Bernstein Medical

Bernstein Medical - Center for Hair Restoration patient LWJ has a Norwood Class 3/3A balding pattern and light brown hair of above average weight and a high donor density of 2.7. Results after one session of 1,464 follicular unit grafts.

Click the thumbnails below for a larger view.

Before / After:

Left: Before Hair Transplant

Right: After 1st Hair Transplant Session

Detail of Hairline

Photos were taken after one session of Follicular Unit Transplantation. The distribution of recipient sites shows the broad band of hair placed across his forehead and in the small areas of temporal recession.

Left: Recipient Sites, Front View

Center: Recipient Sites, Side View Showing Temporal Grafts

Right: After 1st Hair Transplant Session

This patient's hair restoration result was recently given a 5-star rating on his hair transplant photo profile on the Bernstein Medical - Center for Hair Restoration website. View his profile and rate his results here:

Hair Transplant Patient LWJ | Bernstein Medical - Center for Hair Restoration

Bernstein Medical - Center for Hair Restoration patient BEI has medium weight hair of above average density. Two hair transplant sessions of large minigrafts resulted in a hairline that was too lopsided and pluggy. In the repair, only some of the largest minigrafts in the very front were removed and the hairs from these grafts were subdivided under the microscope and re–implanted. BEI was then treated with Follicular Unit Hair Transplantation with hair harvested from the donor area.

Click the thumbnails below for a larger view.

Before / After:

Left: Before Hair Transplant

Right: After Repair Session

Detail of Hairline:

Prior to transplanting hair from the donor area, the proposed hairline was drawn and eight of the mini-grafts closest to that hairline were removed (this step is not shown).

Left: Position of Hairline

Center: Recipient Sites

Right: After Repair Session, Left View

Bernstein Medical - Center for Hair Restoration patient MBZ is an Asian male with a Norwood Class 6 pattern of hair loss and with black, straight medium coarse hair. His donor density of 2.5 is unusually high for an Asian. Two sessions totaling 2,827 follicular unit grafts were used in the hair restoration.

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Before / After:

Left: Before Hair Transplant

Right: After 2nd Hair Transplant Session

Top View of Hair Restoration:

Top view after two sessions of 1,631 and 1,196 follicular unit grafts, respectively.

Left: Before Hair Transplant

Center: After 2nd Hair Transplant Session

Bernstein Medical - Center for Hair Restoration patient MDA is a Norwood Class 5A with medium weight, wavy, salt & pepper hair. Photos were taken after his first session of Follicular Unit Hair Transplantation using 1,801 grafts. Note MDA's hair returned to its normal, less wiry texture over time. A second hair restoration session was performed using an additional 1,450 grafts for a total of 3,251 grafts.

Click the thumbnails below for a larger view.

Before / After:

Left: Before Hair Transplant

Right: After 2nd Session (3,251 total grafts)

Detail of Hairline:

Hair texture changes as the hair transplants mature.

Left: After 1st Hair Transplant Session (at 4 months)

Center-Left: Wiry Appearance of New Hair

Center-Right: Mature Hair Characteristics After 1st Session

Right: Return to Original Hair Texture After 2nd Session

Top View of Hair Restoration:

Stages of the hair restoration showing hairline position, recipient site placement and final appearance after two sessions.

Left: Before Hair Transplant

Center-Left: Before Hair Transplant with Hairline Placement

Center-Right: After 1st Session Showing Distribution of Recipient Sites

Right: Appearance of Hair Transplant After 2nd Session

Bernstein Medical patient RKE is a Norwood Class 6 with fine, light brown, straight hair. Because of his fine hair, he required three sessions of hair transplants totaling 2,928 follicular unit grafts to achieve the density that he desired.

Observe the subtle, but significant, density changes over multiple sessions.

Bernstein Medical patient JDL is a Norwood Class 5A with salt & pepper, straight, medium fine hair and a donor density of 1.8. Results after two hair transplant sessions totaling 3,397 follicular unit grafts.

Bernstein Medical patient GDL is a Norwood Class 6 with gray (dyed) wiry, medium coarse hair and a donor density of 1.8. Results after one hair transplant session of 2,408 follicular unit grafts.

Bernstein Medical patient ATF is a Norwood class 6 with brown, wavy medium hair and a donor density of 2.3. Because of his tight scalp, he had a relatively small first hair transplant session of 1,917 follicular unit grafts.

Patient QLR is a young woman in her early 20s who had hair loss on the front and top of her scalp following radiotherapy and surgery near her left part. Because the area was totally devoid of hair, she was unable to cover it, since the hair that was combed over the area from the part side had nothing to hold on to.

After one hair transplant session of 1,945 follicular unit grafts she had enough coverage that complete camouflage of the area was possible with proper grooming. A second session will give her greater density. It is important when transplanting hair into scar tissue that the hair restoration is performed over several sessions to allow the blood supply to re-establish itself in the area.

View and rate her profile in our hair transplant photos section:

Female Hair Transplant Patient QLR

In old hair transplant procedures on patient VRI, multiple rows of plugs created a low, broad hairline that forced the patient to wear a hairpiece for years. Four sessions of graft excisions and re-implantation were needed to completely remove and re-distribute the abnormal plugs. Note that there is little trace of the excised grafts. No additional hair was transplanted.

View his profile in our hair transplant repair photos section:

Hair Transplant Repair Patient VRI

Patient ZAZ is a Norwood Class 6 male with slightly wavy, fine white hair. Results after two hair transplant sessions totaling 3,383 follicular unit grafts. Our patient was featured with Dr. Bernstein on The Today Show hosted by Matt Lauer.

Bernstein Medical - Center for Hair Restoration patient JHG had extensive scarring from a sew-on hairpiece and three hair transplant sessions using plugs, many of which didn't grow well. Luckily, the patient had salt & pepper hair, ideal hair for a repair. Dramatic improvement was accomplished with just one hair transplant using 1,732 follicular unit grafts.

Patient SPB had plugs transplanted too low on his frontal hairline. The surgery was performed in England many years ago and since that time SPB wore a hairpiece in public. Prior to the first hair transplant session, I excised 22 of the most visible large grafts. I then transplanted 2,853 follicular units (with the results shown in the after first session photo). Just before his second hair restoration session I excised an additional six plugs, removed some pitting and transplanted an additional 1,923 follicular unit grafts. A third session was performed using an additional 1,141 grafts. The results, after three hair transplants totaling 5,917 follicular unit grafts, are shown in the photos that were recently taken by the patient and sent to us from England. This patient's hair transplant procedure was televised and he was featured with Dr. Bernstein on ???Good Morning America.???

Patient QMR is a Norwood Class 6 with slightly wavy, medium thickness, salt and light brown hair. Results after three sessions of hair transplants totaling 3,501 follicular unit grafts.

Note the significant coverage after just 2,285 grafts in two sessions and the restored natural look after the final session of an additional 1,216 FUGs.

In our previous gallery comments section, we were asked for a Top View photo in our next gallery. This patient has a top view and hairline detail in addition to the before/after of three sessions. Always interested in reading your comments.

Thanks for the suggestions. I did consider FUE, however the limitation he has is not only the donor scarring, but the very low donor density. I don't feel that FUE would offer any significant improvement in volume because of this and would just leave additional scarring. Although punch harvesting is an interesting suggestion, I am concerned that punch excision of the donor area would also leave unacceptable scarring. If you could examine him it would be apparent.

The grafts that Dr. Rassman placed were quite small. In his note, he said the maximum was 4-hairs and the patient does not look pluggy, rather the hair loss is patchy ??“ so graft excision with re-implantation would offer little. A main concern was the poor growth from each procedure, which is why I am reluctant to do additional surgery. A diagnostic biopsy would be a reasonable next step, but the other issues remain. It is a very difficult problem.

Forum readers, sorry I didn't address this thread sooner, but it just came to my attention.

Dear Godzluv69,

Thank you for giving me permission to discuss your case on this forum. To give the readers a bit of background, prior to seeing me you had two hair restoration procedures by another doctor to address your hair loss at the hair line and a few small patches of hair loss at the temples. The frontal hair loss was characteristic of androgenetic alopecia and the patchy hair loss was felt to be due to MPB, or possibly old lesions of alopecia areata.

Your first hair transplant was performed on 8/14/1993 where 220 minigrafts were added to your frontal hairline and temples. In the second procedure, performed on 7/14/1995 an additional 94 grafts were added to these same areas.

I first evaluated you for surgery on 9/21/2001. At that time you had additional frontal hair loss that bothered you considerably. You wanted me to transplant as large a session as possible, but I had concerns that you had low density (1.5 even before your first procedure) and not a lot of scalp laxity. I expressed that before considering another hair transplant you should keep in mind that you had a raised scar after your first procedure that would likely occur again and also reminded you that you were somewhat dissatisfied with the growth from your first procedure (although the session was very small) and that I could not be sure you would get good growth in a subsequent session. Although the frontal hair loss appeared to be typical androgenetic alopeica (see pre-op photo), I reminded you that a diagnosis of alopeica had been considered as contributing to hair loss on the temples. Lastly you expressed that you had financial concerns and I said that I would do the procedure for just a deposit fee.

I summarized our conversation in a letter written on 9-21-2001. The body of the text read as follows, I quote:

As we discussed, before we proceed, there are a number of important issues that we need to discuss. First, you have a raise donor scar that is not uncommon in the black races. There is a significant chance that this will occur again in your next procedure. Second, the poor growth from your past procedure may have been due to alopecia areata. There is no guarantee that you will get good growth with another session.

Because of those concerns, I suggest a conservative session with the placement of approximately 600 follicular units to your frontal hairline and the front of your scalp. As a courtesy, you will be responsible for the $1,000.00 deposit only. I have enclosed a new lab prescription.

I next heard from you via a letter on 5/29/2004 where you stated that the hair loss was "socially professionally unacceptable" and it was making you "miserable." You said that you had saved up additional money for the procedure but I said that I would honor my offer to perform the surgery for the deposit fee.

I performed the follicular unit transplant on 7/2/2004. Because of your low density a strip of 15.8 x 0.9 cm yielded only 699 follicular unit grafts (150-1s, 417-2s 126-3s and 6-4s). The procedure was uneventful except for that the donor area was slightly tight on the right side, the area of old scarring (and the area that you showed in the photo). We handled the post-op course by phone since you were in Baltimore.

On 6/23/2007 you returned for an additional procedure. At that time I explained that your donor area was tight and, because your yield was so low from your last procedure, due to your low density, I would not recommend further surgery. I also expressed a concern that you again did not get satisfactory growth from your procedure. I suggested that you increase your finasteride to 1/2 of a five mg tab, but to not have another hair transplant.

From your posting and our conversation yesterday, I understand that you are extremely frustrated that you have not gotten a satisfactory result from your hair restoration procedures. As I had mentioned in your last consult, it is reasonable to get other opinions, but in my best judgment I would advise you against further surgery, as I don't feel that you have enough movable donor hair to make another procedure worthwhile and you would run the risk of a more visible donor scar. I would caution that if you were to contemplate additional surgery, first have a biopsy to see if there is any other process going on that may be affecting growth. As we discussed on the phone, I would be happy to do this for you.

Sincerely,

Dr. Bernstein

I've had the great pleasure of working side-by-side with Ron beginning in 1995 in our Fort Lee facility ??“ just when we were first developing Follicular Unit Transplantation. They were exciting times and Ron and I have been friends ever since. His masterful surgery is known to all. Working closely with him, one can appreciate his generosity of spirit and of ideas, his wonderful upbeat temperament and his kindness ??“ especially to his patients. It is an honor to know Ron. He is so deserving of the Golden Follicle. Congratulations!

Bob Bernstein