Your March e-newsletter from Dr. Leonard
First, I would like to express my deep, heartfelt condolences to the people of Japan affected by the tsunami. Our thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time in your country’s history.
This is my first time visiting Japan. Throughout my life, I thought this country not to be one on the top of my list to visit…boy, I was wrong! I was invited by the Japanese Society of Clinical Hair Restoration to present at their annual meeting in Okinawa, Japan. The flight from Rhode Island is long…no matter which airline or route one takes. Leaving New England at a balmy seven degrees, with an Okinawan forecast of 6o, I figured it would be worth the long journey to warm up a bit after the winter we have experienced this year.
Much more importantly, though, was that it is a personal and professional honor to be invited to teach at this prestigious scientific program. The presentation I delivered, My Approach to Treating the Female Hair Loss Patient, was very well received. In addition, I was asked by the Moderator, Dr. Kuniyoshi Yagyu, to show slides about poor growth from a manual F.U.E. procedure performed by another doctor in a patient who recently saw me in consultation. This type of presentation is just as important in teaching doctors what not to do as it would be to show wonderful before and after photos of patients
I have been actively treating hair loss in women for the last 25 years. These patients often experience a great deal of anxiety about losing their hair -and rightly so. Thirty million women in the United States have the condition of female pattern hair loss. I stressed with my colleagues that we often are the first doctors in an often long line of them that these women have already consulted about their thinning hair, to validate that they actually have a treatable condition! I answered thoughtful questions from the audience of Japanese dermatologists, plastic surgeons, and specialists from other disciplines my approach and treatment of these female patients.
One of the most obvious things that I observed is that the Japanese are extremely polite and friendly-maybe the most of any culture I have had the pleasure to meet. There are specific rules of conduct to follow such as how to exchange business cards. Before I left for this trip, I had one side of my own business cards translated into Japanese-out of respect to my hosts. The other blatantly obvious thing was that the country is clean-very, very clean. I saw no litter anywhere! If I had anything to discard, someone would actually take it from me and disposed it. I learned about the custom of bowing, which is done instead of shaking hands in most situations. The depth of the bow is determined upon who the “bower” is versus who the “bowee” is. The more respected or elderly an individual is or if the person is in a position of power, the deeper the bow. Also, if you are a guest or a customer, the employee of the establishment bow quite deeply out of appreciation for you business. It truly felt nice that people really appreciate one’s business again
Dr. Robert Leonard
Founder and Chief Surgeon
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What’s New at LHTA
- The March 2011 edition of Prevention Magazine includes Dr. Leonard’s comments on tips for hair loss in women. Click here to read “Best Treatments and Styles for Thinning Hair”
- Dr. Leonard joins the Editorial Advisory Panel for Aesthetic Trends & Technologies. Click here to read.
- PBN.com (Providence Business News) recently posted “Hair Loss Expert Dr. Robert Leonard to Speak at First Event 2011 Transgender Conference” on their website. Click here to the read the post.