Why is it important to do a personalized, bespoke and detailed approach to a hair transplant and why a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work.
A hair transplant is a very personal thing. No two heads are alike. There are many, many variables to take in account when performing a hair transplant. One variable can change everything. And that’s just for planning. When you actually go to work, everything can change once more.
I keep saying this, but it’s worth mentioning because it’s true: there are tens of different parameters I evaluate in a single patient before I even decide if he’s a candidate for surgery. Some I assess in a more conscious way than others, but they all are accounted for. All those variables are computed (in my head) to establish a diagnosis, a strategy, a plan, a timeline and a prognosis.
Things like the patient’s age, the level of agressiveness and activity of his alopecia, the patient’s family history of hair loss, medications or other environmental factors he could be exposed to. The patient’s wishes and expectations as well as his/her psychological ability to be subject to a surgery or multiple surgeries. The patient’s hair characteristics, donor surface area, caliber, coverage value, etc, etc, etc. The list goes on and on...
Of course there are similar cases. But whenever I show a patient a case from another patient, it’s always just a reference of what’s possible. Consistency in results is very important for me. It’s very important to give a patient a prognosis that I feel comfortable in achieving. I do err on the side of underpromising, as I think that evens out the patient’s expectations. So It’s always super nice to see the patient’s reaction when we overdeliver. ;)
But the way of getting those consistent results is totally different from one patient to another. That’s why it’s sometimes difficult to explain to a patient that I’m taking a different strategy or using a different process or instrument to achieve his/her result. In the patient’s mind, he/she is thinking “but you used x process to get that great result I saw. I’d like to use the same to get the same result.”
It doesn’t work like that.
I’ll go as far as to say that if you use the same exact process for all patients, you’ll start to get below average results. Complacency will start to show and you may get a few good results, but also a lot of sub-par results.
Patients need different processes/strategies/instruments/etc according to their specific case. And I’m not even talking about when complications arise and you have to get creative.
So yes, no two transplants are alike. And a very detailed, bespoke, personalized approach is not only much more pleasant for the patient. It’s needed! ...at least if you want to get high quality results.
I also think it would make my job super boring to just do the same thing over and over. Rinse and repeat. We’re not EA. :P
So, I change things up. I try new things. I get creative and by doing that I develop more skills for my “bag of tricks”. Always remembering habit #7:
“Sharpen the Saw” ;)
Until next time,