, you may not have a reasonable amount of donor hair available. If you have very generalized thinning, it’s possible that you have limited donor hair.

Keep in mind the type of hair that you have. Wavy or curly hair will look thicker than fine or straight hair. Wavy hair will also cover more of your scalp. You may also get better coverage with coarse hair. Coarse hair again covers more scalp. Fine hair may not cover as much scalp as other hair types, but it tends to result in a very natural-looking result. So these factors will have to be balanced out with your objectives for the hair transplant procedure.

If you are in good overall health, you tend to get a better result with transplantation. If you are a heavy smoker. have poorly controlled diabetes, or have other conditions that affect circulation and vascular health, you may find that the transplanted follicles do not grow as well as expected. Your surgeon will discuss these kinds of issues with you as part of the evaluation for your hair transplant procedure.

Hair loss is an uncomfortable reality for many people. The biggest issue for most of us is that we simply don’t look on the outside the way we feel on the inside! Our hair is thinning; this process ages us and changes our looks.

We want back what we remember.

This is where hair transplants come in. Hair transplantation returns to us a fuller head of hair. We look more like ourselves. We feel more comfortable and more confident in our own skin.

That’s where hair transplants come in. But we need to remember that there are other solutions to a hair loss problem. Hair transplantation is just one of them. And unfortunately, not every person is a good candidate for a hair transplant.

At issue is that hair transplantation is all about hair follicles. In order to be able to benefit from a hair transplant procedure, you must have a good donor site from which your surgeon can harvest hair follicles. If you have already lost too many follicles, then it’s possible that hair transplantation is not for you. But the only way to know is to have your scalp and your unique situation evaluated. This is where a skilled transplant surgeon comes in. A skilled professional will be able to discuss your health, your scalp and your best options.

Those options could include non-surgical hair replacement. Even if you are not a good candidate for a hair transplant procedure, you can still improve your looks and have a fuller head of hair. This is also a great way to solve your hair loss issues if you simply don’t like the idea of a surgical procedure.

One such non-surgical approach is the NT Hair System, which is offered by Sure Hair International. This approach allows you the option of either a permanent or semi-permanent hair enhancement, although most people prefer something permanent. The fact that you can have a permanent hair solution without having surgery is a surprise to many. Not only can you have a head of hair without surgery, you can also choose how much hair to add to your hairstyle. You don’t have to cover your entire head; you get to choose the amount of hair enhancement that you want.

Non-surgical hair replacement will mean that there is no surgery required. However, the new hair will be injected into an extremely thin second layer of skin, so it does involve a procedure to add the hair. The good news is that the new hair looks completely natural. You can’t tell the difference between it and your own. But good results do depend on expert application.

What this means is that you don’t have to worry that you may not be a good candidate for hair transplantation. It’s worth your time to see a professional and have your scalp evaluated. Regardless of your personal situation, you can have the head of hair that you’ve always wanted.

Having worked as a Hair Transplant Consultant for 4 years, I field questions, myths, realities and wake up calls on a daily basis. I do so because I myself once looked in the mirror and saw hair loss and decided to get a hair transplant.

Do you have questions? Comments? Do you like the article? Leave your thoughts, comments and disagreements! You can write or email me personally at care@surehair.com or call me at 416 747 7873.

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In this series of articles I have been talking about, without question, the most important factor when getting any hair transplant…naturalness. A truly undetectable hair transplant can be done only in the hands of a truly skilled, experienced and god given natural artistic talent. I’m writing this article from home, so I do not have photos to upload now; however, check back in a few days and they will be added in this thread.

Before I get technical and discuss the finer points of hairlines, I wanted to tell you a true story which actually happened to me yesterday at our surgical centre. The good Doctor was doing surgeries which left me to handle the consults for the day. A gentleman came in for a consult. Whenever someone comes in and is waiting, I always take a look at their hairline and age and make decisions prior to the consult on what I think would be best for them. The second I saw him, late 40′s early 50′s, I thought, “Okay, pretty solid hairline, slight recession, good amount of hair for coverage and slightly thinning crown, not bad at all for 50, does not really need a transplant”. The guy comes into the consult, sits down and I look at his hair and ask him what he’s hoping we can do for him. He stops, looks at me and says “Well, I have already had a hair transplant with Dr. Ferreira 5 years ago. HOLD THE PHONE. I am a hair transplant guru, I can spot a transplant hairline a mile away. I had looked at this guy, up close and had had truly no clue he had received a transplant. I just sat there looking at him in amazement. Some of our patients I can tell they have had one upon close inspection; however, this gentleman had not only great hair characteristics which allow for natural results to his credit, the doctor had done mind blowing work. I honestly, on my mother’s grave had had no idea.

He didn’t have a full head of hair – no one can ever truly achieve a full head of hair with significant loss, but his hair tranpslant achieved exactly what a transplant is supposed to do – it was truly undetectable, framed his face, made him look so youthful, and in my own words “Had some thinning but didnt really need a transplant!”.

That story proves my point. When getting a hair transplant the number one concern is density, however, with the limitations of donor supply vs demand of surface area to cover in the areas of loss, it is the naturalness of a transplant which will make or break a result over the course of a life time.

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Hairlines: Take a look at the photos below of a favourite actor of mine, Brendan Frasier, when you look closely at the picture, you can see that something is wrong. Something is off. Most of us can’t put our finger on it, but it is just not natural. In part 2, I had talked about the Follicular Unit as and advancement in technology

Having worked as a Hair Transplant Consultant for 4 years, I field questions, myths, realities and wake up calls on a daily basis. I do so because I myself once looked in the mirror and saw hair loss and decided to get a hair transplant.

Do you have questions? Comments? Do you like the article? Leave your thoughts, comments and disagreements! You can write or email me personally at care@surehair.com or call me at 416 747 7873.

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I am currently writing a series on hair transplant hairlines. However, I have been getting so many questions about FUE vs Strip, I wanted to post an article written by Dr. Ferreira regarding this. It is very informative and a must read if you are considering FUE or Strip.  Enjoy!

I’m considering having a hair transplant, but when researching on the internet I have been getting conflicting opinions about FUE vs. having a strip hair transplant. I’ve been told that I need about 2500 grafts to fill in my hairline and about two inches behind it. Besides the obvious advantage of not having a long scar on the back of my head, are there any other advantages to going with FUE that justifies the added cost? My bottom line is to have more hair. If the scar is going to be hidden in the back by my own hair, I am not sure the cost of FUE is worth it unless there are some other advantages that I am not aware of. Thanks for your time.
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Hi this is Dr. Nelson Ferreira. Your question is a good one and I think one of the most pertinent questions in modern hair transplantation. First, let’s get definitions out of the way. The ‘STRIP’ method is not an acronym. It means a strip of hair bearing skin is taken from the back and sides of the head. The strip is then dissected into follicular units (hair grafts) using a microscope which are then planted (placed) into tiny holes in the thinning area. By definition, the patient will heal with a linear scar. The scar is usually very fine and camouflaged with your own hair. FUE is an acronym which stands for Follicular Unit Extraction. In this method, a sharp punch instrument is used to remove individual follicular units (FU) right at the surface of the skin. The punch instrument can be powered or used by hand. The FUE method is marketed as ‘scarless’ surgery. This is NOT true. ANY time you cut skin you will heal with a scar. With the FUE method, the scars are created by punches which are about 1mm in size or smaller. Therefore, the scar will also be 1mm or less in size. However, because the resulting scars are often small dots less than 1mm , they are almost impossible to see even if the hair is cut very short. This can be a big advantage.

Here are the main advantages and disadvantages of both methods:
Strip:

1) The strip is still the gold standard for getting hair grafts. In the right hands very little hair is wasted because the roots of the FUs are visualized under the microscope. “Perfect” grafts can be trimmed to size.

2) The strip has been around for more than ten years and large numbers of grafts can be reliably harvested and planted with a high degree of success.

3) The strip is still the most time efficient and cost efficient way to harvest grafts.

4) You must assume that you will heal with a scar and that you may not be able to wear your hair below a certain length. One to two on a clipper is reasonable.

5) Future surgeries can be planned to remove the old scar so that the patient heals with only one scar.

6) The healing time means one to two days of taking prescription pain pills and then most patients do well without prescription medications.

FUE:

1) Grafts can be harvested with such small diameter punches that the resulting scars are very difficult to see even with a very short haircut.

2) The healing time is quicker than with the strip method.

3) It is hard to have control over the size and appearance of the grafts since they are “ plucked” out of the scalp without ever seeing the root of the follicle. Sometimes, the grafts are very skinny and they have to be handled very delicately. Many doctors who do a lot of FUE admit that sometimes they unexpectedly get poor growth with the FUE method. This is probably related to the quality of the harvested grafts.

4) The FUE method tends to be much more labor intensive and costly

5) Future surgeries are harder to plan after a large FUE session. For example, after a successful FUE session of 2500 grafts, you will heal with 2500 tiny little scars at the back of your head. If you have another hair transplant two years later, the doctor will have to “search” for the good grafts in and around the first 2500 FUE scars. This can be tough. If you are successful with the second FUE session, you will have 5000 little scars at the back of your head. It would be unlikely that you could wear your hair very short and not notice 5000 little scars.

There are some doctors who seem to be getting very good at harvesting large numbers of grafts with the FUE method. They report good success at getting the grafts harvested and good growth rates. Like many surgeries, the most important part of the surgery can be planning and selecting the right candidate. I believe that the FUE is great for small cases ; patients who have do not have worrisome need for alot more donor hair in the future; a patient with great genetics (no class 4 or worse in family) or an older patient. If you understand that the strip method will leave you with a scar and, that you will not be able to cut your hair too short, it is usually the preferred method if you include all factors such as cost etc. If you need 2500 grafts there are many reputable doctors who can do a good job for you with the strip method. It would be harder to find a doctor who can do a good 2500 graft FUE hair transplant.

I hope this helps.

Ironically, I just did a FUE case on a young man who had scars from a trauma earlier in his life. I will try and post his pictures soon.

Nelson Ferreira, MD
Member, International Alliance of Hair Restoration Surgeons
Member, American Hair Loss Association

Happy New Year!! 

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Having worked as a Hair Transplant Consultant for 4 years, I field questions, myths, realities and wake up calls on a daily basis. I do so because I myself once looked in the mirror, saw hair loss and decided to get a hair transplant and received a horrible one at that. It took me years to find a fantastic clinic to restore not only my hairline but my confidence and happiness.

In this series of articles I am going into my favourite subject. Hair Transplant Hairlines! 

In Part 2 of this series of articles, I began discussing the finer points of hairlines. I had started on Follicular Units (please see article 2) and in this article we get into the nitty gritty. You’ll either love this column or hate it. Hair Junkies enjoy.

Far too often in consults, I see those who simply care about price, nothing more, and I truly fear for them going to a bad clinic and getting a bad result like I had originally. In order to get a great transplant, you need to have a great staff (our average planter has transplanted 1-2 million hairs) and in order to keep them you have to pay them! I can tell you flat out: you will not get a good transplant for under the 7000-12000 dollar range if you are doing an area larger than your palm due to the cost of staffing and overhead. It’s just not possible. If you can tell, I’m very passionate about transplants and hairlines due to what happened to me. Hairlines are everything. They are the first thing someone sees when they look at you. They frame your face, define and work with your features or work against you.

Firstly, lets talk about hairline design. In a previous article I had touched on those wanting a perfect hairline and how a perfect hairline reads obvious transplant. Mother Nature always creates slightly imperfect features on us all and hairlines are no different. Thus, if you look at a good transplant, it is somewhat uneven and never perfectly linear.

Hairlines: I remember after I had been butchered, I went to every major clinic in Canada. In every consult, not one of the clinics or doctors ever discussed what I perceived to be a major concern: future hair loss and an age appropriate hairline. These two factors are a constant give and take.

Several Scenarios:

1) A 26 year old patient comes in and wants a very low hairline similar to when he was 18

2) A 36 year old comes in wanting a slightly recessed hairline with higher temple points

3) A 58 year old comes in and just wants to see a hairline.

These examples are very generic and sometimes a 58 year old does want a hairline like when he was 18, but generally speaking these stereotypes are quite typical.

WHY? Why is this?

The main reason is that without knowing it, these men are looking at their friends, relatives or actors on TV about their age and are seeing the natural hair line pattern for those WITHOUT hair loss which correspond to their age. I hope that made sense!

To elaborate: When a 26 year old looks at his friends without hair loss, many of them will still have a low hairline. When a 36 year old looks at his friends without hair loss, he probably wont realize it, but the majority of his friends with NO Hairloss naturally will have receded slightly in the temples when compared to their hairline at 26. When a 58 year old looks at his friends, he may not realize it, but those without hair loss will have receeded slightly more in the temples and hairline further when compared to their hairlines at 26, 36, 46 or 58. YES, THIS IS NOT HAIR LOSS! With age, we begin to grow hair in our ears, on our backs, our hair greys and for most of those lucky men without hairloss, part of aging along with wrinkles comes a more mature – or recessed (I hate using that term because most of us think hair loss which it is not) – hairline.

So the question is – when the 26 year old wants a 26 year old hairline, how do I make him happy knowing that if I give him a low hairline, he’ll be unhappy with that low hairline when he is 36 (remember, a hair transplant is permanent, whatever hairline you get, remains until the day you die) and especially at 58. Therein lies the problem and some middle ground of compromise must be made. Moreover, the hairline has to be appropriate to each individual’s face. If you have a more squared jaw line, a more squared hairline will likely suit you (i.e. Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise). If you have a thinner and longer face, a slightly recessed hairline (Ryan Reynolds) will suit you.

I realize Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise are in their 40′s and have perfect hairlines, but let’s ignore that for a while. Most of us naturally receed and there’s a lot of discussion about these men’s “natural” hairlines anyway.

There is also the issue of further hair loss and making sure you have enough donor hair for future loss (I’ll cover this subject in coverage).

So how do we make the 26 year old you happy while ensuring the 36 year old, 58 year old and 88 year old you doesn’t look stupid with a low hairline? COMPROMISE.

I usually ask a patient: What is the most recessed hairline you would be happy with?  This is the question I would tell you to ask yourself when you look in the mirror. Often, patients don’t realize how happy they will be with even a recessed hairline due to the huge cosmetic difference the hairline makes.

I’ll use myself as an example. At 25 years old after my bad hair transplant. I went with a somewhat recessed hair transplant (I want to give you a photo, but I have no idea how to upload one on wordpress, I’ll get one for you eventually) hairline. I was worried after my bad hair transplant in which I lost 1500 grafts that if I blew 3000+ grafts I would not have enough hair if I went completely bald. When I hit my 30′s, I had no further hair loss, so I decided to slightly lower my hairline with about 800 grafts. I would now be considered a Class 1. It suits my age well at 30, although slightly higher than some of my friends, but as I age, my hairline will always be appropriate in my 40′s, 50′s, 60′s and hopefully into my 100′s.

That was a long article, but an important one. In Part 4 and later articles, I’ll talk about angulation, hair transplant techniques, and the one question everyone has: how many grafts are needed to give a full looking head of hair?

Now if you’ll forgive me, I have to go shave my back hair and pluck the hairs out of my ears.

Got questions? Like the article? Disagree? E-mail me!

Paul-Joseph

HTP Specialist

care@surehair.com

416 747 7873

Happy New Year!! My New Years resolution was to quit smoking – no cigarettes for 36 hours. So forgive me if I write a bit testy today. Not me, just nicotine withdrawal.

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Having worked as a Hair Transplant Consultant for 4 years, I field questions, myths, realities and wake up calls on a daily basis. I do so because I myself once looked in the mirror, saw hair loss and decided to get a hair transplant and received a horrible one at that. It took me years to find a fantastic clinic to restore not only my hairline but my confidence and happiness.

In this series of articles I am going into my favourite subject. Hair Transplant Hairlines!  I originally decided to write these articles because when someone comes in for a consultation, I never have the time to adequately explain why Dr. Ferreira and his team and only several other Doctors in North America (my personal opinion) create phenomenal, natural hairlines while the rest of the clinics remain doing archaic and sometimes (sadly and frustratingly) barbaric work.

In the previous article (December 28th) I used this video as an example of what I see on a regular basis: youtube.com/embed/mXJe48y6FHs

In this article I am going to get into the specifics of what you should be looking for in a clinic when getting a hair transplant. Firstly. You want an undetectable hairline. Above density, coverage and graft count comes naturalness. If you get an unnatural hair transplant, what was the point in the first place?

The landscape of hairlines changed with the advent of the Follicular Unit:

“Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) is a hair restoration technique where a patient’s hair is transplanted in naturally occurring groups of 1 to 4 hairs, called follicular units. Follicular units also contain sebaceous (oil) glands, nerves, a small muscle, and occasional fine vellus hairs. In Follicular Unit Transplantation these small units allow the surgeon to safely transplant thousands of grafts in a single session, which maximizes the cosmetic impact of the procedure.^[1] FUT is considered an advance over older hair transplantation procedures that used larger grafts and often produced a pluggy, unnatural look. In a properly-performed follicular unit transplant, the results will mimic the way hair grows in nature and will be undetectable as a hair transplant.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Follicular_unit_transplantation

 The creation of the follicular unit allowed for far more natural results than previous hair transplants! However, this was the first step of many towards truly natural and undetectable hairlines. Things have truly advanced through techniques and trial and error. Grab a cup of coffee, take a deep breathe and go to part 3 above this article. If you’re a hair junky like me, you’re about to get very interested. If you just want more hair (shameless plug, it’s my column, I can do what I want) you have seen how great Dr. Ferreira’s work is so come on down for your free consultation today (I saw a shameless car salesman advert on TV the other day, seemed to work for them) and stop reading this before I make you fall asleep.

Paul-Joseph

Hair Transplant Specialist

416 747 7873

care@surehair.com

Having worked as a Hair Transplant Consultant for 4 years, I field questions, myths, realities and wake up calls on a daily basis. I do so because I myself once looked in the mirror, saw hair loss and decided to get a hair transplant and received a horrible one at that. It took me years to find a fantastic clinic to restore not only my hairline but my confidence and happiness.

In this article I will continue discussing perhaps the most important part of a hair transplant: hairlines. When I began doing research in 2003, I had no idea what types of results were achievable. If undetectable transplants existed and what that meant. Like many I grew up with the image of the cliche pluggy grafts that reminded me of a brush or barbie doll hair plug.  What I did not know then, which is true to this day, is that there are only a very select few clinics which can do truly undetectable work. There are several factors which go into this.

1) Artistic ability. This is something you have or don’t. Any doctor can harvest an area of skin, disect and plant. This is very different than creating an aesthetically pleasing, appropriate and as I discussed in the previous article, an irregular hairline which mother nature would have intended. Sure, experience helps, but it is inherit in some doctors and others just don’t have that skill. Take a look at several videos to illustrate my point. The following are examples of unnatural, pluggy and thin hair transplants NOT from our clinic.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/vbYyAC17Vco

The following video illustrates a repair case which we performed at this clinic: Dr. Ferreira explains in detail; however, I am going to highlight the major issues. 1) Density discrepency: this patient had received a very “see-through” or thin transplant. There are not a lot of clinics which can actually achieve a high density transplant. This resulted in the very unnatural difference in density between his original hair and transplanted hair. Also, you will notice that the hairline itself is unnatural in design. Lastly you will see the angulation issues. The hair stands is angled perpendicular to the skin which causes several problems which I will cover in the next article.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/mXJe48y6FHs

With those results in mind, take a look at the video below:

 http://www.youtube.com/embed/bbuZg7XW9eg

The video you just saw had several things and to me is an example of a near perfect hair transplant performed at our clinic. I will go into the specifics in the next article as we continue on hairlines.

Bottom line: GO TO A GREAT CLINIC WHICH CAN PRODUCE THESE TYPES OF RESULTS!

Shameless sell: If you’re on this site, reading, you obviously can see the quality of work – so come in for a free consult (end of sales pitch:D)

Paul-Joseph

Hair Transplant Specialist

416 747 7873