I have a very nice African-American woman whom I did a hair transplant on Monday this week and who insisted on doing a blog about her recovery and experience with us.  She is filming herself during her recovery too.  For those who are interested, I refer you to her blog site:  http://www.alreadygear.blogspot.com/. Enjoy!

I have just finished a string of consultations that have upset me greatly.  My patients have been getting their Propecia online without a physician’s prescription and without a formal physician-patient relationship.  As most of you know, I do not receive any compensation for my consultations or prescriptions for Propecia so from that point of view I don’t have a financial advantage.  However, I will say that it greatly upsets me that individuals out there consider getting Propecia from these online distributions without a formal prescription as safe and effective.  Because Propecia is prescription only (at this time) unlike Rogaine, which is over the counter, you NEED a physician prescription to attain the medication.  There is no legitimacy of a pill mill online that distributes Propecia to you without a prescription.

Who knows what you are getting.  Is it truly Propecia?  Is it a sugar pill?  Is it poison?  Truly, God knows.  Also, if you are getting your Propecia from a foreign country, do you have any idea what you are getting?  Do you think it is wise to take a daily pill from a distributor/manufacturer that you know nothing about?

As some examples of other fake cosmetic items, let’s consider Botox.  The physicians who used the fake Botox are in jail for 2 years and their license revoked.  Some of the patients you may have recalled were hospitalized and on respirators for months.  I have had several patients with fake Restylane injected that I am still trying to fix years later.  If you want to buy your Restylane cheaper on craigslist, you might be “paying” for that decision for the rest of your life!

Here’s a short video I shot on this subject.

I was just informed that I would be named “Surgeon of the Month” next month by the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS) and will be featured in the Hair Transplant Forum International, the main publication for the ISHRS.  I am really excited by this rare honor and cannot wait to have my biography published.  I will reproduce the article next month in this blog when it comes out.  6 surgeons are named each year by the ISHRS for their contributions to the field of hair restoration surgery, and I am very fortunate to be one of them this year.

DALLAS EYEBROW HAIR TRANSPLANT

I am really proud of Emina presenting our results in eyebrow hair transplant in Montreal, Canada on September 3, 2008, at the 16th Annual ISHRS (International Society of Hair Restoration Society) Meeting.  For her lecture on eyebrow transplant, click here.  She also gave a training on a live cadaver model the following day to the surgical assistants on proper graft placement.  She was also elected to the Board so I am really proud of her hard work and contributions.  She also just finished a book on hair transplant with me the week before so we have had a tremendously busy but productive time.

For all of you Spanish speaking individuals out there, if you are interested, you can watch me on Telemundo in Spanish talking about female hair loss.  Click here to watch the news segment on female hair loss and hair restoration.

I would like to personally thank my patient, Daryl, for the absolute generosity of insisting to film a video diary of his experience with us. I never asked him. He asked me. His words in this video really touched my heart, and yes, Daryl, you ARE part of our family! As Daryl states in the video, he was not bribed, given a discount, or in any way compensated for this testimonial. In fact, as I have stated elsewhere on this site: NO PATIENT RECEIVED ANY KIND OF COMPENSATION INDIRECT OR DIRECT ON THIS WEBSITE FOR TESTIMONIALS. For a direct link click to see Daryl’s video hair transplant diary.

I will be doing an interview in Spanish (believe it or not) on Telemundo on female hair loss tomorrow night at 5 and 10 pm Thursday July 24, 2008.  Watch it on Channel 39.

I have looked at a lot of companies for inspiration and provocation for me to excel, and there is no better slogan out there that fits me than Maserati’s “Excellence Through Passion.”  Is it catchy?  Not really.  Is it funny and amusing?  No.  In short, it summarizes what I stand for and what my practice stands for.  

I had a patient about a month ago ask me, “Dr. Lam, what makes your hair transplant different than down the street?”  I responded that it would take me 10 minutes to answer that question and that is why my website was so detailed in showing why we were better at every little nuance at the job.  After I answered the question (which did take me 10 minutes, ask Emina), I summarized the entire thing by saying, “If I can boil it down to one word, it is passion.”  Honestly, if you look into your surgeon’s eyes and what you see back is a glazed over dead look, are you going to feel comfortable with him/her during the procedure?  How about after the procedure?  Do you think if there is any little problem that he/she would even care to make sure that it is right?  Well, you decide that one.  

When passion underscores everything, then you have the chance for excellence because there are no other options but excellence for someone who is passionate.  Is the surgeon’s passion the only thing that matters with hair restoration?  Absolutely not.  The entire team must be imbued with that same level of passion.  

If you have been reading my site carefully, you will see that I have often referred to hair restoration as very similar to building a car.  That means every person at the plant must be equally vested in your practice.  That is why I don’t outsource my staff and I have vested them into your results.  You will feel absolute dedication from EVERY TEAM MEMBER.  Every team member is a vital part of the results.  They come in to inspect their results after the procedure so that they have proper feedback as to what he or she has done.  As mentioned elsewhere on this site, they are also in the room at all times, i.e., to say the graft cutters sit literally next to me in the cockpit to make sure that there are no problems and that we are all working toward the same end, i.e., your excellent grafting results.  

The other thing that I like about Maserati as a company is how they achieve “Excellence Through Passion.”  The number of cars that Mercedes builds in one hour (btw, I love Mercedes so don’t get the wrong idea here), is the number that Maserati builds in one entire year.  Each car is custom ordered a year before and hand built by the same team to do the job.  That level of customization and anal detail where the job order is limited and the time to do the job right is appropriately allocated is how we “build our car”.  We take care of each person one at a time.  We never do 2 transplants a day.  We never burn out and do 10 a week.  We never have to outsource to bring people in so that we can make more money.  We never sell you and harass you after an initial consultation.  We never actually even sell you.  We educate you.  This is a trusting relationship not an abusive one.  Okay, enough said.  Hopefully, this analogy makes sense to you.

I have just updated the “Ask Dr. Lam” hair transplant forum section in order to facilitate and improve the Q/A process.  Also, so it won’t look like the old Roman Forum pictured.  The new forum should be much easier to navigate, much more secure, and also much easier to read.   Please enjoy; and comments are welcome and appreciated.

In 2005, the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial (PCPT) showed that a dosage of 5 mg of finasteride (Proscar) could reduce prostate cancer risk by 25% as compared with placebo.  However, the follow-up study seemed to indicate that there was a higher risk of developing a high-grade (bad) type of prostate cancer when taking finasteride at that dosage. 

A 2008 update revealed actually that there was a 30% reduction in the risk of prostate cancer when on finasteride; and when 500 samples of prostates were evaluated by a pathologist, there was no increased risk of prostate cancer in individuals on finasteride.  It was deemed to be an artifact (i.e., artificial result) of the prostate shrinkage that occurs on finasteride.  For more information on finasteride, please visit our page which details everything you should know if you are on finasteride (Propecia) for male pattern baldness/hair loss.