thanks for the list!

my family needs this

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I am spam

Hello,

This an open ended question to both Dr. Alexander and Dr. Rassman:

From my understanding you both used a clinical laser device and were not happy with the results your patients received.

If you can be so kind and answer the following questions as I'm very curious why these did not work as I'm collecting this information.

1. What machine was used?

2. Did the machine have the focusing lens removed or were they still in the laser diodes?

3. How long were the treatment times for? (e.g. were they used for 20 minutes, 3 times a week?)

4. How many weeks/months did your patients use the machines before they stopped treatment?

I appreciate your time to answer my questions.

Thank You.

Dr. Feller

I received your phone call last week concerning my use of the LLLT - sorry I was out of town, but will return your call.

I too have received a lot of questions from patients concerning LLLT. To date, my response has been that I have not seen adequate studies to support my use of the device (and charging patients) and therefore have not recommended it to patients. In fact, I had a patient who saw another physician and their consultant who recommended they have a hair transplant followed by LLLT for an extra $2-$4000. When the patient indicated that he was not going to travel to the physician's office for the therapy, the doctor responded that it probably did not work anyway. That patient promptly left the office as the physician and consultants completely discredited themselves ??“ they were basically trying to get an extra fee for a procedure they really did not believe in.

Steve Gabel, M.D.
Portland, Oregon

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Steve Gabel, M.D.
Portland, Oregon

Dr. Gabel is a member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians

Dr. Gabel, so is it safe to assume you are part of this list?

I agree 100% with Dr.Feller....These doctors who collect "laser" money are unethical and should be ashamed of themselves.

Yes - add me to the list.

Right now I do not believe there is enough evidence to support the use of LLLT for hair restoration.

Steve Gabel, M.D.
Portland, Oregon
503-693-1118

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Steve Gabel, M.D.
Portland, Oregon

Dr. Gabel is a member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians

Thank you for relating your experience Dr. Gabel. We need more outspoken physicans to stand against quackary. The public needs our leadership and guidance to counterbalance the massive hype coming from the LLLT industry.

Our list of "good guys" grows every week. Those doctors who join this list have demonstrated a true commitment to their profession and their patients. Each and every one of them could use LLLT in their practice to generate more money from their hair-hungry patients, but instead they restrain themselves and act honerably by rejecting LLLT and all that it stands for. I am pround to say that the doctors on this list are my colleagues.

Welcome to the list Dr. Gabel.

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Feller Medical, PC
Great Neck, NY

Dr. Alan Feller is a member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians

Providing Hair Transplants and Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) Treatments

I was just reminded of a similar "scam" in facial plastic surgery.

A few years ago, I shared an office with a plastic surgeon who claimed to be a pioneer in laser treatment of wrinkles. He had a large practice and was quite successful with body work (breast/lipo/tummy tucks).

Anyhow, he did a laser evaluation for a company using their device on maybe 10 patients, several of whom worked at the office. None of us could tell that any cosmetically significant change had occurred. He did back it up with histology showing more collagen in the treated areas.

Coincidentally, I did facelifts on a couple of the staff, and low and behold, but the 2 postop pics that made it to the meeting were the patients that I facelifted! Their scars were not noticable, and indeed it looked like the laser did a miracle. He never revealed that they had a facelift in addition to the laser. The non-facelifted laser patients never had their pics used; but I am guessing that the company was not hurt by these 2 ladies' nice result.

I didn't find out about the details of the presentation until long after the events had passed.

Just goes to show the value of these educational sites in exposing treatments with no scientifically proven efficacy (other than money to the provider) such as LLLT.

Dr. Lindsey McLean VA

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William H. Lindsey, MD, FACS
McLean, VA

Dr. William Lindsey is a member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians

There is clearly a list of doctors who support and don't support laser therapy for hair restoration. However, I'm not so sure how a list of doctors on either side proves whether it works or not.

Frankly, I think the technical debates are much more enlightening.

Bill

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Managing Publisher of the Hair Transplant Network, the Hair Loss Learning Center, the Hair Loss Q&A Blog and the Hair Loss Forum and Social Community

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To learn about how I restored my hair, view my my hair loss website.

Remember, true beauty radiates from within, not from the skin.

I am not a medical professional and my words should not be taken as medical advice. All opinions and views shared are my own.

As a fellow who's been around the block a time or two with surgical hair restoration drug trials, as well as someone with more than a passing familiarity in basic science research, there are several concerns that I have with the purported use of laser technology to stimulate hair growth.

First, the underlying basis for mechanism of action for lasers as hair growth agonists appears neither well articulated nor well thought out. To begin with, there are good reasons that a cut heals faster than a burn.

The type of cytokines and chemokines recruited in remodeling a burn injury (this is the way that most lasers work) do not lend themselves to accelerating wound healing. Second, there is no hair growth pathway that I can think of wherein a laser could exert a positive influence. Actually quite the opposite is true.

Most burn wounds induce upregulation of inflammatory markers such as TNFa and NFkB. I could be mistaken, but it seems to me that trying to enhance wound healing by upregulating these markers (i.e. by introducing high energy/light/heat into a biologic system) is a little like trying to put out a fire by spraying gasoline.

This is relevant inasmuch as recent data supports the notion that the dermal papilla is a repository for pluripotent stem cells which are key to skin homeostasis and wound remodeling.

Furthermore, as other far more knowledgeable contributors to this post have already observed, the supporting clinical data for LLLT are less than robust.

Lasers certainly have a place in medicine. However, I cannot see LLLT for hair growth as a particularly good use of the technology.

Geno Marcovici, Ph.D.

Boy, I don't know Bill.

These are the pros and since alot of them here are saying, for all intents and purposes, to "forget about it", then I'm going to "forget about it".