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Issue 1 - Jan 01, 2001

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CONTENTS
Dr Christiano interviewed on the Bald Truth Show Dutasteride Update
Generic 5% Extra Strength Rogaine available now Transplant Marketing Scams
Consumer Alert - Beware of Dermal Retention Consumer Survey
Hollywood does Hair Loss! - New Movie Expert Advice
Help Fund Hair Loss research Message Boards Upgrade
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Latest Hair Transplant Marketing Scam

Hair loss sufferers should be aware of a new marketing ploy designed to make it look like they are getting a real bargain on their hair transplant procedure when in fact they could be paying a lot more for outdated procedures with inferior results.

How it works

Transplant clinics promote extremely low cost transplant procedures by charging a "per hair" fee. This could be as low as $3 or less. Sounds like a great deal doesn't it? Well we did the math and found out that while you think you are paying $3 per hair, it could actually be costing you as much as $4.28 per hair. To make matters worse you may be getting inferior mini and micro graft procedures instead of the latest state-of-the-art follicular unit procedure.

So how is this possible?

Unscrupulous doctors and salesmen in white coats create confusion in the minds of consumers between the terms "per graft" and "per hair". By giving consumers the impression that they are one and the same, they are able to represent outdated mini and micro graft procedures as a great deal.

In the case of more astute consumers who already know about the latest state-of-the-art follicular unit transplantation some will even claim that its just a different term for mini and micro grafts.

So how do you protect yourself?

Just do the math. If the clinic is charging by the hair there is a good chance you will be paying a lot more than you thought. Remember it costs them the same to transplant a follicular bundle of 3 hairs as it does to transplant a single hair.

 

LETS DO THE MATH
Clinic A: Performs mini and micrografting and charges by the hair.

You pay $3 per hair for 1000 hairs = $3000.

However due to cutting up the follicular units there can be as much as a 30% loss of the transplanted follicles.

So the actual amount of surviving hairs are 700 (1000-300 lost because of damage)

To get the actual per hair cost we divide the $3000 paid by the 700 hairs that survived. This now puts the total cost per hair at $4.28 ($3000/700 hairs)

Clinic B: Performs Follicular Unit Transplantation and charges by the graft.

You pay $5 per graft for 1000 grafts of follicular bundles =$5000.

In the following possible scenario

150 grafts consisted of 1 hairs
500 grafts consisted of 2 hairs
300 grafts consisted of 3 hairs
50 grafts consisted of 4 hairs

This would be a total of 2,250 hairs. With microscopic dissection there is a minimal loss due to damage of around 5%.

Deduct 112 hairs lost because of damage (2,250-112)

To get the actual per hair cost we divide the $5000 paid by the 2,138 hairs transplanted. This now puts the total cost per hair at $2.34 ($5000/2,138)

 
Actual cost per hair $4.28 Actual cost per hair $2.34
 

What are Follicular Units?

The hair in every person´s scalp grows in tiny bundles called follicular units. Although this had been recognized for some time by histologists (doctors who study human tissue), the existence of follicular units was largely ignored by physicians performing hair restoration surgery.

The follicular unit of the adult human scalp consists of 1-4 terminal (full thickness) hair follicles. In areas of the scalp affected by genetic balding, the healthy terminal hairs are gradually replaced by hairs of smaller diameter and length called "miniaturized" hairs.

In addition to the full terminal hairs, the follicular unit contains 1-2 fine vellus hairs, sebaceous (oil) glands, a small muscle, tiny nerves and blood vessels, and a fine band of collagen surrounding the unit (called the perifolliculum). The follicular unit is thus the hair bearing structure of the skin and should be kept intact to insure maximum growth.

The follicular unit is seen on the surface of the scalp as a tiny group of hairs that appear to be growing together. They are best viewed under a microscope where they are seen as well-formed structures in the skin.

The best transplant doctors have taken steps to use this new technology to maximize the yield of transplanted hair. These steps include using stereo-microscopes to dissect the donor hairs. While this technique improves the results of the procedure it does cost the doctors more to perform therefore decreasing their profitability.
With the hair clipped the natural hair groupings are visible on the surface of the skin at 30x magnification through an instrument called a densitometer.
   
Perfectly intact 1, 2, 3, and 4-hair Follicular Units removed from the donor strip using a dissecting stereo-microscope.

 
 
 
 

 
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