Do surgeons perform this procedure or do dermatologists?

dermatological surgeons.
(dermatologists with extra surgery training)

dermatological surgeons.
(dermatologists with extra surgery training)

Not true. Anyone can do hair transplants. Do a quick search and you'll see that there are FP's, Urologists, Radiologists :eek: , General surgeons, Dermatologists, etc who have switched fields into hair transplant surgery.

As far as I know, all you need to do is a one year training program through something like MHR (Medical Hair Restoration) and you're good to go. HT surgery is a field that many students don't even think about when considering specialties. If you want big $$$ and 9-5 lifestyle, HT surgery is definitely a GREAT option.

Not true. Anyone can do hair transplants. Do a quick search and you'll see that there are FP's, Urologists, Radiologists :eek: , General surgeons, Dermatologists, etc who have switched fields into hair transplant surgery.


Can you provide a link to a radiologist doing hair transplant surgery?

Can you provide a link to a radiologist doing hair transplant surgery?

http://www.iahrs.org/DisplayProfile.asp?ID=10&sID=FL&sn=

Enjoy!

Here's a list of them that work for MHR and their locations. The one from Philly (Jonathan Ballon, M.D) used to be a neurosurgeon!

http://www.medicalhairrestoration.com/company_doctors.asp

Not true. Anyone can do hair transplants. Do a quick search and you'll see that there are FP's, Urologists, Radiologists :eek: , General surgeons, Dermatologists, etc who have switched fields into hair transplant surgery.

As far as I know, all you need to do is a one year training program through something like MHR (Medical Hair Restoration) and you're good to go. HT surgery is a field that many students don't even think about when considering specialties. If you want big $$$ and 9-5 lifestyle, HT surgery is definitely a GREAT option.

How much on average do these hair transplant surgeons make per year? Is it a competitive field to enter?

How much is the cost of a single surgery?

http://www.iahrs.org/DisplayProfile.asp?ID=10&sID=FL&sn=

Enjoy!

Very intersting. Why would a radiologist do hair transplant? Seems like radiologist have very good hours and very good pay?

How much on average do these hair transplant surgeons make per year? Is it a competitive field to enter?

How much is the cost of a single surgery?

I don't think annual income for HT surgeons is published. One of my dad's friends had HT surgery. He paid over $6,000 (cash). If you do 2 of those per day x 5 days/wk x 4 wks/month...that equals $240,000/month! :eek:

That explains why a dermatologist or a radiologist would drop their practice and switch to HT surgery. I'm definitely keeping my options open... :D

I don't think annual income for HT surgeons is published. One of my dad's friends had HT surgery. He paid over $6,000 (cash). If you do 2 of those per day x 5 days/wk x 4 wks/month...that equals $240,000/month! :eek:

That explains why a dermatologist or a radiologist would drop their practice and switch to HT surgery. I'm definitely keeping my options open... :D

In the article with the radiologist HT surgeon it said that he did only one surgery per day. Didn't say how many per week.

In the article with the radiologist HT surgeon it said that he did only one surgery per day. Didn't say how many per week.

Yeah, I read that too. I'm probably going to shadow one of these guys during the break and get the nitty-gritty on HT surgery. I'll post the info when I find out. Who knows, one day we might have a "HT surgery" forum on SDN...maybe not.

Anyone can take a class and say they do hair transplants.There are significant liabillity issues in this field.As for getting 6K per procedure,and filling up your week with this..dont count on it.There are limited numbers of people who will pay this kind of money and there are many plastic surgeons,dermatologists etc who have practices focused on cosmetic procedures who get the bulk of the patients.If you go to a physician shortage area it may be easier to do this.

Anyone can take a class and say they do hair transplants.There are significant liabillity issues in this field.As for getting 6K per procedure,and filling up your week with this..dont count on it.There are limited numbers of people who will pay this kind of money and there are many plastic surgeons,dermatologists etc who have practices focused on cosmetic procedures who get the bulk of the patients.If you go to a physician shortage area it may be easier to do this.

Probably depends on how well you sell yourself. Many people go to FPs who practice cosmetic medicine for procedures like botox, dermabrasion, laser procedures...etc. I am sure the same could hold true for HT surgeons.

Anyone can take a class and say they do hair transplants.There are significant liabillity issues in this field.As for getting 6K per procedure,and filling up your week with this..dont count on it.There are limited numbers of people who will pay this kind of money and there are many plastic surgeons,dermatologists etc who have practices focused on cosmetic procedures who get the bulk of the patients.If you go to a physician shortage area it may be easier to do this.

You may be right. I'll get back to you guys after some research and shadowing experience.

You're definitely right about the importance of location.

I am currently a pgy2 res in int med. How does one go about a fellowship in hair restoration surgery? I went to the link mentioned,but did not see any specific programs. Also is it possible with an Int Med background?
Thanks

Not true. Anyone can do hair transplants. Do a quick search and you'll see that there are FP's, Urologists, Radiologists :eek: , General surgeons, Dermatologists, etc who have switched fields into hair transplant surgery.

As far as I know, all you need to do is a one year training program through something like MHR (Medical Hair Restoration) and you're good to go. HT surgery is a field that many students don't even think about when considering specialties. If you want big $$$ and 9-5 lifestyle, HT surgery is definitely a GREAT option.

how do we apply?

how do we apply?

Sounds like someone's been enlightened! I remember reading this a while back when I was researching this stuff on the net. Google "Medical Hair Restoration" and somewhere on there is a link to their application and requirements. Perhaps you can contact the person in charge and get the down-low on this enigma of a field. Let us know. I'm sure there are plenty of other people interested. ;)

Sounds like someone's been enlightened! I remember reading this a while back when I was researching this stuff on the net. Google "Medical Hair Restoration" and somewhere on there is a link to their application and requirements. Perhaps you can contact the person in charge and get the down-low on this enigma of a field. Let us know. I'm sure there are plenty of other people interested. ;)

Thanks I will

Anyone can take a class and say they do hair transplants.There are significant liabillity issues in this field.As for getting 6K per procedure,and filling up your week with this..dont count on it.There are limited numbers of people who will pay this kind of money and there are many plastic surgeons,dermatologists etc who have practices focused on cosmetic procedures who get the bulk of the patients.If you go to a physician shortage area it may be easier to do this.

This is not quite true. Hair transplantation isn't a part-time job. Most plastic surgeons aren't involved with this field because
a. ) They lack the training (they too have to enroll in of these fellowships)
b.) It's not worth their time when they can spend the bulk of that performing other procedures.

Most hair transplant surgeons are dermatologists who focus primarily on hair transplant and perform clinical derm on the side. These dermatologists enroll in one of these one year fellowships and they aren't any more qualified to perform these procedures as a family practice physician who enrolls in this training. Neither are surgeons.

The reason why people are not rushing to this field includes several reasons. Many physicians don't want to be associated with this field because of the reputation it brings. It may be unfair but hair transplant surgeons are still considered a joke by some in the medical field. To put it in layman's terms, it's still considered a very cheesy profession by many. It's still associated with infomercials and late night television.

The second reason is due to the fact there aren't many jobs associated with this field. Physicians are very risk averse and are used to joining a group as opposed to going solo. You can join those large companies but you wouldn't earn more than you would as a dermatologist or much more than a primary care physician. So you would be forced to going solo and opening your own practice. Establishing a clientele in this field could be difficult.

And yes, the third reason is geography. These practices won't survive in a rural or small town in which the demand for such services won't exist. You need to be in a city that caters to wealthy men who are concerned about their appearance and are willing to spend money on that. Most of your clientele will be men and it isn't socially unacceptable for a man to be bald. You can't be situated in a blue collar town in which some low income worker would rather spend 6 grand on his head than his children's education.

very interesting comments. will take into consideration

Hair transplantation isn't a part-time job. Most plastic surgeons aren't involved with this field because
a. ) They lack the training (they too have to enroll in of these fellowships)
b.) education.

On the contrary, most plastic surgeons aren't into this b/c
1) its much less profitable then surgey per hour
2) it's VERY tedious & boring

I can't imagine a Plastic Surgeon who would feel the need to do extended training in this. Having done several myself, it's very simple to do technically. Literally you can read a book and do this with satisfactory results. In fact, most "hair factories" have very little of the actual procedures done by the Physician other then the harvest of the scalp. The cutting of the grafts & implantation is mostly grunt work done by their assistants in many clinics.

The cutting of the grafts & implantation is mostly grunt work done by their assistants in many clinics.

That's what I heard too...

Yup.. anybody can do it. But there was a recent scandal with Bosley and pretty much the outcome said hair transplants are B.S.... search google and I'm sure you'll find it. It's still VERY profitable if you're able to find clientele, errr patients.

So how effective are hair transplants? :confused: Anyone have any experience with them? Had one? Observed any cases?

So how effective are hair transplants? :confused: Anyone have any experience with them? Had one? Observed any cases?

medicine is a business after all and the money is if you can market yourself well and also if you're good at what you do. the word will get around if you do a great job, people dont give a crap about what kind of a specialty you are if you can do the job well. Also even if dermatologists can do this but have no business sence for recruiting patients and run a profitable clinic they will collapse as well. there are excellent primary docs who have mastered the outpatient system and make tons of cash, efficient and successful at their job so after all the training in hair transplants or cosmetics make sure you take a business course...

medicine is a business after all and the money is if you can market yourself well and also if you're good at what you do. the word will get around if you do a great job, people dont give a crap about what kind of a specialty you are if you can do the job well. Also even if dermatologists can do this but have no business sence for recruiting patients and run a profitable clinic they will collapse as well. there are excellent primary docs who have mastered the outpatient system and make tons of cash, efficient and successful at their job so after all the training in hair transplants or cosmetics make sure you take a business course...

Technically, the work is straightforward. The difference between getting good and great results is where the experience counts, getting that illusion of a restored natural hairline with the right mix of micrografts and larger grafts from a limited pool of transplantable follicles. Patient selection and preoperative management of expectations is important, as it is with any cosmetic procedure.

The hardest part appears to be setting up your office efficiently with the appropriate staff who can do the graft cutting (i.e. taking a strip of hair-bearing scalp and skillfully cutting it into the many hundreds of small micro grafts and mini-grafts.) To do a transplant in a reasonable amount of time requires one or ideally two well-trained technicians preparing grafts while the surgeon is doing the site prep, punches and slits and placing the grafts. Those kinds of employees are not found that easily and most would probably need to be trained in-house. Of course, you need appropriate surgical room equipment, a reclining surgical chair, sterilizers, chillers, punches, loupes and lighting. It is possible to do this part-time, but the costs of promoting the service make full-time practice more necessary. Yes, it is a cash-based service--no insurance--which is good, but the cost of promotion, especially in broadcast media, is very expensive.

As others have posted, the training background for hair transplanting varies. You don't have to do a fellowship, and it is within the scope of practice and training of some specialists. Most seem to be dermatologists, but there are FPs, plastic surgeons and others. For a plastic surgeon to do this is probably not that financially worthwhile, as the same time spent doing other cosmetic surgeries is probably more profitable. For an office-based pratitioner, derm or FP, the financial advantage of doing procedures in-office is clearer.