Tom E. Curran Hair Transplant

NBC Sports Boston Patriots Insider Tom E. Curran underwent FUT hair transplant surgery at Leonard Hair Transplant Associates to restore hair he had gradually lost to male pattern hair loss.

For someone whose career has put him in front of television cameras covering the New England Patriots and NFL for decades, Tom had learned to live with his hair loss. Then a health scare involving the exposed skin on his scalp gave him another reason to think about doing something about it.

A Familiar Face in New England Patriots Coverage

Tom E. Curran has been covering the New England Patriots and NFL since 1997 and remains one of the most recognizable voices in Boston sports media.

Today, Tom is a Patriots Insider for NBC Sports Boston, where his work includes Patriots coverage, Quick Slants and the Patriots Talk Podcast. His career has taken him from newspapers to national NFL coverage to television, podcasts and decades spent reporting on the team in Foxborough.

Long before hair restoration entered the picture, Tom had already spent years in front of cameras talking about somebody else’s business.

Eventually, the story became his own.

Hair Loss Started in His Twenties

Tom began losing his hair in his mid twenties. With no obvious family history of hair loss, he initially wondered whether chemicals he had worked with in the lawn care business could have contributed.

The hair loss continued.

“It was an issue that rattled my self-confidence,” Tom said. “But I learned to live with it.”

That is how hair loss works for plenty of men. You notice it. You think about doing something. Then life moves on and eventually the new reflection becomes familiar.

Tom had adjusted to losing his hair. What happened next changed the conversation.

When a Bald Spot Became More Than Cosmetic

Tom was diagnosed with a cancerous spot on an area of his scalp that had been exposed after losing his hair. The spot was removed, and Tom said he was fine afterward, but the experience made protecting his scalp from the sun much more important.

“When I’m not covering the Patriots and the NFL, I’m outside playing sports with my kids,” Tom said. “After they noticed the cancerous spot, I had to always wear a hat.”

A hair transplant should never be viewed as protection against skin cancer, and transplanted hair does not replace sunscreen, hats or appropriate medical skin care. For Tom, however, the experience changed the way he thought about an area of his scalp that had become increasingly exposed as his hair disappeared.

His hair loss was no longer something he simply ignored.

From Wes Welker to Leonard Hair Transplant Associates

Tom had heard about former New England Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker’s experience with Leonard Hair Transplant Associates. That connection led him to schedule a consultation with the practice.

After evaluating his hair loss and donor area, Dr. Robert Leonard performed Tom’s FUT hair transplant.

FUT, or Follicular Unit Transplantation, involves removing a thin strip of donor tissue from the back of the scalp. The tissue is carefully divided into individual follicular unit grafts, which are then transplanted into areas where permanent hair loss has occurred.

Tom also used Propecia, the brand name for finasteride, to help maintain and improve the existing hair that had not been permanently lost.

The two treatments had different jobs. FUT restored permanent donor follicles to areas where Tom had lost hair. Finasteride was used to help protect the hair he still had.

What Changed for Tom

Hair transplant results do not appear overnight. Transplanted follicles need time to heal and begin producing new hair, with the cosmetic change developing gradually.

For Tom, the difference became substantial.

“Now I’m really close to what I had before,” he said. “The bald spot is 100% covered. The rest of my hair has also become fuller. There’s a monumental difference to the amount of hair I now have on my head.”

The result mattered because it did not need to turn Tom into somebody else. He wanted more of what hair restoration should ultimately deliver.

His own hair. Growing again.

FUT Then and Now

Tom’s procedure was performed years ago, but FUT remains an important hair transplant option at Leonard Hair Transplant Associates today.

Dr. Matthew Lopresti, Chief Hair Restoration Surgeon at Leonard Hair Transplant Associates, performs both FUT and FUE hair transplant surgery. The practice does not treat FUE as the automatic answer for every patient simply because it is newer or receives more attention.

FUT can still be an excellent option for the right patient, particularly when donor management, hairstyle, the number of grafts needed and the possibility of future hair loss are considered.

You get one supply of permanent donor hair. Choosing how to use it deserves more thought than choosing whichever procedure happens to be getting the most attention.

Hair transplant surgery at Leonard Hair Transplant Associates is performed at the practice’s surgical locations in Newton, Massachusetts and Warwick, Rhode Island.

A Result That Has Had Time to Prove Itself

One advantage of looking back at Tom’s story years later is that this is not a photograph taken several months after surgery and presented as the end of the story.

Hair restoration should be judged over time.

Tom’s procedure became part of a much longer career spent on television covering the Patriots and NFL. Viewers did not need to know where the transplanted follicles came from or how they got there.

That is rather the point.

A natural hair transplant should eventually stop looking like a hair transplant and simply become part of the person wearing it.

Start With a Free Consultation

If you are experiencing hair loss, a consultation is the place to determine what is actually happening and what options make sense for the hair you have now.

Leonard Hair Transplant Associates offers free consultations to evaluate hair loss, donor hair and long term treatment options. Depending on the patient, those options may include FUT or FUE hair transplant surgery, PRP with ACell, finasteride, minoxidil or another approach recommended after evaluation.

Tom spent years covering the New England Patriots before deciding to do something about his own hair loss.

You do not need a press credential to ask the same questions.