HAIR TRANSPLANTS

Hair Master^tm Hair Transplants - Santa Barbara and Los Angeles

 Gregory S. Keller, MD, Facial Plastic Surgery and Hair Transplantation Specialist -  Santa Barbara and Los Angeles (Westwood-UCLA) CA

We perform Hair Master Hair Transplants - Santa Barbara and Los Angeles as an artistic endeavor as well as a technical exercise.  Combining the two of these aspects of the hair transplantation specialty is what produces a natural appearance.

At Keller Facial Plastic Surgery, experience counts in our hair transplants - Santa Barbara - Los Angeles and we built our success on patient trust.  We have transplanted hundreds of patients over 25 years and have the skill level that can give you a successful primary or revision procedure and a natural result.

Because of significant advances with improved results, interest in hair replacement surgery has increased significantly during the past decade. Most of our patients report that, after hair transplantation procedures at Keller Facial Plastic Surgery, they are able to emerge from the shower, beach, or athletic activities without anyone being aware that they underwent a hair transplant procedure.

Hair Master Hair Transplants-  Santa Barbara - Los Angeles (Westwood-UCLA) produces the optimum results that 25 years of experience using a blend of artistry, dense packing, and the use of different grafting techniques can render.

With his experience in the field of hair transplants - Santa Barbara - Los Angeles, Dr. Gregory Keller can optimize safety and treatment efficacy.  Because he is skilled in the use of many hair transplant techniques, a match can be constructed to fit each patient’s hairline and donor area needs.

Hair Master Hair Transplants - Santa Barbara - Los Angeles: The Need for Hair Transplantation

Hair loss affects two out of every three men, and one in five women.  Some people begin to lose hair in their twenties.  Frequent shampooing, poor circulation, wearing hats or other personal habits are not factors that cause hair loss.

Patterned hair loss usually occurs at different times of life for men and women.  For men, hair thinning occurs throughout life, but patterned baldness usually occurs early in life, prior to andropause (male menopause).  For women, hair thinning usually occurs in middle life and is most prominent around the time of menopause.

For men, heredity is a major factor in hair loss. Though other forms of hair loss occur, baldness usually occurs in a pattern area (often with a recession of hair at the temples, top of the head, and crown) termed “male pattern baldness”.

Di-hydrotestosterone (DHT), a hormone in the testosterone pathway of construction and break-down, causes a gradual destruction of hair follicles (the “bulb” of the hair that produces the hair “shaft”) that are genetically susceptible to DHT.    Genetically susceptible hair follicles that are exposed to DHT will gradually “miniaturize” and produce “vellus” hairs that are smaller and have less diameter than hairs in a different location on a patient’s head.  Gradually, the follicle regresses further and the hair falls out.

This hair loss is most prominent in the years prior to male andropause (male menopause).  In the period before andropause, suppression of further hair loss with DHT blocker drugs, such as Propecia or Rogaine may be of value. In addition to male pattern baldness, hair transplantation is a useful treatment for scar camouflage and the loss of mustache or beard hair.

At an early stage, DHT blockers such as “propecia” are useful in blocking DHT’s effects.  Rarely, aesthetically significant hair re-growth can be stimulated. Red light pulsed biostimulation of hair is reported to be somewhat helpful (available at our offices).

The key factor for hair restoration surgery is the presence of donor hair on the back or side of the scalp that does not fall out.  These hairs are not genetically susceptible to DHT induced hair loss.  When moved from the side or back of the scalp to the area of baldness, these hairs maintain the genetic programming and growth potential that they had in their former location. They continue to grow, just as if they were still in their former location.

Donor hair for transplantation is taken from the side or back of the scalp in several ways.  A “strip” of hair can be harvested, leaving only a fine line scar, which is easily hidden by the rest of the hair.  In special circumstances, where donor hair is lacking or the head is shaved, tiny transplant punches can be used to remove each follicular unit.

On a research basis, hair can be “cloned”.  A hair is taken from the donor scalp and multiplied in tissue culture.  While this technique is successful in mice, there are currently no human examples of successful continued hair growth with cloning. 

When hair is removed from the loose skin at the back of the head, a narrow scar is produced. The hair, when transplanted to the area of baldness, retains its genetic memory and survives as it would in its original location.

For women, the problem is much more complex. Hormonal changes, including those that occur in menopause and a sub-clinical thyroid loss, are mainly responsible for female “pattern changes,” which include thinning and hair loss.  We recommend a work-up by a primary physician or hormonal specialist prior to replacing hair for women.  Specific manipulation of thyroid, topical endocrine treatments, or female hormone adjustments over a period of time may render hair transplantation unnecessary.

Scars resulting in hair loss from previous cosmetic surgery such as a facelift often alter the hairline, particularly in women.  Scars in the beard area of men can also undergo hair transplantation reconstruction. Because Dr. Keller is a facial plastic surgeon, he recognizes these problems and was one of the first to reconstruct the hair loss resulting from aesthetic and reconstructive procedures.

Other causes of hair loss are rare.  Accidents, burns, and disease can also trigger hair loss. Temporary insults to the hair follicle (such as surgery, chemo-therapy, and trauma) can cause the hair follicle to go into a resting stage (telogen) in which the hair loss is reversible.

Hair Transplants - Santa Barbara - Los Angeles:  Techniques

For primary cases of baldness, follicular unit hair transplants, or variations of this technique, are the “gold standard” technique that is in use today. In nature, hair emerges from the scalp in units of one, two, three, and even four hairs.  These units are called “follicular units”.  When hair is transplanted in these “follicular units”, it appears natural and has a high rate of transplantation survival. Hair Master hair transplants - Santa Barbara - Los Angeles uses follicular units and follicular groupings  for most primary hair restorations, but can perform revision work with follicular unit and other hair transplantation methods.

Most commonly, we remove a strip of hair bearing skin from the back and/or the side of the scalp that can easily be closed with a fine scar. This strip is then divided into smaller grafts of “follicular units” through a tedious process. Hundreds (or even thousands) of these smaller grafts are constructed. While some of the grafts can contain up to four or five hairs, many grafts will contain only one or two hairs.

These follicular units are then inserted into tiny slits that we place in the bald (recipient) areas of the scalp.  These slits must be constructed in such a way that allows the hair to grow in its natural direction. At Keller Facial Plastic Surgery, using our techniques to place hair transplants- Santa Barbara - Los Angeles, we construct artistic patterns that appear natural and match an individual patient’s facial structure.

We do this within the limitations of the amount of donor hair that is available, the hair patterns that we need to create, and the shape of the face, to name a few variables. Each patient has an aspect that is somewhat different and Dr. Keller’s training as a facial plastic surgeon gives him the background to understand the procedural and artistic relationships that are necessary to reconcile these variables to produce an optimum result.

Variations in follicular unit hair transplantation techniques include follicular unit extractions, dense packing, “single” grafts, groupings of follicular units, “linear” transplantation (particularly in the crown area), temporal point grafting, and the use of different knives, needles and blades.  With Dr. Keller’s experience, he is able to select the best technique or combination of techniques for each individual patient.

Hair loss continues through life.  Hair Master^tm Hair Transplants - Santa Barbara - Los Angeles assesses each patient’s growth pattern. We style today’s transplantation to meet tomorrow’s hair loss needs.

Choose Your Hair Transplant Surgeon Carefully

Hair Master Hair Transplants -Santa Barbara - Los Angeles  procedures are all personally performed by Gregory S. Keller, MD, FACS.  Dr. Keller has over 25 years of hair transplant experience.  A former member of the Premier Hair Transplant Group, which encompassed many of the world’s expert hair surgeons and currently a member of the International Laser Hair Transplant Group, Dr. Gregory Keller utilizes the latest hair transplant techniques.

He is a member of several national hair transplant societies and is board certified in facial plastic surgery.  He is a Castle-Connolly rated “Top Doctor”, an honor bestowed on only a few physicians nation-wide by peer selection.  This year he was selected by Strathmore’s “Who’s Who” as the “facial cosmetic surgery specialist of the year for 2007. 

Dr. Keller has received recognition awards from both the American Academy of Facial Plastic Surgery and the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery for his contributions.  Dr. Keller is double board certified in Otolaryngology and Facial Plastic Surgery.

Dr. Keller is an Associate Clinical Professor at UCLA and is the Co-Director of the Facial Plastic Surgery fellowship at UCLA.  He has taught hair transplantation techniques to 12 fellows and numerous residents at UCLA who are now in private practices nationwide or are teaching others at universities and prestigious clinics throughout the United States.Dr. Keller has over 30 peer reviewed publications and many medical presentations in his field, including several in hair transplantation.

As a facial plastic surgeon, Dr. Keller believes that our hair patterns match the underlying anatomy of the bony structure of our heads.  Hair must follow and be patterned to sit over what lies beneath it. His current research in hair transplantation is in this area.Anatomy is important in art and art in anatomy.  Knowledge of both allow Dr. Keller to construct optimum patterns of hair transplantation that give a natural appearance to his patients.

If you are interested in Hair Master Hair Transplants - Santa Barbara - Los Angeles, contact our office for a “Discussion with Debbie” at 800-423-8627.  She will be happy to send you our free booklet that explains hair loss, the hair transplantation process and our techniques.