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ISHRS 26th Annual World Congress Recap

The ISHRS 26th Annual World Congress in Hollywood California was attended by participants from 55 countries. The ISHRS doctors gather annually to share and advance knowledge and techniques to improve the quality of hair transplants worldwide. This years program was filled with knowledge to improve the quality of hair restoration and surgical treatments. Pictured above, at …

What can you do if you have Lichen Planopilaris and Scarring Alopecia?

Lichen Planopilaris is a scarring type of hair loss and has symptoms such as white atrophic areas that do not allow hair growth.

The question really becomes what can be done to surgically improve this or to get hair back in this area? There are many things that can be done, one thing being if the patient is inclined to do is excise or cut out the scar, pull it together and do a surgical procedure and bring both hair barring areas back together.

In other situations, Dr. Mejia utilizes Follicular Unit Excision or Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) procedures where donor hair is removed from the back of the scalp and is transplanted into the scarring area. Hair follicles can grow in scars to restore the area. With certain types of hair loss conditions that are autoimmune, like Lichen Planopilaris or lupus hair transplanting into atrophic areas can be considered problematic in the sense that Dr.Mejia has to advise patients that the results may not be one hundred percent successful and the reason is that when he has a diagnosis of an inflammatory, autoimmune condition that is damaging the hair follicles, any transplanted hairs that are put into the atrophic areas can potentially also be involved with the same issue.

When you’re transplanting into scars you have to understand what the pathology is and what the diagnosis is because while it can be done many times the grafts may not grow completely or they may grow fine for several years only to get the disease reactivated and when you have the disease reactivated into the area the transplanted hairs may be affected, damaged and lost similar to what was lost, to begin with.

To answer the question, “can you transplant into scars?” The answer is yes you can, but it depends on what type of scar you’re transplanting into and if you’re transplanting into disease processes that are inflammatory in nature, it should be under the direct follow-up and close supervision of a clinical dermatologist specializing in hair transplantation surgery.

Hair loss cure in Mc Donalds fries? Dr. Mejia weighs in.

There has been a lot of buzz lately regarding a chemical in McDonald’s fries and how it relates to a cure for hair loss. The chemical is a product called Dimethylpolysiloxane which is used in the cooking oil of the McDonald’s fries and other eateries like Taco Bell and Chick-fil-a to help decrease the frothing in oil. It is also used in culture media to help cells grow.

Researchers in Japan have shown that they take these germ cells and they put them in a culture which contains the Dimethylpolysiloxane chemical. In this culture, they are actually seeing some hairs that grow. These cells or hairs are then transplanted into nude mice and some of those hairs grow.

So, how does this translate to humans? Human hairs and mice hairs are completely different. It is a very complicated issue of getting hairs to really grow in culture. It is not really proven that this is going to work in humans and how exactly it would work, but it does show some promise that maybe there is a product or a chemical that gives us the ability to grow hairs better.

Hair transplantation is a great procedure for patients, but getting the right chemicals to help grow them in culture and to grow those and transplant them back into humans is a very complicated issue. Time will tell what comes about from this research and we will have more answers as we move along.

Folliculitis Treatment and Causes

In this video Dr. Mejia talks about folliculitis treatment. The word breaks down to hair follicle and “itis” translates to inflammation, which leads to Folliculitis being the inflammation of the hair follicle.

Folliculitis can be caused to due to irritation from clothing, spandex, shorts, etc. In women, it can occur on their lower legs due to constant shaving, ingrown hair follicles and bacterial contamination. If Folliculitis occurs on the body, doctors prescribe an antibiotic and in severe cases an antibacterial body wash soap. If it occurs on the scalp there are similar treatments depending on the clinical situation.

Folliculitis can be very mild, but in some cases such as the scalp, it can be very serious and progress to what is known as “dissecting folliculitis” which results in hair loss and scarring.

If inflammation of the scalp, pimples, or any other signs of folliculitis occur, visit and consult your dermatologist to get the appropriate treatment.

Does Rogaine Work? Yes It Does!

One of the questions Dr. Mejia gets asked alot is “Does Rogaine Work?” The answer is yes. Rogaine is an FDA approved product which contains minoxidil. Minoxidil is an ingredient that has been used for many years that has shown clinical growth in hair follicles.

So the advantage for both men and women is that if you use Rogaine two times a day for men and once a day for women, you can experience hair growth and/or stabilization of the hair follicles. What happens with time is that your hair follicles will slowly wither away through the genetic aspects of hair loss. Rogaine can minimize that and keep all the hair that you have and in some cases even grow hair.

Rogaine, like any product for hair has to be used on a consistent daily basis to get the results you are looking for and to maintain the nourishment of the hair follicle for growth. It is a maintenance treatment, so you need to use it as long as your hair is important to you.

Hair Transplant Alternatives – Non Surgical Hair Growth Products

Non-surgical hair growth products are becoming increasingly more popular. The keys for effectively treating hair loss are a proper diagnosis by an expert, early intervention and proper education for all of the non-surgical and surgical hair loss solutions. We offer choices for treating your thinning hair or hair loss: Propecia or Finasteride: These are oral medications …

Androgenetic and Non-Androgenetic Alopecia Treatments

Dr. Mejia recently spoke at the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery in Hollywood, FL. His topics were “Diagnosing and Managing Male and Female Androgentic Alopecia and Non-Androgenetic Alopecia Treatments: When to Biopsy and or refer. Below is a recap of his presentation. Many people embrace being bald and can live under the mantra that “bald …

Hair Transplant Testimonial from Mo

Recently we had Mo from Kool 105.5 visit us at the office. It has been five years since his hair transplant and sat down with Dr. Mejia for a chat. As you can see from the pictures in the video, he has maintained hair growth all these years.

Could There Be A New Cure For Baldness Through Cloning?

A new study reveals a new possible cure for baldness as shown in this CNBC video this week. The promise of cloning hair is becoming a closer reality. As we discover new genes and treatments for hair loss, the success of being able to grow new hair and make it last may soon be …

Hair Growing in Strong Ten Months After Operation

When my friend Blanca Mejia asked me in December 2010 if I would be interested in having her brother do a hair transplant on me in exchange for blogging about my experience, I told her I would be up to the idea, but didn’t think much of it until a year later when I realized my hair was progressively becoming thinner.

It was within the first week of January 2012 and I had resolved to do something about my hair before it got any worse, so I sent her a message, asking her if her brother would be interested in going along with the project.

I was 43 years old and had recently lost about 15 pounds and figured I would look better with a fuller head of hair.

I didn’t realize how much better.

Today, ten months after the procedure, I am amazed at what a difference it has made. The pictures speak for themselves.

Everything that Dr. Mejia said would happened has come true. My face looks slimmer, I look much younger and the women find me more attractive.

While many women are not bothered by hair loss in men, it is only natural that they would be more attractive to a fuller head of hair as long as it looks natural, even if they won’t admit it.

Now, women tend to stare a little longer and flirt a little stronger and just come across a little more friendlier. I’d never let the hair loss get in the way of dating, but now I do a lot less pursuing.

When I tell women I’ve had a transplant, they are blown away and say they would never have guessed. Many of them have horror stories of bad hair transplants they’ve seen where it was immediately obvious a hair transplant was done because it was so badly done.

The key to a good transplant is that nobody notices you had one done, even if they’ve known you for a long time. They might say you look better but they can’t pinpoint exactly why.

As Dr. Mejia promised, my hairline was restored to its natural state as to how it looked in my early 20s. I’ve always had a high hairline but it used to grow in a way where I could give the illusion that I had more hair.

He said it would look unnatural for the shape of my face to give me a higher hairline and now I know what he means.

It took several months for the hair to achieve a natural look. For the first five months after the operation, I wore my hat because the new hair was much shorter than the existing hair, so it made it seem obvious I had received a transplant.

But one day less than six months into the procedure, I received a hair cut in which much of the hair was even. You can see how it looked seven months after the operation in the video below.

Full growth is not reached until 18 months after the procedure, so I still have another eight months to go to see it at its full potential.

But I can already see it’s masterpiece. Dr. Mejia is not only a skilled doctor but a talented artist.

I would tip my hat off to him except I haven’t worn it in three months.