What’s Important When Choosing a Hair Transplant Surgeon?
Choosing a hair transplant surgeon is different from choosing almost any other service. You are making a decision about something that will become a permanent part of your appearance, and the result will depend on far more than the technology used or the number of grafts transplanted. The surgeon has to understand your current hair loss, evaluate the quality and limitations of your donor hair, anticipate how your hair loss may progress and design a result that will still make sense years from now.
That is why the first question should not be “How much does a hair transplant cost?” or even “Which technique do you use?” A better place to start is with the surgeon.
Look Beyond the Technology
Hair transplant surgery has changed considerably over the years, but technology does not replace surgical judgment. Today, the two primary approaches are Follicular Unit Excision, or FUE, and Follicular Unit Transplantation, or FUT. Both can produce natural looking results when performed on the right patient for the right reasons.
A surgeon who performs both FUE and FUT can evaluate which approach makes the most sense based on the patient’s pattern of hair loss, donor area, hair characteristics, previous procedures, hairstyle and long term goals. The technique should follow the treatment plan, not the other way around.
This is especially important because hair loss is progressive. A hair transplant can replace hair in areas where it has already been lost, but it does not prevent someone from losing additional non transplanted hair in the future. Good surgical planning has to account for that possibility from the beginning.
Your Donor Hair Matters More Than You May Realize
Every hair transplant depends on the donor area, usually the permanent hair along the back and sides of the scalp. That supply is limited, which makes donor management one of the most important parts of planning hair restoration surgery.
The question is not simply how much hair can be transplanted during one procedure. The surgeon should consider how much donor hair is safely available, where it should be used, how the transplanted hair will work with the patient’s existing hair and whether donor hair may need to be preserved for the future.
Sometimes that evaluation also means telling a patient that surgery is not the right choice. A consultation should determine candidacy first and discuss surgery second.
Meet the Surgeon Who Will Be Planning Your Hair Transplant
Before deciding on surgery, you should have an opportunity to meet the physician responsible for your treatment plan. That conversation should include an examination of your hair loss and donor area, a discussion of your goals and an explanation of what can realistically be accomplished.
At Leonard Hair Transplant Associates, Chief Surgeon Dr. Matthew Lopresti personally evaluates patients considering hair transplant surgery. During the consultation, the objective is not simply to decide whether FUE or FUT can be performed. It is to determine whether a hair transplant is appropriate in the first place and, if it is, how surgery fits into a longer term approach to the patient’s hair loss.
Patients should also understand who will be involved in their procedure. Ask who designs the recipient area, who harvests the donor hair, who creates the recipient sites and what portions of the surgery are personally performed by the surgeon. Those are more meaningful questions than asking which machine or device a practice owns.
Look at the Surgeon’s Work and Background
Before and after photographs can tell you a great deal, particularly when you look at patients whose hair loss patterns, hair characteristics and goals resemble your own. A natural hair transplant should not announce itself as a hair transplant. Ideally, the result should simply look like the patient’s own hair belongs there.
Credentials matter as well. Patients can research a physician’s education, training, professional background and medical license. Participation in organizations devoted specifically to hair restoration surgery, such as the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery, can also provide useful information about a physician’s continued involvement and education in the field.
Experience should be considered in context. The important question is not simply how long someone has been a physician. It is how much experience that physician has evaluating hair loss, planning hair restoration and performing the type of surgery you are considering.
Price Is Part of the Decision, Not the Decision
It is reasonable to ask what a hair transplant costs. It is also reasonable to compare practices. But price alone tells you very little about the quality of the surgical plan or the result you may ultimately receive.
A hair transplant creates a permanent cosmetic change using a limited supply of donor hair. Correcting a poorly planned procedure can be considerably more difficult than planning appropriately from the beginning. Experience, candidacy, donor management, surgical technique and the ability to create a natural result should therefore be considered alongside cost.
The same applies to advertising, reviews and impressive technology. All can provide useful information, but none substitutes for meeting the surgeon and understanding the plan being recommended specifically for you.
Choosing a Hair Transplant Surgeon in Boston
For someone researching hair transplant surgeons in Boston or elsewhere in New England, there are plenty of websites, photographs, reviews and treatment claims to sort through. Eventually, however, the decision becomes much simpler.
Meet the surgeon. Ask questions. Understand your donor area. Look at actual results. Find out who will perform the important surgical steps. Make sure the physician is thinking not only about the hair you have lost today, but also about the hair you may lose tomorrow.
Leonard Hair Transplant Associates has treated men and women with hair loss throughout New England for decades. Dr. Matthew Lopresti performs hair transplant surgery using both FUE and FUT, with consultations available for patients considering their surgical and non surgical options.
The goal of a consultation should not be to convince everyone to have a hair transplant. It should be to determine whether a hair transplant makes sense for you.