Dr. Michael Meshkin

Can you post some pictures?

As I said, I just became aware of this post last night, and I donot work on saturday nights so I don't have access to patients photos, but I will post them as soon as Gary allows me to do so.

I have recently started asking my clients to go on line and share their experiences with the network, I donot give them a script or donot give a protocol. If the patients experience sounds to you like a sells pitch then it is your job to direct them to talk about their actual experience of the transplant and the result. Each client percieves their experience in their own personal way. To some the technique is important and to some it may be the comfort of the whole procedure and so on. Their level of knowledge also differs, some like to know in detail about the whole technical aspect and they research throughly months in advance in the internet and other means and gather information before they make up their mind about a perticular doctor. However, to some clients it is the personal and the comfort level with the doctor and thier staff. Again they describe their experience depending on the way they percieve it. So it is important as a moderator to direct the line of questioning in a way so the clients who arenot "scripted" and arenot paid promotors for doctors to share their experience in a way that others could benefit and not redicule them.

For some who wonder about "Nokor Microslit Grating" technique, it is a technique that I introduced to my collegues in 1989. I lectured and wrote articles about this technique in many Journals. It was the first time a flat needle technique was introduced in the field of hair restoration surgery for placing 1-3 hair grafts(which we now call Follicular Units). This technique allowed for placing more number of grafts and more density and also less scaring and better cosmetic result. The technique was documented in the Journel of Cosmetic surgery, Journel of Dermatologic Surgery and The Hair Transplant Text book by Doctor Dough Stough and currently in the Hair Transplant Textbook by Doctors Unger and Shapiro as reference. This technique was used for many years by vast majority of best hairtransplant surgeons around the world. Still some doctors use the Nokor needles for making recipient sites.

As the hairtransplant surgery evolves, we as hairtransplant doctors have the resposiblity to improve our techniques. I am commited to staying active in this field through ongoing educations and incorporating the latest advances into my practice. I am constantly looking for new techniques and innovations which may benefit my clients. I am now doing exclusively microscopic "Lateral Ultra Refined Follicular Unit Grafting Technique" for the recipient area and for donor area I use double trichophytic closure. If the clients are good candidate we also offer FUE.

If I was not clear in any aspect of explaining the Nokor Microslit Grafting Technique or the current technique that I use, I will be more than happy to explain in furthur detail.

I am glad that Gary has decided to get involved and share his experience. I just became aware of this thread and I will be more than happy to share his results if gary allows me to do so.

I must say I am very surprised and disappointed at the questioning and line of talk by Bill the moderator. I was under the impression that a moderator is to be neutral and when someone is trying to share their experience he directs the line of questioning as to how their whole experience of the hair treatment was and not to scrutinize them on the terminology and make fun of them for not knowing the exact meaning of words or technoques. The way Bill approached my patient with his remarks and I quote

"Either you are very well educated in hair transplant surgery or simply have good reading skills since it states on his website that Dr. Meskin pioneered the "Mokor Microslit Grafting Technique".Now I'll really be impressed if you can tell me what this means especially since doing a search on google for this term solely lists Dr. Meshkin's website."

is completly uncalled for and very unprofessional. If you want to know my technique or want to know how the terminolgy came about you should ask me and not belittle a patient for knowing or not knowing the techniques. Also you twisted his words by saying that he claims or I claim that "NOKOR microslit grafting technique" is the same as follicullar or ultra follicular technique. This kind of questioning and twisting of words are expected from other clinics or competitors but not from a moderator. Bill, I have tried to have my clients more involved on this forum and I know pat wants the doctores and their clients to get more involved but unfortunetly you have made it difficult for other patients to come forward and share their experience. I will ofcoarse let pat know of my disappointment and I hope that this doesnot happen again from you The "moderator".

Usually male pattern baldness is hereditory although some medical problems could cause hairthinning in men. If there is a family history of male pattern baldness in your family,then most likely yours is family related. Surgical treatment is the only proven permanant solution to regain hair in men, medical treatment can be used to minimize future hairloss. If a client has enough donor hair to provide a good coverage of the thinning area and is at risk for future hairloss, we perfer to do hair transplant to regain the hair back and in addition try medications to minimize future hair loss. The donor hair is in the back of the head from one inch above the ears and all the way down to the neck. The transplanted hair which is from the back of the head has a genetic disposition that is resistant to the DHT which is the male hormone that causes hairloss. The transplanted hair starts to grow after 3 months and it may take up to a year for all the hair to grow out.

On younger clients we prefer to begin with medical treatment first and defer hair transplant, but it depends on clients degree of hair loss.

Hello jst,

I do virtual consultation with clients who live far or are unable to come in to one of our offices, however I do prefer to see the client upclose. I ask my clients to email me pictures from the front sides and back of the head and from the pictures I evaluate the degree of hairloss and give an estimate of the number of grafts and the cost for the procedure. Usually from the pictures I give a good estimate, but I let the patient know that the final number is made when I see the patient upclose because I need to measure the hair density and laxicity. In adition, I make sure the patient is educated as to the cause of his/her hairloss and offer all the viable treatment options available. If a client decides to have hairtransplant surgery, then on the day of the procedure I will do a consultation before doing the procedure so they are fully educated and have reasonable expectation of the final result.

Hi Lisa,

Normally I suggest to do the facelift first because the hairline moves with the facelift. I recommend to wait until you recover from postop healing, so the blood circulation is not compromised in the recipient area. Ususally I suggest to wait three months after the facelift to do the hair transplant.

can you share with us the details of your surgery? for example number of grafts and number of hairs placed.

Minoxidil is a potasium chanel openner and vasodilator. It was initially approved for use as an antihypertensive agent. There are many side effects associated with minoxidil, but the most common ones are irritation, itching, palpitation, dizziness and in females hypertrichosis(facial hair growth). If a patient experiences any of these side effects we recommend to discontinue the treatment.

After clinical evaluation including hair pull, first we rule out any skin conditions or systemic disease that may be the underlying cause for the hair loss. If the female client has a good dense donor hair and is diagnosed with classic female pattern hairloss, we begin topical 2% minoxidil, vitamin supplementation and may consider hair transplant surgery. Usually treatment options for female clients are very customized to patients needs and concerns.

Hair loss can be devastating in men and women. When I started 20 years ago I rarely had female patients, however in the past few years, I have noticed that the number of patients with female pattern hair loss has increased trmendously. Following evaluation and examination if a female pattern hair loss is due to hyper androgenic conditions she can benefit from anti-androgen therapy. We consider hair restoration if the patient is a good candidate. I have had many female patients that had great results with anti-androgen therapy and also I have treated clients that had success with hair transplantation. In either case the results had temendous effect on clients self esteem.