Dr. Rassman offers micro pigmentation

[RCWest]

Scalp Micro-Pigmentation — An Alternative to Hair Transplantation - Balding Blog

 

Thoughts?

[Blake Bloxham]

RC,

 

Thank you for sharing this! I read Dr. Rassman's blog everyday, but I hadn't yet this afternoon and it's a very exciting announcement. We get quite a few questions about legitimate micropigmentation on the forums, and it's great to finally have a resource for these questions and a place for patients to confidently undergo micropigmentation.

[TakingThePlunge]

RCWest,

 

Good catch! I often read Dr. Rassman's blog as well and I'm happy to see that he's offering this now. We've been waiting a long time to see legitimate results and I'm sure Dr. Rassman won't let us down.

[TC17]

The result posted on the blog looks bad. It does not appear to be a natural hairline.

 

Then, there are the questions that I hope Dr. Rassman will answer. Questions like - What happens when this man ages and his hair turns white or gray? How does this look upon close inspection? How much does it cost? Who is performing it? Why go to a hair transplant doctor to get a tattoo, when you can probably get it done cheaper from a tattoo artist?

 

It seems that it would have made more sense to establish a natural hairline via FUE, and then intersperse tattoo's with hairs extracted using FUE throughout the balding area.

[lorenzo]

I have mixed feeling about this. If it works then its great but I cant picture it looking natural.

[eddiemunster]

and what about when a significant other goes to pat your "buzz cut"? I don't see how this is a practical alternative.

[baldingbro]

I don't see this is an alternative to HT. When I went to Dr Rassman's San Jose office I saw somebody who got it done on the scar. It definitely hides the scar pretty well.

[moses0324]

and what about when a significant other goes to pat your "buzz cut"? I don't see how this is a practical alternative.

 

even when you shave to a "0"...razor blade. the stubble shows yet no hair is felt when the head is touched. so i dont know where you were going with this comment.

 

I see it as an alternative if you want to keep your hair at a 0 or 1...Anything more and it may look a little silly. The only concern I have is the discoloration (greenish or blueish tint)....that would look awful.

 

My guess is that it would get splotchy after a lot of touch ups as well.

[Sean]

This is pretty interesting. I wonder if it can be used as a filler alternative, to darken the scalp like a permanent toppik in hair transplants. Since, some patients don't have adequate density. It can possibly be used to even fill in a strip scar or maybe even those micro mini FUE dots if any. But if this is done, does this interfere with future hair transplantation?

[desertboy]

Nice.

 

I have a wider than preferred FUT scar (from Nov "09) from ear to ear and I'm looking for a non invasive solution to camouflage it. At this point I do not want to take the risk of re-harvesting the scar tissue to "repair it."

 

I hate topical solutions like Derm Match since they are dirty and rub off on anything my head comes in contact with.

[TomCruise]

Interesting, but what happens when your hair turns white?

[aaron1234]

Dr. Rassman posted another patient with the SMP procedure today. I think it looks quite good. It's a like a concealer that you don't need to wash out... which is a plus if you ask me. What I'm curious about is if they are shock loss or transection risks with the scalp pigmentation.

[TakingThePlunge]

aaron1234,

 

It is my understanding that the pigment is not inserted deep enough in the skin to affect the hair follicles.

 

All the best,

[Blake Bloxham]

Aaron,

 

I agree; that case does look quite natural, and I'm beginning to see how these results could 'mature' naturally overtime. I hope Dr. Rassman keeps sharing these cases.

[hairthere]

This looks like it could be a nice adjunct to Ht surgery. Not sure I like the look on a totally shaven head, though. As far as the greying issue people seem to have, you can probably just add grey pigment over the darker pigment. I think this also is a great option for scarring. There is a woman here on the east coast who seems very skilled doing this as well.

[aaron1234]

I completely agree. If I got SMP done, I would not use it in the hairline but rather behind it to increase the appearance of density. I hope this encourages other top clinics to experiment with SMP and that it develops like FUT or FUE did. The more options we have the better.

 

As for graying, I don't see it being a huge deal. And if it is, add grey pigment like hairthere said or just use some hair dye.

[TakingThePlunge]

I've always been intrigued by this procedure but the lack of any verifiable and legitimate results posted by patients or reputable providers has always frustrated me. I would consider this procedure as a permanent concealer if it proves to be effective.

 

Anyway, I emailed Dr. Rassman a few questions and here are his responses:

 

1. People often raise the question about how this will look as a person ages and their hair becomes gray or white. I’ve always thought that it may look odd as the dark dots are sure to stand out at that time. How do you propose patients will deal with this issue?

 

The pigmentation 'dots' are very small and for a person with hair that is not black (light brown for example) the color can mimic the hair around the fringe, almost a dark gray which will not be a problem with age, We generally make the color match the hair color (shade). Remember, that as the hair grows out from the scalp, it is exposed to sunlight (normally) and the hair in almost all people who do not have black hair, they will see some hair lightening, so we address that up-front as we select the initial color we use.

 

2. Over a lifetime, if cared for properly, how often do you expect a patient will have to touch up the work and will this cause it to become less defined over time?

 

Over time, the pigment may fade and might need a touch-up. We will cover someone for 3 months to deal with color absorption. After that time period, pigmentation absorption is much slower but it might fade more after a few years.

 

We will be offering a new pigment which (I am told) can be reversed with a laser in one treatment so even though we do not recommend that people consider this a reversible process, it is.

3. Do you publish your fees?

 

Fees are individually determined at the time of the consultation, but they range from $2000 - $6,000 depending upon the amount of work. This will include as many touch-up sessions as it needed to achieve the initial goals. It often takes two sessions.

 

I'd like to thank Dr. Rassman for his speedy and thorough reply to my questions. I hope this helps answer a few of the questions that have been raised.

 

 

Edited March 7, 2011 by TakingThePlunge