Choosing the Best Hair Restoration Clinics & Doctors

So you’ve decided to change your life once and for all by going to a hair restoration clinic that would help you overcome your embarrassing hair loss problem. Question is: are you sure that the clinic you’ve chosen is legitimate and competent?

Choosing a reputable hair restoration clinic is tantamount to choosing a reputable and skilled hair restoration surgeon, specialist or doctor. This article will help you decide who among the millions of hair restoration practitioners out there is right for you.

How to Choose the Best Hair Restoration Specialists

Choosing a hair restoration specialist sounds like an easy task, but it really is not. Would you entrust your nearly extinct crowning glory to a bumbling amateur? I think not.

The hair restoration specialist in your shortlist should possess the following:

• Medical Education
  While hair loss is viewed primarily as a cosmetic problem, hair growth, hair loss and hair restoration are in essence “whole-body phenomena.” A physician learns this approach in medical education and applies it in his or her everyday practice. Before the actual hair restoration procedure is undertaken, the patient’s “whole-body status” must be considered and any underlying health problems addressed. During the patient’s visit to the hair restoration clinic, the hair restoration specialist must uncover the reason for hair loss and establish the likelihood of a successful hair restoration endeavor.
• Surgical Training
  A hair restoration specialist’s surgical training stands on a strong foundation of medical education. The specialist must earn a degree in allopathic medicine (M.D.) or osteopathic medicine (D.O.) before entering full surgical training. The M.D. or D.O. surgeon is both a physician and surgeon. The hair restoration specialist, in essence, is a physician who approaches hair loss and restoration with the “whole-body viewpoint” of a medical doctor and the technical skills of a surgeon with special training in restoration surgery.
• Special Training in Hair Restoration Surgery
  The hair restoration specialist should have detailed knowledge of the physiology and anatomy of the scalp and the hair follicle. He or she must be aware that the scalp is not merely a layer of skin from which hair grows.
• A Combination of the Science and Aesthetics of Hair Restoration
  Sound science and excellent surgical technique are only two legs of the triad of surgical hair restoration. The third leg is aesthetic judgment. The hair restoration specialist combines good science, excellent surgical skills and a “good eye” in restoring hair.

How to Pick the Right Hair Restoration Doctors

The most important decision that a hair loss patient would make is choosing the right hair restoration doctor. The skills, experiences, and talents of hair restoration physicians widely differ from one another, as do the end results of their efforts.

It is important that you research and choose your hair restoration clinic (and doctor!) wisely. Here are a few suggestions on how to select the right hair clinic with the right hair restoration doctor:

• The hair restoration doctor should take a holistic approach to restore hair growth. Your physician should help you evaluate all your options, surgical and non surgical.
• The hair restoration clinic and its doctors should invest in time and resources to conduct large sessions of micro follicular unit extraction and transplantation. Outstanding hair restoration results require a dedicated staff trained to use high-powered magnification with the capability of producing more than 2,000 carefully trimmed grafts per surgical session.
• Hair restoration should be the primary focus of the hair restoration clinic. Outstanding results require a doctor and a full staff who perform hair restoration surgery on a regular basis. Doing hair restoration as a sideline, along with other cosmetic procedures, may limit their ability to do considerable sessions of highly refined follicular unit transplantation.
• The doctor must have had many patients on whom he has produced excellent results. Like any skill, experience is critical in acquiring the skill and judgment required to produce first-rate results.
• The hair restoration physician must be able to provide at least a dozen sets of detailed patient before and after photographs. The doctor should also have a list of patients who are willing to speak with you and meet with you in person.
• Lastly, the physician must have a good reputation in hair loss related forums.

How to Find the Right Hair Restoration Surgeons

Hair restoration surgeons perform the difficult task of hair transplantation. One wrong move could spell the extinction of your crowning glory, aside from other horrible complications.

Here are a few ideas on how to identify a reputable and competent hair restoration surgeon:

• The hair restoration surgeon must have dedicated many years to doing hair transplantation.
• You should also take into consideration the number of hair transplant procedures a surgeon performs in one day. Ideally, the surgeon should be dedicated to working on you all day if he or she is doing a mega session procedure on you.
• The surgeon should have been performing hair transplant surgery full time or predominantly. If not, the hair restoration clinic may not have an experienced staff who could successfully conduct large transplantation sessions of all microscopically prepared follicular unit grafts.
• The hair restoration surgeon must have a good reputation among his peers.
• The surgeon must take a holistic approach to hair restoration and offer advice regarding other non surgical alternatives.

Before you actually choose the hair restoration doctors and clinics that could help you with your hair loss through transplantation, you should determine if you are a hair transplant candidate first. Be sure to read our next section which is dedicated to this subject.