February 2006 - Posts
Diet and Hair Loss
A healthy diet is necessary for healthy hair. Skin is an organ in the body and hair is part of the skin organ. Hair loss is accelerated in most fad diets, where calorie or protein intake is severely restricted.
Hair loss is common in both men and women on low calorie diets. Women who have no genetic patterns of hair loss can shed a large amount of hair on these fashionable diets.
The impact on men who have a genetic predisposition to lose hair, suffer tremendously on low calorie diets. They have hair that is genetically weaker and more vulnerable.
A proper diet is also necessary in post hair transplants for all the grafts to take well and grow for a periods of 12-18 months. As the new DNA is regenerating post hair transplants, it is imperative to eat a well balanced diet.
The gene can at times become activated or accelerated by an injury such as a low calorie diet. The hair can also go in telogen phase and become thin and wire-like, losing their proper dimensions and shape.
For a healthy hair, you need a healthy diet. A proper combination of proteins, carbohydrates and fats is necessary. A diet with excessive protein and low carbohydrates can also be damaging, as can a diet very low in protein and overloaded in carbohydrates.
The reasons are that proper amount of protein is necessary as hair is made of mostly protein-like substances. Carbohydrates are needed as they release sugar, the end product of digestion. A good level of blood sugar is required to keep the skin organ healthy.
In summary eat a proper diet, well-balanced, both for hair loss and also post-hair transplants.
--Dr. Antonio Alvi Armani
Hair Transplant surgery is a procedure that is mis-named. It is really not a transplant surgery in the same leagues as kidney transplant surgery or heart transplant surgery. As a matter of fact, surgery is itself not an appropriate category for this procedure.
There is a small surgical component in removing the strip. The remaining part is a combination of technical work combined with artistic work. The technical part is the microscopic dissection of the follicular units. The hairline design and placement of the follicular units is mainly artistic.
The skills required by the doctors doing this work are more in the realm of art. The placement, angling, and density are all part of the artistic work. The hairline design, which I believe is the most import part of the procedure, is 100% art. This is a rare skill that is difficult to learn or teach. The doctor either has the artistic skill or he does not have this skill.
When choosing your clinic or doctor, look at the artistic component in the work shown by the center. The patient is not buying a product. Hair Restoration or transplant is like buying art. Choose which designs of hair lines you like the best and choose the doctor who you think is the best artist.
--Dr. Antonio Alvi Armani
Certain hair cuts are not healthy for the hair. If one uses clippers all the time for hair cuts, they pull the hair out. Over time, they also pull out the roots of the hair.
I often see this in consults when a patient has been shaving the hair on his head for 5-10 years. By this time, he is often a poor candidate for a hair transplant, because he has depleted his donor tissue.
This type of hair loss is clearly TRACTION ALOPECIA. In other words, by mechanical trauma from the hair clippers and persistent shaving, and the subsequent shock to the scalp, many roots or the genetic material falls out.
For this reason, I always recommend scissor to cut the hair on you head, even if the style is short hair. Do not deplete your donor density and accelerate your hair loss by TRACTION ALOPECIA.
--Dr. Antonio Alvi Armani
Psychology of Hair Transplants
There is often a debate at what age patients should be transplanted. Often some surgeons pick 30 as the starting age and others pick 25.
I find that most important factor is not age, but the psychological effect of hair loss on the patient and the amount of hair loss. A 20 year old with significant hair loss will have much more psychological damage and has a greater need than a 50 year old with hair loss for 30 years. Younger patients have a greater psychological trauma from hair loss.
The expectations of these patients are also the highest. This creates a greater need for these younger patients to get the absolute best hair transplants. Their social, work, personal and professional lives demand them to look better. Male looks, clothing and male fashion in general are going through a revolutionary phase. Men are expected today to look more attractive and be more attentive to their clothing and sense of design.
This psychological pressure makes hair loss far more devastating to younger men. Older men get adjusted to their hair loss. As they get established in their family lives and work environment, they are not under the same pressure as their younger colleagues. These are the reasons why it is important to understand the psychology of hair loss on hair transplant patients.
The surgery has to match these high expectations. The hair line design, density, temple angles are the areas to focus for younger patients. An artistic transplant is the answer to the psychological trauma for our younger hair loss patients.
--Dr. Antonio Alvi Armani