The Best Of Hair Transplants 2022
This article contains a wealth of information on hair transplant surgery, photographic examples of hair transplant results, and practical guidance on how to make the right decisions when considering a hair transplant surgeon.
Hair Transplant Surgery – 2022
Hair transplants have become an increasingly popular topic over the past several years as multiple celebrities, sports athletes, and internet personalities have opted for the procedures – many have even documented their restoration journeys on social media. Hair transplant surgery is a fairly simple concept which requires a high degree of skill and artistry in order to create a successful outcome. Hair surgery involves surgically removing hair follicles from an area on the scalp where hair is more abundant, known as the donor area, to an area where hair growth has become thin or bald, known as the recipient area. While hair transplants are being marketed like never before through the internet, it is important for potential patients to do extensive research and make well informed decisions before opting for a procedure.
There are two main extraction methods used in hair transplant surgery today, FUT and FUE, and sometimes clinics will use their own acronyms representing these procedures. FUT, also known as “strip surgery”, involves removing a strip of skin containing hair follicles from the back of one’s head and then separating the individual hair follicles for re-implantation into the recipient area. FUE or Follicular Unit Extraction involves removing hair follicles from the donor area one-by-one using tiny circular scalpels and then re-implanting them into recipient sites. The individualized hair follicles which are extracted and implanted are also referred to as “grafts”. In recent years, as the success rates of FUE procedures done by skilled surgeons have become similar to success rate of FUT procedures, the FUE technique has risen in popularity. Notable benefits of FUE include decreased trauma to the scalp and lack of a linear scar in the donor area.
injertocapilar-alopecia.es
The above result displays a stellar hairline/frontal scalp FUE reconstruction by the Clinica de Freitas in Spain. Only 2083 FUE grafts were necessary to create this impressive result.
eugenix.in
eugenix.in
This next case from Eugenix is an example of a successful hair transplant on a NW6/7 man. Note, this is not a typical hair restoration case. I’m including this result because it is one of the best restorations ever accomplished, and shows what is possible in the upper limits of hair restoration surgery. The patient in the photos, Karl, utilized 11,600 FUE grafts, which included beard grafts, to complete his restoration. Essentially, no hair restoration patient will have 11,000 donor grafts available in their donor scalp. The average donor capacity is around 5,000-6,000 grafts, so results like this will require sourcing grafts from other areas on the body. Karl’s restoration was performed by Eugenix Hair Sciences in India over the course of two sessions. A video recap of this case and much more content is available on Eugenix’s Youtube channel.
Female Hair Transplant Surgery
Hair transplant surgery is also an option for women, however, it is less prevalent due to the differences in male and female pattern hair loss. Male pattern hair loss leaves an area of DHT-resistant hair around the back of the head in a horseshoe pattern. The male donor area essentially covers ear to ear around the back of one’s head. Female pattern hair loss, however, is more diffuse and widespread by nature, and sometimes creates complications for sourcing a good donor area. Nonetheless, many women are eligible candidates for hair restoration surgery and only a qualified and ethical hair transplant surgeon can determine a female patient’s eligibility.
Below are two examples of female surgical hair restoration. The first set of images is from McGrath Medical of Austin, Texas.
mcgrathmedical.com
charlesmedicalgroup.com
The second example is from Charles Medical Group of Florida, US. Both female cases are presumably FUT procedures and graft counts were unavailable.
Reputable Hair Transplant Surgeons & Clinics
By far, the most important aspect when determining 1) whether a hair transplant is right for you, and 2) where to go, is finding a reputable and ethical surgeon who puts patients first, before business and profits. To repeat, hair transplant surgery is a life-changing decision and should be given careful and thorough consideration. In order to get opinions in the direction of objectivity I suggest that you visit open online communities and/or speak to professional hair transplant mentors. The key is to not rely solely on the marketing information and personnel coming directly from the clinic itself. The communities and mentors that I suggest anyone considering a transplant to start with are: Spencer Kobren, Hair Restoration Network, Joe Tillman, and Spencer Stephenson. These are professionals with dedicated practices for informing would-be hair transplant patients and a few of these mentors have had multiple hair transplants themselves.
Latest Research In Hair Transplant Surgery
At the time this article is being written, hair transplant surgery is the most consistent method of restoring dense hair growth in advanced balding areas and, in particular, in patients who have been experiencing hair loss for a long period of time. If the donor hair capacity of an average patient was enough to restore a fully bald scalp, hair loss would essentially be solved by now. Hair transplant surgery would be “enough” for virtually everyone to regain their full head of hair, and consequently, there would not be much of a purpose for this website. However, we know this is not the case. The main limitation of hair transplant surgery lays in the finite nature of donor hair. One method currently under investigation to prevent scarring in the donor area following extraction, and to potentially create donor hair regeneration is the injection of verteporfin into donor wounds.
Dr. Taleb Barghouthi of the Vertex Hair Clinic located in Jordan has begun an experimental pilot study injecting verteporfin into FUE donor extraction sites to observe the potential of decreased scarring and donor regeneration (though regeneration is more of a long shot at this point). To clarify, this is not within the typical standards of care offered by Dr. Barghouthi and is not currently offered as a service. All patients involved have been ethically informed and consented to the study design. Verteporfin is an FDA-approved medication being investigated for an off-label use. Below are a few images from the first patient treated in the study.
Pre-surgery
Two days post-surgery
14 Days post-surgery
The top left image displays four of the six 2x2cm areas of the donor scalp where Dr. Barghouthi performed FUE extractions and injected either 0.4 mg, 0.32mg, 0.24mg of verteporfin or control solution into the wounds. There are three test areas marked by a “T” and three corresponding control areas marked with a “C.” The top right image displays a comparison of the 0.4mg test area (left) and the 0.4mg control area (right). Note the higher prevalence of scabbing in the control area. The central image displays up-close and further zoomed images of extraction sites in the 0.4mg and 0.4mg control areas taken 14 days after surgery. Dr. Barghouthi comments that there is hyperpigmentation representing vascularization in the test areas which received verteporfin, compared to the control which is beginning to scar. I will continue to share data from Dr. Barghouthi’s office as this subject returns for follow-up evaluations in the coming weeks, please see this page for study updates. While it appears there is some “activity” created by the administration of verteporfin, it is too soon to tell. These are just the initial phases of this endearing research undertaken by Dr. Barghouthi.
In conclusion, hair transplant surgery is a widely utilized procedure to restore one’s head of hair or hairline, yet, it has limitations. Hair surgery is still evolving to this day. Be sure to do your homework beforehand and thoroughly investigate any clinic you are considering, using multiple credible sources. It is my hope that this article will help many people be better informed about hair transplant ethics and make informed decisions when considering the procedure. Note, all of this information was sourced organically and this site has no affiliations with any of the businesses mentioned in this article. Thank you.
As a website which specializes in next-generation hair regrowth therapies with a growing audience, I wanted to thoroughly cover the topic of hair transplants at least once in order to share some of the best resources for hair surgery with audience members, should they ever be interested. I also imagine that the case of Karl from Eugenix is enlightening to some people. Hope you enjoy.
The most talked about Hair Transplant Dr. Right now is Dr. Zarev from Bulgaria and his Giggasessions. 1400 grafts .. the results are mind blowing.. he has been spoken about on bald truth and he is starting to get alot of recognition. He is taking Dr. Hasson’s Megasessions to a new level.
Nice, thanks very much for sharing Richieron. Dr. Zarev looks like a great up and coming doctor and I see he is recommended by one of the mentors listed in the article. I wouldn’t want to push the idea that gigasession = superior to everyone in the short space I have to write, I’d rather let them consult with knowledgeable people and make the best decision themselves.
This is sad. We are back to talking about fut and fue. Whatever happened to stemson therapeutics? Weren’t they suppose to enter clinical trials last year. Total silence is not good
This is not sad at all bud. If you would evaluate this comprehensively, you can notice the innovative study being done with verteporfin. No, Stemson wasn’t supposed to enter clinical trials last year. That notion was falsely started by a misquote in an Atlantic article which misinformed everyone. Geoff Hamilton told me they misquoted him, after the fact. Stemson’s doing fine, working in their lab.
Great new article Admin.
Good to see verteporfin getting tested in hair transplants this early. Hopefully the results are good and at least some hair regens.
Currently all I need is a hair transplant to fix up my hairline, so seeing progress here is good.
I think hair transplants are all about expectations. Additionally to all the good points our admin mentioned, this is something to think about. When you are an advanced Norwood, the best you can get is an illusion of density, as Karl did. Its a foundation to use fibers and make your hair look great when styled. I would strongly suspect that Karl, as a male in his 50s who was slick bald before, is really happy. This is all what technology can offer until something like hair cloning might arrive, but when and even if this will happen is a big question.
I agree dave, I would guess Karl is elated about his results. I also think that by adding a little scalp micropigmentation (SMP) to darken the appearance of his hair/scalp he could bring his results to a 10/10 for a guy that was literally bald before.
Afters years,Lmoste a decade reading about endless promises that were never fufilled i decided to go for it.march 2022 in turkey
Still can’t believe i’m one of those guys now.
Looks good if shaved short,hair’s been regrowing the last month.takes a whole year for some people but i feel i already won
Thanks for the nice article
In my opinion, hair transplants are just not at a level where they can provide significant improvements to a depleted scalp. This transplant surgeries always look best on induvial who have minor recession/non AGA. Just thinking about it from a mathematical perspective, it makes little sense to get one done as the FUT AND FUEs are constructed. Picture 2 done by Clinica de Freitas in Spain proves this. as you can tell even in dark lighting the man has no coverage of his midscalp and crown region. Sure his hairline looks good but now he went from a bald individual to a balding one and i just don’t see the point in that personally.
When smart hair transplants come out with DP cell induced hair multiplication and hair cloning, I would then be incentivized to consider getting one done.
I believe you meant Karl who went to Eugenix Hair Sciences in India, but I understand what you mean. Thanks for reading and for your positive feedback.
Hi admin. Thanks for keeping us updated.
Have you heard anything new about siRNAgen and cosmeRNA?
What do you think about their change of getting their product launched as cosmeceutical? It just seems so unrealistic that it feels weird they’re even trying to do that. They got rejected in Korea so what makes them think Europe would be any different? The cynic in me says they are just trying to lure in some investor money before their inevitable rejection.
Their website for cosmeRNA seems quite confident though: “Coming soon…”
Do you think they know something that we don’t? Would they put up statements like that if they didn’t have a good reason to believe regulators are going to give it a green light? What is your take on this?
Additionally, have you heard anything new about D-nature’s new cosmeceutical you mentioned in this website a couple of months ago. Weren’t they supposed to launch it this quarter?
Thanks
Forward, you bring up quite a conspiratorial viewpoint of the siRNAgen company. I don’t share that same perspective at all. No one can predict the future and outcomes are not guaranteed, but I absolutely take them at face value as a well meaning company. Their status is the same as previous, working towards a cosmeceutical launch in Europe as soon as possible.
I haven’t heard anything else about DNature’s second iteration of a cosmetic product. I’m not sure if they have completed that second round of clinical trials as their website projected. I will try to get a follow up over the next few months.
Finally! Kind of wish it was a FUT and not FUE but whatever lol it doesn’t matter lol. Great article FT! Hopefully new DHT resistant hair starts to sprout! This is huge!
woofy97,
good luck with your transplant. I seen you are finally taking the plunge. What norwood are you and what sort of expectations do you have about your surgery?
keep us updated throughout.
Hi 10 follicles. I’m not getting a transplant. I’m getting a hair system. When I started on fin in august of 2017 I was a Norwood 5. (Would be interesting to see my before finasteride pics from Dr. Baumans office might have to contact them) as of last December I was a Norwood 3vertex the same Norwood level as my dad but it’s obvious I’m not following his pattern and Dr. Bauman confirmed it in the 2017 appointment (same with Dr. Wong). So finasteride fortunately gave me good regrow in the first year but it’s not enough to make a difference. first year I saw really good regrowth and I took a lot of pictures and still have them maybe I’ll share it sometime. But it’s slowing thinning again not thinning to cause me anxiety it’s extremely slow. If I was going to get a transplant (unfortunately I feel it’s risky maybe I’m being too conservative but obviously I’m not at the full pattern yet and I’ve been on fin for almost 5 years) or if veterporfin ends up working well and hair transplant docs start to use it my plan has always been to go to Dr. Wong, Dr. Hasson or Dr. Robert Bernstein for their FUT lateral slit technique. The other technique in my opinion is not very good this technique gives the most natural looking result and your able to create a better illusion of density idk. I will say Dr.Zerev does really good work but I’ve not really done much research on his approach.
It’s great to see the advancements continue in hair transplantation around the world by my IAHRS and ABHRS colleagues. A comprehensive approach using effective hair loss prevention, regenerative treatments, digital tracking, combined with artistic and technically advanced minimally-invasive restoration “wins the day” in my humble opinion—producing the best results for the vast majority of male and female patients. Keep up the great info. Sincerely, Dr Alan Bauman |. Bauman Medical Hair Transplant & Hair Loss Treatment Center
Thanks Dr. Bauman, and keep us updated on those Rion exosomes if you can. 😉
As someone who has been to Turkey twice for hair transplant operations I feel somewhat taken advantage of. What they don’t tell you is you need at least 50% of your existing hair or else it won’t look good. I went back for my second transplant and had lost much of my natural hair by that point, I was in denial that the second one would help. Of course they still took my money and did it. Another 1,600 split grafts (same amount of hairs) has made almost no difference in addition to the 4,000 grafts/hairs of my first transplant. My hair is so sparse I have to just shave it. Transplants have always in my mind been seen as a gold standard answer to hair loss but it’s not even close. I hate this shit.
could we see a photo?
From a results perspective, the transplants are very impressive, but I gotta say that nw7 dude looks so out of place with that much hair
g c, I could somewhat agree when comparing the photos, but when I see him in the video (if you click the photos) he looks completely natural to me.
Do you think veterporfin will be successful FT? When do you think we will get another update? Thanks
Woofy, I will update the results by tomorrow.
Update* here is the link where I will be updating the verteporfin study. It now contains two new photos from verteporfin injection sites at 30 days post op. https://folliclethought.com/donor-healing-study-with-verteporfin-by-dr-barghouthi/
There must be some serious power being the preclinical studies if so many companies are doing direct DP injections . the main issue seems to be the lack of connectivity between exogenous DP cells and existing DP cells as well as human epithelial cells.
Geoff Hamilton and Spencer Kobren talked about just using DP and why it doesn’t work.
The first cell therapy companies, Intercytex and Aderans, thought that they could create an injection which would sprout hair like grass seed on a scalp. After trials they realized they were a bit off, however, the data shows that dp cell injections do have a clear potential in hair regrowth. I believe I’ve shared this page several times in the comment section but all can feel free to have a look again https://folliclethought.com/aderans-hair-cell-injection-results/
Here’s what I take away:
1) These are the best results from all of their subjects, so keep that in mind.
2) This DP concoction shows that it can reverse miniaturization and improve hair density.
3) The blonde guy at the bottom had a finasteride-like result from one injection treatment of cells. How many terminal hairs sprouted around the edges of his crown? Looks like a couple hundred to me.
4) This treatment appears to have potential for use in areas where hair is thinning, but still growing. For a real grass seed effect we seem to need a Stemson-like approach.
Hey folliclethought is it possible if you can ask sirnagen if their product had started the trial by dermatest yet thanks.
Hi Jason, it was announced that they have already begun testing with with Dermatest for over a year. https://www.mk.co.kr/news/stock/view/2022/03/215187/
Sorry I meant for the 5 star rating test. The first trial was a patch test for a three star I believe. After that they do another trial here: https://dermatest.com/dermatest-seal-of-approval/5-star-seal/
It says the trial is atleast 4 weeks and includes at least 20 patients to get a 5 star rating.
Hey FT, Do you think it’s likely stemson will raise more capital this year? Because it’s approaching that time of the year they announce that they have raised new capital.
September 2020: Stemson Therapeutics Secures $7.5M
July 2021: Stemson Therapeutics Secures $15M Series A Funding to Cure Hair Loss
Or do they have have enough operating capital …hmm.
The problem is not money for Stemson, but the problem is the slowness of his research. He seems to think that he will live 130 years and only then put the drug on sale. Of all the researchers, Stemson gets on my nerves and I think that they should not give much importance to that drug. A few People have been talking about him for years, but he didn’t even start preclinical research, he just talks. It would be better if he was a politician and not a researcher.
Twenti: I believe it is possible for Stemson to announce a new funding round by the end of this year. I know they are out to raise money, but it’s not easy to predict. I’d think they’d definitely raise more within a year.
The comment by @ah appears to be all but completely misguided in my opinion. Stemson is engaged in research literally everyday with a team of researchers, they are one of the few companies in the world doing this for hair growth. And they have been engaged in preclinical research for well over a year now.
Jason, they have actually received a 5 star rating now. No further updates at this time. FT will share the news when it’s available.
I still don’t have any positive opinion. But is ask money and money, and moving like a sick turtle through research.
The investor’s policy is that they can make quick money with the invested money.
sooner or later the investors will disappear. To avoid talking nonsense, let’s remember River Town, as far as I remember, it was in phase two and was abandoned because there were no investors.I do not comment on the success of the drug because it will probably be successful.Time is money!
ah, you’re right it’s necessary for these companies to raise significant money to develop their therapies until they are ready to enter and complete clinical trials. All of this process requires money or compensation for the staff who conducts the research. The part you may be missing is that they are doing real work behind the scenes to create an actual therapy which would earn them much more money in the long run than investment ever could. They’re not going to show us their day to day lab work like every other biotech in the world doesn’t.
Perhaps there are more constructive uses of your time to help attract meaningful investors into the hair loss space as opposed to denigrating companies who are genuinely trying?
I did not denigrate anyone, I am a realist and I know how money works. I said that I am not commenting on success, but on slowness.
it is difficult today to get investors in something that is big time in order to get the invested money back. Especially with someone who works on an alopecia program. If he were a scientist working on a cure for cancer, AIDS, and other diseases, he would get money for research rather than for alopecia.
You yourself know how the pharmaceutical industry works.
Money, money and only money.
For example, you yourself know how many years have passed since the appearance of CB-03-01, I think 10 years. In those 10 years, their research path was extremely slow. Now they have been bought by real players and they dictate their own rules. And that is speed because they are interested in money. They are not at all interested in helping millions of bald people, but profit.
That is the reality. I have never denigrated anyone
We can respectfully disagree ah, I think if you read your first comment you go into remarks about comparing Stemson to a politician which goes beyond simply saying that the company is “slow”, which is even a bit unfair itself because you know very little about how they are actually working day-to-day. You’re only speculating. If I want to really spell it out, you falsely stated that they haven’t gone into preclinical research, which they have. Stemson and CB-03-01 is objectively an apples to oranges comparison. I don’t see any solutions in your comments, only complaints. And to be clear, I’m not interested in that. There are other places to “vent” on the net if you’d like. This is a solutions-focused community. And to be clear again, this is the end of our convo.
People think it’s so easy and say they are “slow”. To be clear, their protocol includes taking somatic cells, deriving ipscs from that and then differentiating these cells into epithelial cells and dermal papilla cells. Then you need quality control that these cells are properly mature and differentiated so there is zero danger of cancer. Then, they load these cells into a 3d-biodegradable scaffold and implant them into the skin and you need to make sure the cells crosstalk to each other and a hair follicle emerges.are Once you have achieved this once, you need to think about how you automate this so you can treat 1 billion people and implement hair organoids into their skin. So you need to think about robotics. This is incredibly complex science and we need to be thankful every day that some really smart people even attempt this.
Daviboy. It’s not easy. It’s complex I agree. way over my head. it’s definitely slow though and that’s unfortunate would be nice if they could hurry up.
We didn’t understand each other, but it doesn’t matter.
Is there anything about getting these treatments that might make future hair loss treatments ineffective?
d707, on the high side of things I would say “it’s more unlikely than it is likely.” What you’d have to consider is the microscarring which occurs around the recipient sites of where hair follicles are transplanted on the top of your scalp. Creating this microscar tissue during a hair transplant may decrease the surface area in which you could theoretically sprout hair through skin from an injectable type treatment. You have to weigh the fact that future treatments are not guaranteed by any set time and weigh that against the potential that getting a hair transplant now could moderately diminish your response to them. Factor in your age and goals, and definitely talk to a good hair doc about it.
Interesting article Admin. Keep up the good work! Personally I would only undergo a transplant if hair was being put on my head from another source, such as cloned or duplicated hair, not from the back or side of my head.
Anyway I found this article which I hope leads to a cure soon.
https://www.studyfinds.org/hair-growth-trigger-cure-baldness/
Thanks SCUBE3, did you watch the more in-depth video report on this research in the https://folliclethought.com/updates/ section of this website?
Thanks Admin I did not see that. Here’s hoping that something as simple as this could be the cure we are all waiting for!
I don’t understand anything about SCUBE3 what he discovered, so it already exists. There is also something to buy.
hello lad,
scube3 is basically a natural molecule found in our body that stimulates release of r-spondins
Hi guys, does somebody know how to buy almirall topical finasteride called finjuve in poland? I heard that it can be bought in EU countries but i can’t find it in pharmacy in poland. Does anyone know if i can order it from germany or italy?
It seems that topical finasteride and oral finasteride can have the same potency in terms of side effects, as I just read in an article.
https://www.todosobrealopecia.com/finasteride-topico
Well reading it can have the same quality, but still at a lower frequency.
Which is kinda what is to be expected as those sensitive to finesteride can take the topical and be fine, but those very sensitive could still get side effects.
So it’s been more than 30 days veterporfin injection into that guy. Should we have seen hair regenerate by now? Is the window still open?
Theoretically, the window is still open because this is the first experiment in humans. It’s unknown how long the regeneration should take.
If we go by the pig scarring tests they showed marked results at 8 to 16 weeks.
So as the pig skin has anatomical similarity to humans we probably won’t know until 8-16 weeks.
Going by the chart anyway.
https://www.afyonkenthaber.com/hasbiotech-ilac-biosplice-therapeutics-inc-ile-orijinal-ilac-gelistiriyor/37259/
Update biosplice Therapeutics (Samumed)
They will release in turkey.
Pls use google translate
Do they get back to preclinical stage?
Interesting, thanks Hope.
I knew that they would market the medicine in Turkey, regardless of its effectiveness.
If it is similar or better than minoxidil, it will go on sale.
If it’s better than minoxidil, it should be marketed worldwide, that’s a no brainer. We haven’t seen any proof that it’s even equal to minoxidil over long term just yet.
Another SCUBE3 video https://youtu.be/6K1rcwT99v8
Thanks YoYo, will add this to the update about Maksim’s recent video. Credit to you.
I just gave an example with minoxidil.
Only Osman knows whether it is better or worse than minoxidil.
I assumed it would be continued in Turkey because they completed the 3 phase trial and why not release it regardless of efficacy.
I see there is still Brotzu lotion to buy which is still very expensive despite the fact that it has been shown not to be effective.
Beginning a new article on a drug which also has verteporfin-like potentials. Planning to publish Friday morning.
Qixuan Wang
https://phys.org/news/2022-07-chemical-life-death-hair-follicles.html
https://scitechdaily.com/potential-cure-for-baldness-discovery-of-chemical-controlling-life-and-death-in-hair-follicles/ New research? TGF beta
Yes, YoYo I’ve seen it a few times now. Thank you for sharing. I don’t find it particularly compelling at the moment. It seems quite a bit away from being something that can be translated into a product.
Unfortunately I agree FT lol, SCUBE3 seems more realistic in terms of a closer timeline relative to TGF beta.
Hair transplant doesn’t work for everybody. I had a session at a very reputable clinic for 1000 grafts, and only around 10% grew back. The doctor told me some injected hair just doesn’t grow back. They were professional and offered another session free of charge. I went for it and the results were a bit better but not by much.
I see some people got great results, but for some like me, it doesn’t work well.
Out of interest, was the veterporfin examined in the recipient region? Perhaps this may increase uptake of the new follicles?
Ja, no verteporfin was only administered to donor area.
What would you suggest for someone who can’t take finasteride because of negative side effects? I’m nearly 30 y/o and about a NW3. I’m very interested in getting an FUE done within the next two years, but I’m hesitant because my body can’t tolerate finasteride. Thanks!
Paul, have you tried topical finasteride (with or without limiting its dosage) ?