I have attended the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS) annual meeting almost every year for the past decade even when it has been in remote settings like Amsterdam, which it is in a foreign city about every third year to appeal to the foreign audience membership and to live up to the organization’s name. I have become increasingly busier with the organization in its educational efforts and have been happy to do so. I remember a colleague of mine in the world of hair restoration who was very famed in his day for doing hair transplants who wanted to lecture at a course that I run and who gave the most absurd comment about how he wanted to undertake donor hair harvesting. I realized that no matter how well recognized he was, he was practicing medicine circa 1995 and that he had not advanced because he did not go to any of the recent annual meetings. When I got back from Alaska in 2011, I learned about regenerative medicine specifically platelet rich plasma and Acell, which have revolutionized my hair business in that they have made my results exceptionally better. Today I cannot imagine practicing my craft without that support because it is simply that important to me. Similarly, I have taken home such a wealth of information from the Bahamas including refinements in my understanding of how to implement regenerative medicine and improvement in technique as well among many things. When seeking a surgeon who should operate on your head, I personally believe that it is important to ask how many meetings specific to his craft that he attends and how up to date is his knowledge of the current landscape of the industry. Do advancements change rapidly? Yes, as often as there is a new iPhone model honestly.

Dr Samuel Lam is a board certified hair transplant surgeon in Dallas, TX. To schedule a consultation please call 972-312-8105, or visit Dr Lam’s hair restoration forum to ask him a question.