The Big Hair Meeting and Clinics to Visits in October

[Pat - Community Publisher]

Well, it's that time of the year when hair transplant physicians come together from all around the world for the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS) annual four day meeting. To attend one of these meetings is to understand where the expression "splitting hairs" came from.

 

This year's meeting in San Diego will be attended by over 400 to 500 hair restoration physicians, some of whom would like to hang me for hosting a forum like this one :-)

 

This meeting will be my seventh annual ISHRS meeting. I will attend as many presentations and workshops as I can, while avoiding the noose and taking good notes for this forum.

 

Judging from the meeting program, it looks like the profession is finally catching on that mega/dense ultra refined sessions are the new gold standard.

 

In fact, in the September/October issue of the Hair Transplant Forum an article detailing Ultra Refined Follicular Unit Grafting by Dr. Arthur Tykocinski of Brazil was the featured cover article. Dr. Tykocinski did an excellent job of detailing his truly optimal ultra refined procedure from A to Z.

 

So it looks like the hair transplant profession is recognizing what educated patients online have known for the past two or three years - that the "gold standard" in hair transplantation has moved from standard follicular units to bigger sessions of ultra refined follicular units. Mastery of this ultra refined procedure has been a requirement for Coalition members since March of last year.

 

It will be interesting to see which physicians at the meeting enthusiastically embrace this more challenging yet patient friendlier procedure and which ones make arguments against it.

 

The week after the meeting I will stay in Southern California to observe surgeries in various clinics. Time will be limited. So which clinics in Southern California do you want me to visit?

 

Please reply with your suggestions below.

 

Thanks, Pat

 

P.S. To see some highlights from my previous clinic visits, click here.

[Pat - Community Publisher]

Well, it's that time of the year when hair transplant physicians come together from all around the world for the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS) annual four day meeting. To attend one of these meetings is to understand where the expression "splitting hairs" came from.

 

This year's meeting in San Diego will be attended by over 400 to 500 hair restoration physicians, some of whom would like to hang me for hosting a forum like this one :-)

 

This meeting will be my seventh annual ISHRS meeting. I will attend as many presentations and workshops as I can, while avoiding the noose and taking good notes for this forum.

 

Judging from the meeting program, it looks like the profession is finally catching on that mega/dense ultra refined sessions are the new gold standard.

 

In fact, in the September/October issue of the Hair Transplant Forum an article detailing Ultra Refined Follicular Unit Grafting by Dr. Arthur Tykocinski of Brazil was the featured cover article. Dr. Tykocinski did an excellent job of detailing his truly optimal ultra refined procedure from A to Z.

 

So it looks like the hair transplant profession is recognizing what educated patients online have known for the past two or three years - that the "gold standard" in hair transplantation has moved from standard follicular units to bigger sessions of ultra refined follicular units. Mastery of this ultra refined procedure has been a requirement for Coalition members since March of last year.

 

It will be interesting to see which physicians at the meeting enthusiastically embrace this more challenging yet patient friendlier procedure and which ones make arguments against it.

 

The week after the meeting I will stay in Southern California to observe surgeries in various clinics. Time will be limited. So which clinics in Southern California do you want me to visit?

 

Please reply with your suggestions below.

 

Thanks, Pat

 

P.S. To see some highlights from my previous clinic visits, click here.

[something]

Personally Pat, i would like you to check the Elliott Clinic and see what comes out of it. You are in the neighborhood. Also, NHI, which we never really here from on this site.

[Pat - Community Publisher]

Something,

 

Thanks for the suggestions. Dr. Elliott is a well promoted name in Southern California. But feedback from his patients over the years has generally not been very favorable. So given that he is not a viable candidate for being recommended on this community I don't think I will be visiting his clinic.

 

NHI (New Hair Clinic), run by Dr. Bill Rassman, at one time had at least a half dozen physicians working for it. But all these physicians have moved on and my understanding is that Dr. Rassman is currently the only surgeon at NHI.

 

I admire the work he did during the 1990's to popularize follicular unit mega sessions. He was often willing to confront his colleagues and hold them accountable for poor technique and results. I certainly admire that as well. I also like his current "balding blog" which provides expert answers to questions.

 

I will contact him to see about setting up a visit to observe surgery. I would also like to hear his opinion of the current mega mega ultra refinded sessions. I'd also like to find out if he still charges $10 a graft for surgery when he personally performs it.

 

I'm also scheduled to observe surgery with Dr. Chang at Natural Hair Transplant Medical Center in Newport Beach. Does anyone have any experiences or informed opinions about them?

 

Something, thanks again for your thoughtful suggestions. I hope to get more of them posted below.

[Bear]

Hi Pat. If you could check out Dr. William Reed of Ljhr and give us your feedback, that would be great. I understand he will also be attending the meeting. Thanks for a great community here.

[Pat - Community Publisher]

Bear,

 

Thanks for an excellent suggestion. I've met Dr. Bill Reed on several occasions. He has always impressed me as being very genuine and patient oriented. Others have told me that this is indeed the case.

 

The last time I saw Dr. Reed he was at the Coalition live surgery workshop that was hosted by Dr. Jerry Cooley in Charlotte. Dr. Reed was an invited guest.

 

My understanding is that Dr. Reed believes in trimming all his grafts under microscopes. Yet he likes to use what are now called "follicular unit families" in addition to follicular units. Essentially these are groupings of hair follicles that are growing hairs so close together that they look almost like one follicular unit with multiple hairs.

 

He believes that by using such multi haired grafts he can achieve a better illusion of density for his patients than by using only small follicular units. I'm curious to see how refined his procedure is.

 

I think it would be useful to present this alternative perspective on this community.

 

I spoke with Dr. Reed about observing his surgery and he invited me to observe his surgery on Monday October 23rd. I'll be there and will be taking good notes and photos for all.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. Pat

[Bob C]

Pat,

 

I think it is wonderful that you've been taking your research "on the road".

 

I'm curious about Dr Rassman and NHI too. They were one of the first big names I was exposed to, and I'd like to know how they are keeping up with the times.

 

As many of this forum's members are aware, Drs Bernstein, Rose and Shapiro (all recommended surgeons on this site) were employed by NHI at one time.

[Pat - Community Publisher]

Bob C,

 

Yep, spending a day observing the staff, technique and patients goes a long way in verifying process and results. But input from patients over the years also has been a great help to me in formulating recommendations. After all they have certainly visited the clinic as well.

 

I want to encourage all members of this community to feel free to contact me about any physician you have concerns about. My inbox is always open.

 

Just to set the record straight, Dr. Bernstein certainly worked with Dr. Rassman and NHI for years. But I don't believe that Dr. Rose and Dr. Shapiro ever did. Although I know they had close associations with Dr. Rassman and NHI.

 

All the best, Pat

[Pat - Community Publisher]

I've got big plans for Dr. DeYarman as he is hosting the next Coalition live surgery workshop the day before the official start of the ISHRS meeting. To see highlights from previous Coalition live surgery workshops, click here.

 

He intends to demonstrate using lateral slits to recreate the temporal points (the hair on the sides that points forward at about eyebrow height). Often in the past hair transplant surgeons would never touch these areas or the temples since they lacked the refined technique to make it look natural.

 

Thus you may recall the hair transplants that never looked completely natural because the top hairline was restored by the top did not connect into the sides through the temples. The temple points were also some times too receded to match the new hairline.

 

Restoring the temporal points and temple corners can be sound minor but it can make a huge difference in how the face is framed and how natural the hair transplant over all appears.

[dhuge67]

Pat, if you could talk to Dr. Pistone to ask him why he downplays and doesn't discuss ultra refined follicular unit hair transplantation with patients, that'd be great. His hairloss educator never mentioned that ultra refined was the state of the art, and actually said that Dr. Pistone was utilizing the latest in hair transplantation technology.

 

Only later, after the procedure and during the follow-up visit when I had questions for the Doctor, did he talk about the "hot new thing" being ultra-refined/dense packing grafts.

 

I'm pretty curious to know how he'd respond.

 

Thanks

[Pat - Community Publisher]

Dhuge,

 

I did talk with Dr. Pistone on the telephone when I was in New Jersey last Fall. He seemed like a good guy with a sense of humor. But that's small solace if your hair transplants are "C-".

 

We did talk about the new ultra refined techniques, which he had not embraced at that time. However, he did sound like he was doing decent standard follicular unit grafting.

 

But as you know from first hand experience, low density grafting with relatively big incisions and chubby grafts just can't compete with the "hot new thing".

 

But many physicians are just not willing, able or ready to make the leap to clear the now even higher bar.

 

I think you know now why many on this forum urged you to delay your surgery with him and look harder.

 

But now you're a vet and very well informed. I expect you will hit a home run your next time out.

 

If I see him at the meeting maybe I will advice him to pick up the pace if he wants to get a better grade than C-

 

Keep your chin up because as you know, you can get the results you want when the time is right.

 

Pat

[Bob C]

Pat,

 

I won't pretend to be more informed than you, or most veteran members of this board. However, I do have an NHI sales video from a few years back that has both Doctors Rose and Shapiro in it.

[Pat - Community Publisher]

Bob,

 

I may stand corrected. I believe this video goes back to the early 1990's. I know that Dr. Ron Shapiro did work with Dr. Bernstein in NY at one time. So perhaps this was through NHI.

 

As for Dr. Rose, I'm not sure.

 

All the best, Pat