28-Jan-09 3:00 PM CST

The Hair Loss Headline

An update with Dr. Bernardino Arocha of Arocha Hair Restoration in Houston Texas. Dr. Arocha also makes himself available in Dallas. He is affiliated with the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Hair Restoration Surgery, as well as the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery among others.

HH – Dr. Arocha, it’s been a few months since we last spoke with you. How are things with Arocha Hair Restoration, which was then, a brand new company?

DA – Looks like the word has gotten out about our artistic approach to hair restoration.

HH – That’s great news. Tell us more.

DA –We have become a fulltime mega session center, performing the most challenging surgeries of the advanced stages of male pattern alopecia. These large mega sessions are performed while maintaining the highest standards of ultra-refined follicular unit transplantation. Some of these cases are as large as 6000 follicular units.

HH – That’s big!

DA – Yes. And I did someone with advance hair loss, a Norwood 7 with very limited donor density.

HH – To put it in general terms, a Norwood 7 is someone with extreme hair loss and someone most transplant doctors would not touch.

DA – That is correct, but my team and I enjoy the challenge.

HH – We’ll be talking to that person in this edition, but tell us more from your perspective.

DA – Well, this patient did have extreme hair loss – probably the most I’ve ever seen in my many years in this business, but I was still able to make thousands of transplanted grafts available. It was amazing and I’m proud. He seems very happy!

HH – So in essence, you can help just about anybody. It doesn’t matter how severe the hair loss problem. With the techniques you incorporate, anyone can be helped.

DA – That is true. Today, that is now possible, where I’d say – a few years ago, it wasn’t.

HH – Quite amazing. Also, you’ve seen a nice share of alternative transplants over the past few months. Tell us about that.

DA – Oh yes – eyebrows and some eyelashes.

HH – Tell us more about eyelashes – what’s a patient asking for?

DA – Some have a congenital absence or a sparse growth so we can increase their eyelash density and give the patient longer and more luxurious eyelashes.

HH – Where do you find donor eyelash hair?

DA – Behind the ear and some parts of the neck. Hair caliber always matches the patient’s needs.

HH – In 2008, do you see more alternative transplantation?

DA – Yes, I think there’s a growing awareness of the public to enhance the framing of the eyes, which makes alternative transplant more relevant.

HH – Sounds exciting! Thanks for your time today and we’ll be speaking with you before the end of the year.

Patient Jorge First Tried Everything Under The Sun…

HH – Jorge, how old were you when you first noticed you had a thinning hair problem?

Jorge – Around the age of 28, some 9 years ago.

HH – When you first began, what were your options? What have you tried?

Jorge – I was one of those who fell for the quick sell on TV and magazines. I used this shampoo that was actually made for horses, but the ad said it would also work on humans to make hair grow.

HH – That’s interesting. Go on.

Jorge – Another product I tried was called Topik.

HH – Never heard of it.

Jorge – It’s like artificial hair. You spray it on your bald spot and it was supposed to make it disappear.

HH – You sound like a person who wanted to solve your problem, but was getting nowhere.

Jorge – Absolutely. It was very frustrating. Eventually I got smart and began interviewing with several hair transplant doctors.

HH – What was that like?

Jorge – They seemed like they were trying to oversell. I didn’t feel right.

HH – And Dr. Arocha?

Jorge – I still had the problem and finally found out about Dr. Arocha. He told me like it was. I felt very comfortable. He was very convincing without being overbearing. And, when I first called-in, I didn’t talk to salespeople like the other times; I talked to Dr. Arocha directly.

HH – What was the procedure like?

Jorge – Fine, no problems whatsoever.

HH – Did you have a lot of donor area?

Jorge – I was a severe case you might say. He still got the job done.

HH – If I were to look at you, what would I see?

Jorge – You wouldn’t know it. And, it has been a positive for my self-esteem.

HH – What kind of work do you do?

Jorge – Real Estate. I would say it affected me when I was bald and I use to feel I was missing something – but not now. Now I put on a suit with a nice head of hair.

HH – Jorge, thanks for sharing today.

Severe Hair loss Patient Omar Tells Us About His Experience

HH – Omar, you had hair loss at an early age, didn’t you.

Omar – Yes, it began when I was 18.

HH – Just out of high school. What did you do?

Omar – I started using Rogaine and it didn’t do much for me. At 19, I began to have severe hair loss. It was pretty bad. I wound up being an extreme hair loss patient for Dr. Arocha.

HH – What the industry calls a “Norwood 7.” So here you are at 19. Did Rogaine work at all?

Omar – No, in fact, it made it worse.

HH – What did you then do?

Omar – I went the transplant mode. I originally talked to Bosley. Being 19 and in college, the costs seemed substantial and they really weren’t convincing. Also at the time, they weren’t doing follicular unit grafting. They were taking slaps and it didn’t look natural. You had 4 or 5 hairs coming out of one spot and it isn’t what I was looking for.

HH – How did you come across Dr. Arocha?

Omar – My brother told me about him and I did some research. Found out he was one of the leading transplant surgeons out there.

HH – Now, you had extreme hairloss as mentioned earlier. Dr Arocha says you were probably the most severe hairloss case he’s ever had. How did you initial consultation go?

Omar – Very comfortable. Very confidant. He talked to me about it and how he was going to do the procedure.

HH – And you knew all along your case was a little different. What the industry calls a “Norwood 7” – a case in which a normal transplant surgeon wouldn’t want to touch.

Omar – That’s right but it appeared I lucked out with Dr. Arocha. He did tell me I was one of the worst cases he’d ever came across.

HH – That takes some guts! What did he tell you as far as the amount of hair he could get – so-called donor hair?

Omar – As much as he could get, but the goal was 2500 grafts. He wound up getting me 3,500 grafts.

HH – That’s amazing given your hair loss.

Omar – Yes it is. He really knows what’s he’s doing. The results were a lot more astonishing then we expected. We were expecting frontal and partial to mid-scalp but we ended up getting full-frontal and full mid-scalp. It’s still progressing and getting better and better every day.

HH – Omar – It sounds great and good luck to you.

The Hair Loss Headline. Published 2008/Temecula, California.