The bald and the beautiful

Hair is our crowning glory.  We take our hair for granted during our youth because most of us have plenty of it.  But as we get to our 40s, 50s, and beyond, the hairline starts to recede, the crown tends to thin out and, as a whole, hair is less voluminous than the previous decade and we wonder why.  There are several reasons for thinning hair, genes playing the most dominant factor of all. Baldness is genetic, but other causes could be illness, vitamin deficiency, stress, or chemical overload (hair dye, spray, mousse, curling chemical, electric iron, etc.) that cause hair to fall, some of which never get replaced especially at a late age. But modern technology has made it possible for both men and women to restore their hair, both surgically or non- surgically.

During one dinner party, I met Dr. Julieta Arambulo, who complimented me on my long, thick hair and could not help but ask if I was wearing hair extensions.  Fortunately for me, my hair is all mine. This is where the genetic factor kicks in as both my parents still have their full head of hair.  Dr. Julieta Arambulo is the president of the Asian Hair and Restoration Center and her specialty is hair transplant and restoration.  I asked her if she does the stem cell procedure on the scalp to make the hair grow.  A friend did it in New York with some success. Dr. Arambulo does the procedure, too, and she describes the process:

For patients who do not want to undergo surgery, Dr. Arambulo offers the platelet rich plasma (PRP) and other growth factor products that can be injected into the scalp. For the plasma procedure, the patient’s blood is drawn and placed in a centrifuge separating the components of the blood, specifically the platelet and growth factors.  This is similar to the stem cell procedure.  The use of the person’s own PRP for hair restoration has many advantages.  It can also be used for those patients who undergo hair transplant surgery as a graft storage solution for longer survival and can be applied to the donor and recipient areas to enhance the healing process and the chance to accelerate the growth of transplanted hair. 

For those who need to have a hair transplant, surgically there are two methods: First is the traditional follicular unit transplantation, where a strip from the back of your scalp (the donor area) is harvested. The doctor carefully dissects the hair strip under stereomicroscopes into its normal follicular grouping.  The hair grafts are then placed into the recipient area. Minimal linear scarring is achieved through “trichophytic” closure, a technique that is used during donor closure that makes the linear scar almost undetectable.

Another technique these days is known as the follicular unit extraction (FUE). The demand for this has been increasing worldwide because it offers patients the option of no stitches, less down time, more tolerable post operative pain, and less visible scarring.  The doctor carefully extracts individual follicular units directly from the donor area, ideally one at a time. Not all patients are suitable for this technique. 

Asian Hair Restoration Center (AHRC) also offers body hair transplant for patients who have limited scalp donor sites or to provide density after scalp hair transplantation. Sites that can be harvested for hair follicles are the abdomen, armpits/axillary area, chest, back, beard, forearms, legs, thighs, and the pubic area.  Body hair transplant also offers the removal of unwanted hair and placing them into an area where they are most needed.

An interesting procedure Dr. Arambulo discussed with me is the eyebrow transplant.  This procedure is perfect for those who are looking to restore and enhance overly thin, scarred or missing eyebrows.  The surgeon creates the smallest possible incisions and carefully places one graft at a time to minimize scarring and trauma. It involves the placement of 50 to 350 hairs coming from the donor area (back of the scalp) into each eyebrow. Hair will start to grow in three months and would require regular trimming.  All of these hair transplant procedures are usually performed under a mild oral sedative and local anesthesia.  The procedures normally take four to six hours and are basically painless.  The patient is allowed to have breaks in between the procedure to eat, walk, stretch a bit. During the procedure, the patient is encouraged to watch a movie, listen to music or just relax.

Patients can resume normal activities in two to three days. Initial hair growth can be expected in a span of three to four months. Full effect will take place in 12 months maximum.  

Dr. Arambulo studied hair transplantation in a prestigious aesthetic medical center in Wilshire, California and updates herself on the latest developments and techniques by attending workshops here and abroad.

Seeing that I did not need any of her hair restoration treatments, she introduced me to her daughter Margaux Arambulo who heads the skin care department of her clinic.

Margaux and her staff of certified dermatologists perform the latest in anti-aging treatments.   That magic word — “anti-aging” — aroused my interest in bringing a friend who needed some anti-aging treatments to have a consultation with Dr. Michael Joseph, one of the doctors in the M Skin Care Center.  She agreed to undergo photo rejuvenation, a kind of intense pulse light which delivers concentrated flashes of light to the skin for new collagen stimulation, thereby increasing the skin’s elasticity.  He then followed it with Master’s Skin Lift, a safe and effective treatment that uses the synergy of infrared and bi-polar radiofrequency for skin tightening, fine wrinkle reduction, and a noticeable lifting effect.  He finished off her treatment with an infusion of vitamin C (20%), zinc and silky caviar, via an oxygen spray gun to deliver the antioxidants to the dermis of the skin.  It provided her skin with a glow that was instantly noticeable.

We were told that for one to see optimal results, a patient should have at least six sessions, once every three weeks. This treatment is pain-free and requires no down time.

If one wants to defy nature and not let it take its course in the aging process, there’s modern technology to regain one’s youth and beauty. There is no reason to remain bald and old-looking. It’s a question of finances and the willingness to do them.

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Interested parties can go to www.mskinwellness.com, telephone number 703-1615 for Margaux Arambulo; and www.hairphil.com, telephone numbers 696-7567 and 502-0009.