Dr Edmond I Griffin
Have you seen the Griffin Center featured in the December Men’s Book?
The Griffin Center for Hair Restoration and Research was recently featured in Men’s Book Atlanta magazine’s December issue to answer your frequently asked questions about men’s hair loss misconceptions and causes, as well as hair restoration surgery options. Make sure to get your copy today and check it out!
To keep up with the latest in hair loss and restoration news and updates, follow the Griffin Center on Facebook and Twitter!
The Stages of the Hair Growth Cycle Explained
Losing hair is a natural part of the hair growth cycle. We lose hair so that new hair can replace it. However, when hair does not grow back as it should, we start to notice thinning hair and a more visible scalp through the hair. In order to understand hair loss, one must understand normal hair growth and shedding cycles.
The hair growth cycle is ongoing, and on an average day, 90% of your hair is in the resting phase while the other 10% is either growing or shedding. Balding occurs when the hair sheds, and no hair re-grows to replace it. Hair is made of keratin, the same material that makes up your nails and the outer layer of your skin. Hair is really a dead structure while the follicular bulb is the growing center. Because the actual strand of hair is not alive, hot curlers, chemical processing, hard plastic combs can cause damage and lead to split ends and fracturing of the shafts.
The hair growth cycle begins with the anagen or growth phase. During this phase cells in the root of the hair divide to add to the hair shaft. Depending on your genetics, the growth phase can last anywhere from 2 to 6 years. As the anagen phase comes to an end, an unknown signal tells the hair to enter the next stage. The hair grows about a fourth of an inch each month, and though it is technically dead, a healthy hair care regimen can keep it looking beautiful while it’s in the anagen phase.
The catagen stage follows the anagen phase and is made up of a 2-3 week transitional period in which the hair is no longer growing. During this stage, a club hair is formed. A club hair occurs when the section of the hair follicle attaches to the hair shaft, cutting the follicle off from its blood supply and the cells that produce new hair. This club hair leads to the next stage of the hair growth and shedding cycle.
The final stage of the hair growth and shedding cycle is the telogen or resting phase. During this two to four month phase, the hair begins to shed at normal levels, and the anagen phase begins again producing new hair.
The average person sheds around 100 telogen-stage hairs a day between brushing the hair, showering, and other activities. High-stress and trauma like high fevers, nutritional deficiencies, pneumonia, and accidents can cause hair to shed in higher than normal amounts. Patterned baldness (androgenetic alopecia) occurs when hair production slows and beings to produce weak, shorter hairs, eventually ceasing to grow completely in some areas.
Men and women often lose hair for different reasons and should be properly diagnosed before beginning any hair restoration treatment. Depending on the cause of your hair loss, there are both surgical and non-surgical treatment options including hair restoration surgery and medications like Propecia®, Rogaine®, and Proscar®.
For more information on hair loss causes and hair restoration, contact the Griffin Center of Hair Restoration and Research. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter for more hair regrowth news and updates.
Do Women Lose More Hair During the Autumn Months?
A study published in the journal Dermatology shows that women lose more hair during autumn than they do in other seasons. Swedish researchers gathered a sample of 823 women and tracked their hair growth and shedding cycles.
Each person goes through the hair growth and shedding cycle. In the anagen phase also known as the growth phase of the hair follicle, new hair cells are produced. The catagen phase is where the hair is no longer growing but the follicle is shrinking. The final stage, the telogen phase, occurs when the hair is in a resting state, no longer growing, but on the verge of shedding. The hair stays in this resting state for about three months when it begins to shed, and the anagen phase begins gradually. Therefore, the average patient loses about 100 hairs per day. At the end of the telogen phase, the hair cycle of growth begins again, and if you could watch the follicular opening you would see a new hair emerge in a couple of weeks.
Though each individual’s hair growth and shedding cycle schedules will vary slightly, the researchers found that the women studied had the highest percentage of hair in the telogen stage at the end of summer. This means that after a period of time, these women will have some hair loss since the resting phase is always followed by a shedding. During this time, the patient may feel that his or her hair is thinning with the natural loss of hair that is occurring. The same sort of hair-loss phasing happens, though with a lower percentage of hair, in the spring as well. Researchers speculate that this extra amount of lost hair may be brought about by evolution, since the body seems to hold on to hair during the warmer months to protect the scalp from the summer sun.
For those people who experience hair loss with no growth to follow it, The Griffin Center of Hair Restoration and Research offers both non-surgical and surgical treatment and prevention options for women’s hair loss. Most commonly this hair loss is the result of female patterned hair loss, and the minuturization of hairs which eventually do not return. This process can be slowed and even in some cases reversed with treatment.
Contact us for more information on hair loss or to schedule an appointment with Dr. Edmond Griffin, hair restoration specialist. You can also connect with us on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates.
Join Us for Skin Medics Medical Spa’s Spooktacular Cosmetic Day
You’re invited to what’s sure to be one of the most exciting Halloween events around! Dermatology Associates of Atlanta‘s Skin Medics Medical Spa is hosting a Spooktacular Cosmetic Day on Monday, October 31, 2011.
Our specials on facial fillers, dermal injectables, spa products, and cosmetic laser treatments are sure to be a scream! You must take advantage of these offers on Monday, October 31 or schedule your treatment on that day to receive the special prices, so make sure to mark your calendar!
Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter for updates on more specials and events like our Cosmetic Day Spooktacular!
Why Do More Men Have Hair Transplant Surgery Than Women? What Impedes Women With Hair Loss from Having a Hair Transplant, if Anything?
If you keep up with my blog, you know women’s hair loss is a very complex topic, and women’s hair transplant surgery is no less complex. However, hair transplantation for women is more than possible. In fact, I have performed hundreds of hair restoration surgeries on women. When I began transplant surgery in the 70s only 2% of my patients were women; this number has increased fivefold.
To answer your first question—While there are many causes for hair loss in men besides genetics, a majority of men facing hair loss have male pattern baldness (androgenetic alopecia). Just as with women’s hair loss, men can also lose hair because of hormones, stress, and certain medications, among other causes. Men with pattern baldness are usually optimal candidates for hair restoration surgery because they have an adequate donor region for harvesting follicular grafts. Women’s expectations are generally much higher than men’s. Men approach hair transplant surgery wanting more hair, while women usually want a return to full thickness. Thinning hair is not acceptable for them, and oftentimes more than one session may be necessary.
Another reason you hear about more men undergoing hair restoration surgery is that there is a stronger social stigma tied to women discussing hair loss conditions. Remember the attention placed on Lady Gaga when she discussed using Rogaine® in interviews? While the pop superstar took advantage of topic treatments, it is becoming more acceptable for women to seek medical hair loss treatments beyond Rogaine®.
Also, women’s hair restoration surgery is more complex than men’s, and doctors are even sometimes reluctant to perform surgery on women because of the frequency of temporary hair loss amongst female patients. When female patients consider hair transplant surgery, the surgeon must diagnose the reason for loss making sure that it is not just a temporary loss where the hair will regrow with other medical treatments. For example, if hair loss is caused by scarring related to trauma or surgery, the transplanted hair may not grow in its new home.
I have been researching hair loss and hair restoration for 35 years. Therefore, after a thorough consultation which may include a scalp biopsy to confirm diagnosis, I am usually able to pinpoint the cause of a patient’s hair loss and suggest a suitable treatment plan, which may include surgery, hair loss prevention medication, or other therapies to regrow hair.
Now, for the second question—There are multiple variables that could prevent both men and women from having hair transplant surgery. In addition to an inadequate donor region or a larger than normal recipient area, hair loss caused by high fevers, trauma, or hormone fluctuation, such as women who lose hair during pregnancy, is often temporary. Likewise, men and women who lose their hair because of certain medications, especially after chemotherapy, can experience temporary hair loss. Usually once medications are discontinued the hair loss stops and hair recovers. Patients with temporary hair loss are not candidates for hair transplant surgery. However, these patients often need to seek the care of a hair restoration specialist to determine the cause of hair loss.
I have performed hundreds of hair restorations on women, and they have been equally as successful and grow as well as my male hair transplant procedures, as you can see in my women’s hair restoration before and after gallery. The “pattern” of female pattern hair loss is different from male pattern hair loss. Women, luckily, do not go totally bald like men. Men bald from the front backwards and lose hair in the temporal regions (around and above the ears) whereas only 12% of women lose hair near the ears. Women are most likely to begin balding near the front of the head and on the crown, leaving a rim of good hair around the head. Because men and women bald differently, I use specialized techniques to separate the donor and treatment regions during female hair transplant surgery to accommodate the distinct challenges presented by this procedure.
If you are a women experiencing hair loss and considering hair restoration, you need to first determine the cause of your hair loss. Schedule a consultation to learn more and to find out if you might be a candidate for surgery. Be sure to connect with us on Facebook.
Have You Seen The Griffin Center in the September/October Issue of The Men’s Book?
The September/October issue of The Men’s Book Atlanta featured an ad for the Griffin Center! Contact us for more information on hair loss therapies and treatments or to schedule your consultation.
Treating Hair Loss with Stem Cells
As an expert in hair restoration surgery who is dedicated to ongoing hair loss research, Dr. Edmond I. Griffin prides himself on staying abreast of new hair loss studies and possible treatment methods. If you keep up with his blog, you’ve probably read about some of the newest techniques for hair regrowth, those used at The Griffin Center of Hair Restoration and Research and those currently still being researched like the MartiStem® MicroMatrix. Research in the field of hair loss and hair restoration is becoming more promising every day with possible options for hair loss treatment like the aforementioned pixie dust, Botox® injections, and the use of platelet rich plasma. Recently, Yale researchers have been studying the use of stem cells for hair loss treatment.
Researchers have studied stem cells previously for disease treatment, but it was just recently that Yale researchers pinpointed stem cells in the scalp of bald men as an underlying cause of androgenetic alopecia (patterned baldness). The researchers concluded that hair growth is dependent upon fat within the scalp. In men with male pattern baldness, the strip of fat on the scalp shrinks and hair cannot grow. When hair grows, the scalp’s layer of fat expands (a process called adipogenesis). Specialized stem cells, known as precursor cells, are responsible for expanding the layer of fat.
The researchers reached this conclusion after injecting precursor cells into mice that were unable to produce hair or the fat necessary to produce hair, and in two weeks hair began to grow. The precursor cells produced a chemical called platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) that produced hair growth 100 times faster than the rate of non-treated mice. Overall, the mice treated with PDGF saw 86% restored hair follicle growth. Before stem cells can be used for hair growth in humans, scientists must determine that the cellular signaling in humans is the same as that of the mice.
It may be a while before humans are treated for baldness with stem cells, but the research shows promise. The providers at The Griffin Center are watching this research closely for further developments. Whether you’re searching for a hair loss prevention regimen or debating hair transplant surgery, schedule a consultation with Dr. Griffin today so that he can listen to your concerns, determine a cause for hair loss, and recommend a method of treatment. To stay on top of new techniques for hair restoration, be sure to find us on Facebook and keep reading his blog.
Low Level Laser Therapy: How Light Therapy could be an Effective Hair Restoration Option
No doubt you’ve heard of Atlanta laser hair removal that uses varied wavelengths of laser light to damage hair follicles and impede future growth of unwanted body hair, but have you heard of laser light therapy as a hair growth option?
Several research groups have shown that the application of low intensity laser light is effective in encouraging healthy hair growth in hair loss patients with androgenetic alopecia (female pattern baldness or male pattern baldness) and non-patterned types of alopecia. Known as photobiomodulation of low-level laser therapy (LLLT) amongst hair restoration specialists, there are two schools of thought as to how this non-surgical hair restoration option really works. According to studies published in the 1997 edition of The Hair Transplant Forum, this treatment works by increasing circulation to the dermal papilla, or bulb-shaped layer of skin surrounding the base of the hair follicle, thereby promoting enhanced hair growth.
Conversely, there are those, such as stated in the September 2010 issue of Cosmetic Dermatology magazine, that believe that the low level laser therapy increases the metabolic activity within the skin cells of the scalp exposed to the light to maximize hair growth. Patients typically need 15-30 minutes of laser light exposure for 2-4 weeks followed by a series of equally long treatments 1-2 times per week over 6-12 months for maximum benefit. In addition, most laser light hair loss treatments should be performed as an ancillary technique along with more traditional methods known to be effective such as topical and/or oral finasteride (Propecia®) and minoxidil (Rogaine®) treatment.
Laser light hair loss treatment is currently available in two forms: 1) a hood type device (similar to commercial hair dryers) in your hair transplant surgeon or hair restoration physician’s office that emits low doses of laser light to the patient under the supervision of an experienced hair loss professional or 2.) a “helmet” type device known as Oaze that can be worn for concentrated light treatments for both male and female hair loss patients. The helmet shape has replaced the laser comb tool (also known as the laser hair brush) because of the head gear’s advantageous ability to maintain constant contact with treatment area whereas the older comb technology required constant brushing for extended amounts of time.
At The Griffin Center, LLLT treatment is currently used to help encourage successful growth of new follicular unit grafts in post-hair transplant surgery patients. Because hair transplant surgery results depend solely on the survival of the transplanted hair follicles in their new scalp location, LLLT is applied to increase circulation and metabolic activity amongst the hairs so that they can more easily acclimate to their new location; and trauma from the act of transplantation is minimized. Additionally, because medications like finasteride and minoxidil are traditionally seen as more of a hair preservation and hair loss prevention method, Dr. Edmond Griffin also thinks a non-surgical hair restoration method like LLLT could be useful in patients’ treatment regimes that’ve already experienced hair loss.
To learn more about the hair restoration options available at The Griffin Center, visit their website and continue to read our blog. For regular, up-to-date hair restoration treatment news, be sure to connect with them on Facebook and Twitter.
Hair Transplant Surgery: Frequently Asked Questions and Special Summer Savings Program
Dr. Edmond Griffin of the Griffin Center of Hair Restoration and Research is extending a special offer for hair restoration patients. Right now you can save $500 on a small or greater size hair transplant surgery performed before August 31st, 2011. Below are a few of our most frequently asked questions about hair restoration surgery. Feel free to contact us if you have any additional questions or to schedule you consultation.
Q.) How do I know if I’m a good candidate for hair transplant surgery?
A.) Most men and women who have androgenetic alopecia, better known as male or female patterned baldness, are appropriate candidates for hair restoration surgery. A patient whose hair loss condition is a result of scarring caused by an accident or surgery may also be suitable candidates for hair restoration. The main requirement of hair loss candidates is having an adequate donor region from which Dr. Griffin can harvest hair grafts to restore balding areas. › Continue reading
Answers to Your Hair Care Questions: Can My Hair Have Sun Damage?
Here in Atlanta the often triple degree temperatures of June, July and August can be oppressive to say the least. More than temperature discomfort, these conditions can also be very harmful to your skin and hair. Here at Dermatology Associates of Atlanta we talk a lot about sun damage and the prevention of skin cancer, but what a lot of patients don’t understand is that your hair is also susceptible to photo damage.
Think about your wooden outdoor furniture: if left unprotected out in the elements, it dries, cracks, and becomes grey, splintery, and worn looking. Like wood, your hair is a protein-based material susceptible to damage of wind, water and sun. It’s especially important for patients with thinning hair or bald areas to be mindful of sun protection as the skin on the scalp is especially susceptible to sun burn. If you anticipate being outdoors this summer, consider wearing a hat or cap (this protects you face and eyes from the sun too) or misting a spray sunscreen product over your hair.
To learn more about the hair research and hair restoration options at DAA’s Griffin Center of Hair Restoration and Research continue to read our blog and visit our website.
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