Hair Restoration Blog Dallas

People constantly ask me, “How do you fit painting, exercise, language learning, and everything else into your schedule?” I get this question so often that I decided to break down my approach in detail. My system revolves around maximum efficiency, strategic multitasking, and what Tony Robbins calls “NET”: No Extra Time. NET is about transforming […]

There is a rising tide of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in the world over the past decade that may be related to diet, environmental toxins, or other unknown causes. For whatever reason, PCOS has become more prevalent and is plaguing women in many ways, one of which is hair loss. PCOS is a condition that […]

Read the article Botched Treatments (black market) reference: https://fightthefight.ishrs.org/black-market-2/Contact Us Today! Related Links: Male Hair Transplant & Restoration Female Hair Transplant Before & After Photos

Have you ever wanted a fuller beard of moustache? This is definitely a growing trend, which has been inspired a lot by observing men with bushier beards out there and also a lot of social media posts recommending it. Sometimes they are hilarious posts like men who have small chins who look great with a […]

Hair transplant surgery is more than just a medical procedure — it is a blend of science and artistry that, when done correctly, delivers natural, life-changing results. Dr. Sam Lam, a globally recognized leader in hair restoration, was recently featured in the New York Post, where his expertise and meticulous approach were highlighted. With years […]

Hair loss is often thought of as a condition that primarily affects men, but many women also struggle with thinning hair and balding. In a recent discussion for the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS), Dr. Sam Lam, a renowned hair restoration surgeon based in Dallas, and Dr. Shadi Zari, a board-certified dermatologist from […]

A large part of my practice in hair restoration involves fixing bad hair transplants performed elsewhere. I also correct many types of problems that lie beyond simple male pattern baldness (also called androgenetic alopecia). I have fixed bad scars from trauma, cancer, facelifts, etc. I also work on restoring overplucked eyebrows and lower hairlines in […]

I am writing this post after finishing a 30-minute rowing workout at 6 am on a Sunday morning on vacation. I have never been an athlete. In fact, I was always the last to be picked in high school for any sport team because I was that bad. Perhaps that is a good thing since […]

I was chosen as the director of Live Patient Viewing at the recent 32nd Annual World Congress of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS). I got an amazing response from the attendees how interesting the cases I chose were and how fascinating to see a diversity of patients including a brother who donated […]

At the generous invitation of the Korean Society of Hair Restoration Surgeons, Dr. Sam Lam attended their International Congress in Seoul on June 1st-2nd, 2024. As one of the world’s leading experts in the complex field of hair restoration, he shared his wealth of knowledge during a lecture on crown hair restoration. The next day, […]

Explore the latest trends and innovations in hair restoration with Dr. Sam Lam, a renowned hair transplant surgeon, author, and educator. In this episode, we discuss cutting-edge technologies, non-surgical therapies, and advanced surgical methods that are redefining hair restoration and delivering better outcomes for patients. Dr. Lam, who has authored several major textbooks and lectures […]

Dr. Lam has been the course director for the St. Louis University Hair Transplant 360 course since its inception 15 years ago. He now co-directs the course with Dr. Steve Gabel, and Aileen Ullrich runs the assistant course. He also has worldwide faculty who support the learning. Dr. Lam’s HT360 represents the premier training course […]

The problem with this question is that each procedure has its own pros, cons, and limitations despite Internet hype to the contrary. Since FUE has become the dominant method of harvesting hair in the world, FUT has gotten an unfair and bad rap. In my opinion, it is unjustified and perpetrated by those who do […]

Dr. Lam was awarded a lifetime achievement award by the Society of Hair Transplant Surgeons on Monday, April 22, 2024, in Gurugram, India. He was unable to attend the ceremony but here is a transcript of his written acceptance speech. Life and Lessons as a Hair Surgeon I am honored to recount my biography in […]

No matter where you are in your hair care journey, using shampoo and conditioner can keep your hair clean, moisturized, and healthy. But of course, it can get more complicated than that, particularly during hair loss and after hair restoration treatment.  Expert Hair Science and Treatment With Dr. Lam While maintaining the health of your […]

Hair loss affects millions worldwide, leaving many seeking answers and solutions. Genetics often play a significant role in this phenomenon. Hair genome testing can help you learn more about your hair loss and what you can do about it. The Science of Genetic Predispositions for Hair Loss Hair loss, or alopecia, can look different for […]

There have been reports using Botox for hair loss but definitely not in the way that I have discovered, invented, and now have achieved a patent pending status with the U.S. Patent Office as of December 2023. Botox, unfortunately, has been negatively associated with toxicity, paralysis, and other unfavorable outcomes. However, I use a super […]

I know you’ve probably read an article or two in the past few months to years exclaiming the amazing breakthrough of hair cloning in a mouse or some other animal model. In fact, two to three times a year, a friend or patient will ask or send me some news clipping about this fact. Hair […]

We are in an epidemic of problems in the hair industry that I encounter almost every day and it has made me incredibly sad and upset. A huge part of who I am is the desire to combat social injustices, especially human trafficking and child abuse. I see today that we are sliding into an […]

I have seen simply tremendous and uniform results with my innovative hair stem therapy for both men and women who undergo this treatment. I have actually yet to see even a single failure minus one African-American woman who had traction alopecia, which is actually impossible to regrow hair and requires surgery, so I do not […]

I am proud to announce that my 9th hair transplant textbook, Hair Transplant 101, was just released at the end of July 2023 by the amazing publisher Quality Medical Publishing (QMP). This new book follows on the heels of my last textbook that came out April 2022, which is the world’s largest and most encyclopedic […]

Dr. Lam was recently honored for being one of the best doctors in Dallas by D Magazine in the 2023 edition. He was voted by his peers and he has never solicited votes on his own behalf. This is an unpaid honor.  

  Full Audio Transcript: I posted a photo of hair stem and I had a gentleman ask, what are you doing with this? I decided, well, I’m gonna do a podcast on this to explain a little bit more in detail the evolution of my thinking of how we developed this process and what we’re […]

This podcast is on the hair genome test that I’ve been doing now and I really do like it and also I don’t like it. There is a role for it and I try to use it in a way that would be helpful for my patients. So, what this test involves is a questionnaire […]

Read the Press Release

Dr. Lam and his family were featured in the local Stroll magazine to feature his work with the charity Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center of which he and his wife were the honorary chairs of the Art for Advocacy gala and where his painting Floris II sold for $20,000, the maximum bid allowed within minutes of […]

Watch Dr. Lam’s interview for National Hair Day on ABC News WFAA8 this morning

Dr. Sam Lam, Dallas Hair Transplant Surgeon, is proud to announce that he has been elected to be Vice President of the American Board of Hair Restoration Surgery (ABHRS), the only board certification for the discipline of hair transplant surgery in the world. He has served on the Board of Directors, Executive Committee, World Website […]

Dr. Sam Lam has just completed his Hair Transplant 360 Course in St Louis, Missouri, where he has served as director now for 11 years. Here are some reviews and photos from the event.            

What is a megasession? A typical hair transplant restores 1,500 – 2,000 grafts and covers either the frontal or crown area. A megasession hair transplant describes a transplant of 3,000 hair grafts or more. The goal of a megasession transplant is to provide adequate hair density over a broad area of the head to a […]

Dallas Hair Transplant surgeon Dr. Sam Lam is quoted about hair transplant and hairpieces for Elton John in conjunction with the release of the movie Rocketman. Read the article.

Dr. Lam will be interviewed about the latest and greatest in facial plastic surgery and hair restoration on Doctor Radio, channel 110 on both Sirius and XM radio this Wednesday at 12 pm CDT/1 pm EDT for one hour with Dr. Erich P. Voigt. If listeners want to ask questions, they can call our toll-free […]

I started using so-called regenerative medicine in 2011, which are essentially “fertilizers” for hair growth. I have been blown away by the improvements in my outcomes and am still baffled at surgeons who use no technological support for their outcomes. My improvement in results was so striking that it compelled me to rewrite my entire […]

Many patients are justly worried that they could look fake after a hair transplant given the long legacy of plugs, scars, toupees, and a host of other bad hair transplant results that have scared off the public. That is one of the reasons why I have filmed so many videos in close-up HD to show […]

There is not a day that goes by without my thinking or rethinking or innovating something. I am very passionate about making everything better and even when I think I can’t make it better I try to think how I could be wrong. Everything from the patient experience to the patient outcome is integral to […]

When it comes to figuring out the world’s biggest mysteries, you need to consult the experts. That is why The Daily Beast contacted hair-restoration expert Dr. Sam Lam for his take on one of the biggest modern mysteries: Donald Trump’s hair. A recent video clip made rounds all across the internet because it shed light […]

FUE has been touted to be “scarless”, which is patently false. There are scars but if done well should be very hard to detect even with closely cropped hair. That is the real advantage of FUE, i.e., hair can be worn very closely shorn and in most cases the tiny white dots (the scars) cannot […]

Unfortunately, scarring in the donor incision following hair transplant surgery has become a touchpoint of marketing hype on the Internet to scare people away from the linear strip procedure. I am very saddened by this because scars are not unique to FUT procedures. In fact, on a weekly basis I see horrible FUE scars from […]

One of my greatest passions in hair restoration is designing recipient sites. These sites dictate the pattern, direction, and density of transplanted and grafted hairs – something I feature throughout this website. At my annual hair transplant course that I direct and have done so now for 9 years, I always incorporate a lecture that […]

The Male to Female Transgender Hair Transplant requires a different set or procedures and techniques than female to male transgender hair transplantation. There are differences in the hairline of men and women and often male pattern baldness needs to be addressed. In previous years the Male to Female (MTF) Transgender Transplant had to be performed using a […]

Some people are born with naturally sparse eyebrows, while others may lose eyebrows due to illness, surgery, skin conditions, trauma or over plucking. Today thick eyebrows are making a statement in magazines and on screen, which can make those with sparse or completely lost eyebrow hair feel even more self-conscious. Dr. Sam Lam offers Eyebrow Hair […]

One of the biggest tools you can use when considering hair restoration options is looking at before and after photos patients who had similar hair loss issues to see what procedure that patient had performed. Looking at Before and After Hair Restoration Photos can also help give you a move realistic idea of the results possible. It […]

Transgender Hair Transplant is a different type of hair transplant, with its own unique set of challenges, than traditional hair transplantation due to hair loss. Transgender Hair Transplant Dallas requires both artistic and technical skills to achieve the desired MTF (Male to Female) or FTM (Female to Male) results. The first key to achieving a successful […]

When people think of a hair loss they typically think of men, however, many women also experience hair loss. When women experience hair loss, it is often traumatic and hits their self-confidence hard. Many women pride themselves on their hair. Dr. Lam understands the delicate landscape of female hair loss and restoration. He has helped many […]

There are several different kinds of hair loss conditions and disorders that affect men and woman all across the world. It can be devastating dealing with hair loss at any age whether from common issues like male pattern baldness or female pattern baldness, or less common conditions such as Alopecia, Anagen Effluvium, Telogen Effluvium, Tinea […]

Passion in Hair Transplantation At times I get the question during a consultation, “What makes you better than [fill in the blank name]”?  Even though I may spend 30 minutes detailing every little nuance of what makes us better:  a more artistically designed and customized hairline, better donor harvesting and closure, better recipient site creation, […]

Gradual Transitions Shown in Recipient Sites for the Crown When I design recipient sites for hair restoration I am always cognizant that each site must blend naturally to the adjacent sites for several reasons.  First, hair naturally slowly transitions in angle from one area to another.  In a natural untransplanted scalp no hair angles abruptly […]

Artistically designed hair transplant to create optimal visual hair density The goal of hair restoration is to build up enough hair density that one does not have much see-through effect.  Put another way, rows upon rows of hair grafts must be placed so that each row adds to the visual effect of blocking one’s view […]

How to determine the lowest acceptable point for the hairline (from Hair Transplant 360, Lam SM, Jaypee Brothers, 2011) When designing a hairline that are many ways to create one.  In almost all cases, my hair-transplant colleagues and I start with the most fundamentally important point that defines and sets the remainder of the hairline, […]

Shoreline model for understanding natural hairlines in hair restoration I really like using the idea of a shoreline to educate my students and my patients on the proper design of a hairline.  A shoreline from a great distance looks relatively straight but the closer you get to the shoreline, the more jagged and imperfect the […]

When we discussed the bell shaped design of the hairline, we talked about a point known as the “lateral, anterior point”.  This point is relatively aligned with the mid-pupil and it represents where the shape of the hairline goes from convex toward the midline and concave toward the outer portion.  After evaluating a lot of […]

Central Forelock and Extended Central Forelock in Hair Restoration The central forelock is one of the most important concepts that exist for hair restoration.  If the central forelock, that lies immediately behind the hairline looks empty, the person will remain looking bald.  Every graft that is situated in the central forelock also blocks light from […]

Fronto-temporal Design Options (illustration taken from Dr. Lam’s book, Hair Transplant 360) Although we have discussed the bell and the round patterns for hairline design in other blog articles, we did not discuss what the impact is on the temple hair when creating these types of hairline shapes.  When the temple hair is not simultaneously […]

Phase 1 Hair Transplant Assistant Training (from Dr. Lam’s book, Hair Transplant 360) One thing that I am very proud of is that my team at the Lam Institute for Hair Restoration has developed training of assistants worldwide.  We do this through our textbook, Hair Transplant 360, volume 2, which is the first ever book […]

Phase 2 Hair Transplant Assistant Training (from Dr. Lam’s book, Hair Transplant 360) Phase 2 training can be done in a live human patient or more ideally with cadaver tissue.  Since I run a course using cadavers in St. Louis, I can help bridge a hair-transplant assistant from foam tissue to a live model with […]

I just posted this hair transplant testimony of a gentleman who was also kind enough to do a video recovery journal several months ago. I am posting his results so far (as growth should continue to occur over the next few months), his video testimonial, and his original video recovery diary. This recent hair transplant […]

By Emina Karamanovski Recently I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and personally experienced the horror of hair loss that many women share. One of the symptoms associated with it was hair loss. Beside the fact that my hair was shedding more than usual, it was becoming alarmingly thinner. As I was diagnosed and my thyroid problems […]

By Emina Karamanovski If you are losing hair and wondering what would be the best option for you, there are two approaches that can help you have hair back on your head. One option is non-surgical and the other is surgical.  Hair replacement, the non-surgical option, attaches artificial or natural hair to the bald scalp. […]

By Emina Karamanovski The only predictable thing about the human body is that it is unpredictable.  Scarring and the way we heal is one of those unpredictable human behaviors.  I have been observing variations in scar healing of hair-transplant patients for over 20 years. Medical procedures like other things in life, improve through trials and […]

By Emina Karamanovski Over the years working with Dr. Lam and observing female and male patients approach aesthetic surgery differently, I also noticed that within hair restoration men and women behave differently. It is socially more acceptable to see a man than a woman losing hair. Therefore, women are more secretive about their hair loss […]

Dr. Sam Lam was invited to be a member of the multi-disciplinary faculty at the 2013 Vegas Cosmetic Surgery & Aesthetic Dermatology Conference, which was held at the Bellagio Resort Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada during late June.  Dr. Lam served in multiple capacities during the conference, serving as a lecturer and moderator, as well […]

The ARTASTM hair restoration system is a state-of-the-art system developed by Restoration Robotics that utilizes computer imagery and robotic technology to assist hair transplant surgeons in the harvesting of hair follicles during hair transplantation procedures.  The ARTASTM system is used to perform follicular unit excision procedures, referred to as FUE hair transplants.  The procedure is […]

I have been asked to present at the assistants’ course at the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery this year, which is happening next week in San Francisco. I have lectured in the past on graft preparation and graft handling, but this year I will be talking on stress management in the surgical setting. I […]

By Emina Karamanovski I have been asked to be one of the presenters during the assistants’ course at the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS) this year, which is taking place next week in San Francisco. In the past, I have lectured at ISHRS meetings about graft preparation and graft handling, but this year, […]

By Emina Karamanovski It is not a first time that an old technique finds a new application. In the last few years, the ancient art of skin pigmentation (tattooing) found its place in the medical community, specifically in hair restoration. I was sincerely impressed with the results of micropigmentation and its versatility. Men and women […]

By Emina Karamanovski Often times I get asked what is the newest thing in hair restoration. There are two major progresses made in the last ten years. One helped improve the density and naturalness of the transplanted hair, and the other improved scarring in the donor area. Progressively, we started trimming extra tissue off of […]

Emina Karamanovski, one of Dr. Lam’s surgical assistants and a key member of his hair transplant team, recently authored a textbook designed to educate hair transplant surgical assistants about all aspects of hair restoration procedures. The textbook, titled Hair Transplant 360 For Assistants, is the second in a two part series. Part one of the […]

Dr. Sam Lam is pleased to report that he has been selected to be a member of the international faculty at the Iranian International Congress of Rhinology and Facial Plastic Surgery, an international conference that is scheduled to be held at the Razi Convention Center in Tehran, Iran during the month of October. The Iranian […]

By Emina Karamanovski English is my third language. Learning languages taught me to pay attention to the meaning of words and probably forced me to become more precise in the way I use them. Follicular unit excision or FUE have been described as a scarless procedure. The word scarless is misleading since cutting skin or […]

By Emina Karamanovski In many years of helping people restore hair, I have seen only a handful of times when the result of hair restoration has touched someone to tears. It is especially rare to see a man tear up from joy.  Two patients and two different life stories but their joy was for the […]

By Emina Karamanovski The other day an older gentlemen came for a consultation. He wanted to restore hair not because he wanted to look younger nor because he needed to boost his self-esteem but he was simply tired of having to protect his head from sun. He was tired of having to wear a cap […]

In a previous video featured on YouTube and on this Web site, I discussed the dangers of performing hair transplants in men who are too young. Age is a relative thing and it depends on how much baldness one has, how fast that hair loss is, what kind of hair quality (density, thickness, color, curliness, […]

I have been asked to co-chair the basics course at the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery this year, which will be the first time doing so. I did teach there last year and gave a lecture on recipient-site anesthesia and tumescence. I have been really excited about actually chairing it this year, which gives […]

There is perhaps not a day or maybe week that goes by without my thinking of how to perform more beautiful artwork for the head. Is it all just the same thing? I certainly do not think so. I have worked on constantly refining my thinking of how to create better results. Recipient sites, the […]

The “magic sauce” that I talked about in my previous blog involved platelet rich plasma (PRP) and Acell. The question though is whether adding Acell, a porcine bladder matrix, does anything? I know many physicians who only use PRP and think Acell is redundant. Having now done several cases with Acell, I would beg to […]

Recently I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and personally experienced the horror of hair loss that many women share. One of the symptoms associated with it was hair loss. Beside the fact that my hair was shedding more than usual, it was becoming alarmingly thinner. As I was diagnosed and my thyroid problems treated, my hair […]

I just got back from running my course in Atlanta on hair restoration that involved a new hands-on component. I look at it as a mini-St. Louis Course, the main course that I run each year that is a very extensive hands-on course. This is my second year running the Atlanta meeting and I am […]

I try my best to keep up with the latest and greatest in the world of hair restoration. As many of the ladies know Latisse by Allergan Inc., the makers of Botox, has been a runaway success for extending eyelashes and making them thicker and longer. Bimatoprost, the generic name for Latisse, is a prostaglandin […]

I cannot believe that this will be the fifth year that Emina and I will be running our St. Louis Hair Transplant 360 Workshop, which has grown, matured, and evolved. The cornerstone of the workshop has always been excellent didactics and extensive hands-on training using cadaver tissues and models. Emina has come up with some […]

As many of you know Emina and I each wrote texbooks, Hair Transplant 360, volumes 1 and 2, respectively, a few years ago. Attending so many major meetings, I realized that even though our books are still highly relevant I needed a new volume that would reflect the multi-author, international perspective along with featuring the […]

As many of my patients know, I truly believe that prior to October 2011, we were in the Dark Ages of Hair Restoration. Of course, we always performed great work at the Lam Institute for Hair Restoration. However, we did not have the “magic sauce”, a term I affectionately refer to PRP, or platelet rich […]

Pain control is so very important for every patient. I take that concern to an extreme level. As many of you know for my conventional linear harvesting (standard hair transplant) where discomfort can be greater, we have every patient under what is known as Level 2 conscious sedation, meaning patients do not feel anything. If […]

Hair loss that affects men can be devastating. Hair loss in men who believe that they are truly women can be exponentially worse. They do not have the option of shaving their head and their gender identity can be worsened because of it. By being sensitive to this kind of plight is the first step. […]

I thought that my patients would be interested in how I have worked with the ISHRS this year, an organization that I am very proud to be a member of and when my application is approved this Fall, I should be one of the first inductees to be a Fellow status in the organization. Fellowship […]

I have heard these words many times throughout my hair-transplant consultations, usually leading to the next sentence, “Please make my result as conservative as possible.” That sounds intuitively appealing but it is really not the right answer. I totally understand the issue with one’s fear that a result will be spotted out, especially since hair […]

When trying to create a natural result in a hair transplant, there are so many factors to consider in getting a result that looks amazing. One factor that is little talked about is how to transition from one part of the scalp to another, e.g., the hairline to the midscalp, from the vertex to the […]

Hair restoration is an art of illusion trying to make a bald man look as if he has a full head of hair. Most of the times surgical hair restoration alone is sufficient to accomplish this task. However, at times other techniques like medical management can help to delay and partly reverse the hair loss […]

Robots are meant to perform repeated, technically precise work that a human hand cannot perform reliably. In this case the ARTAS Robotic FUE (Follicular Unit Excision) technology does an incredible job at harvesting hairs with utmost precision in a distribution pattern that affords maximal camouflage in an individual who wants to keep his hair short. […]

I love to tell the story of when I was sitting in the audience of a facial plastic surgery conference in San Diego with an esteemed colleague of mine who did not do hair transplants. My colleague said in a haughty way that he could easily tell a hair transplant since they all looked rather […]

It may have been a little while since I have likened my hair transplant team to a Formula One race team but I believe it is worth restating that here and elaborating on why I feel that way. Another example is the peloton in the bicycling world: without the team to help bring the team […]

One thing that I have been fascinated about and has been a technique that I have favored is the use of micropunch instruments. Rather than using a needle or chisel blade, I oftentimes prefer a very tiny punch instrument in which I can remove between 0.5 to 1 mm in size of bald tissue into […]

I have offered almost every patient that has come through my door advice about topical camouflage products that could be helpful in the goal of camouflaging hair loss. I have directed them to the Internet to purchase products, my favorite one being Nanogen, but I have decided to start stocking the product in my office […]

I hope that by reading my last few blogs that you do not believe that the Robot is ideal for all individuals interested in undergoing a hair transplant. I still believe the majority of men and particularly women do just fine with the traditional linear harvesting method. Because the hair needs to be shaved and […]

Every year and every day I am seeking to attain better hair transplant results and the way to accomplish that task is to enlist better instruments, techniques, and ancillary measures. One small but prominent addition to my practice over the past year has been the use of the Cole tumescent gun that allows me to […]

I was on the panel for the Basics course at the ISHRS annual meeting in the Bahamas and explained my algorithm for how I speak with patients in a constructive and efficient manner, and my colleague sitting next to me wrote down my algorithm saying it was a great idea. Accordingly, I thought I should […]

Over a year ago I started incorporating the use of platelet rich plasma (PRP) and Acell into my hair transplant cases, at first tentatively and now in a robust and standard fashion. I believe this is why it is so important to go to every major hair transplant meeting you can because it can change […]

Unfortunately, I did not see much sun while I was in the Bahamas for the 2012 Fall ISHRS meeting. Partly because there was little sun to be had (it was raining most days) but also because I was simply enraptured by all the meetings that had a huge learning impact on me. I also was […]

One of the biggest barriers to having the ARTAS Robotic FUE (follicular unit excision) done is that you must shave your head down to 1 mm for the Robot to work. We will do that for you at the beginning of the procedure. Younger men who are used to wearing their hair short realize how […]