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Cosmetic Surgery and the Modern Man

Background

Although men do not face the same hormonal changes with aging that women do, the male biological clock still ticks, and over time changes in a man’s appearance can lead to a negative self-image, which can take a toll on mental and physical health. Today, men are turning to cosmetic surgery in an effort to help break the cycle of interaction between appearance and negative self-image. Because of this emerging trend, more male patients will be asking their trusted primary care providers for advice in navigating the potentially treacherous world of cosmetic surgery.
Whether in the public eye or leading a more private life, many men put forth energy, effort, and income to maintain a healthy, youthful appearance. Increasing access to more affordable, innovative, and less invasive forms of cosmetic surgery has resulted in more men turning to cosmetic procedures in an effort to look and feel younger. In fact, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons 2010 Report of Plastic Surgery Statistics indicates that of the 12.6 million plastic surgery procedures conducted annually, over 1.1 million were performed on men — a dramatic increase from the 225,009 procedures performed on men in 2000. Demonstrating their cost-effectiveness in these challenging economic times, minimally invasive procedures, such as botulinum toxin injections (Botox) and fillers, were up more than 9% from the prior year in 2010-2011. The more costly operative procedures that men undergo in large numbers include robotic hair transplants, nose reshaping (rhinoplasty), liposuction, cosmetic eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty), and facelifts, as well as surgery to correct male breast enlargement (mastopexy).
The ideal cosmetic plan maintains a life-stage balance of facial and body appearance that allows one to look their best throughout adult life. At earlier stages in life, avoiding excessive sun exposure, toxins from smoking, and recreational drug use will help to stall the progression of environmentally related aging changes. Later, avoiding significant weight fluctuation minimizes the development of loose or flabby skin. Body issues unrelated to such lifestyle factors as diet and exercise are best addressed once bone and soft tissues have reached maturity. For some, a time may come when surgery is considered for body issues unrelated to lifestyle, and plastic surgery may be the best option to help maintain a healthy self-image.
When selecting a plastic surgeon, patients should be sure to consider expertise and board certification. It is important to do the research and be patient with the selection process, because it can take some time. Patients should consider the procedure carefully and discuss with the surgeon whether a procedure is the right step to help meet their goals; this is an important part of the process because cosmetic surgery is not the answer for everyone. Patients should consult with their physician so that they can ask the correct questions in order to move forward appropriately.
A plastic surgeon will help identify patients whose body image goals and objectives may not be met with an operation alone. Postponing surgery with referral to a nutritionist, exercise trainer, or internist may be the appropriate outcome of the initial consultation. For surgery that is entirely elective, all patients should be close to their ideal health before having an operative procedure. If lifestyle choices and habits are not addressed preoperatively, the results of most cosmetic surgeries will be transient and therefore ultimately not worthwhile.
The following is a guide to help men look and feel their best throughout the lifespan.

Men in Their 30s

A man’s circulating testosterone level begins to decrease after age 30 years, with loss of lean muscle mass averaging 1% a year. Because of this, the most important thing a man can do to keep himself looking youthful is to continue building and maintaining his muscle mass. A regular program of cardiovascular fitness paired with weight training is essential to mitigate the natural aging process of decreased muscle mass. Proper hydration and attention to rest and diet are reflected in a healthier, more youthful appearance.
At this stage, age-maintenance procedures that are less invasive and are cost-effective can deliver results that look far more natural than other, more radical surgical choices. Skin care, sun avoidance, and proper use of sunblock are also crucial at this and every life stage.

Men in Their 40s

The use of botulinum toxin injection (Botox) and fillers has become much more common among men in their 40s and 50s, who are beginning to deal with the loss of facial skin elasticity. Because a man’s face has a more robust blood supply than a woman’s face, surgeons performing any personal enhancement treatments on the face must consider such factors as the depth of skin peeling, energy levels for light base treatments, and frequency of past use of topical medications.
The most common aesthetic procedure for men in this age group involves rejuvenation around the eyes. Blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery), when done well, can help revitalize a man’s face in a discreet manner, without announcing to the world that a cosmetic procedure was performed.

Men in Their 50s and Beyond

Men in this age group will typically experience increasing skin accumulation along the jawline and the neck; this is often referred to as “jowls.” Traditional approaches for face and neck lifts do not work particularly well on men because the scars cannot be hidden under the hairline, as with women. To avoid the problems caused by hairline alteration, an alternative operation to a traditional face and neck lift is performed: Using a geometric incision pattern to remove the excess neck skin hides the scar in the area between the bottom of the chin and the Adam’s apple. The presence of hair follicles in the beard also helps camouflage the scar.

Regardless of age, encourage your patients to take a planned, realistic, and conservative approach to achieving their ideal body image. Less favorable cosmetic surgery outcomes among men, such as those seen in Bruce Jenner, Mickey Rourke, and Burt Reynolds, can and should be avoided with the guidance and support of surgeons who demonstrate a clear understanding of what cosmetic surgery options are available, along with knowledge of overarching health concerns.
At the office of Dr. Mark Bishara and The Paragon Plastic Surgery & Med Spa, we provide a wide range of cosmetic procedures to help patients look and feel their best. These procedures are designed to improve the appearance of the face and body through minimally invasive techniques that provide highly effective results. Many of these procedures can be combined in order to achieve your desired appearance.  Please call our office to find out more about us at (817) 473-2120 or visit our website at www.MarkBisharaMD.com.

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Hair Transplants Over the Years

Background

From the 1960s into the mid 1990s, transplanted hair appeared unnatural because surgeons used unnaturally large-appearing hair grafts consisting of 10-25 hairs each. That era is over. Hair naturally grows in 1-4 hair follicular groupings. In the early 1990s, surgeons began switching from using unnatural-appearing hair “plugs” (10-25 hairs) to using consistently natural-appearing hair follicular groupings (1-4 hairs). In current practice, all women and men should expect consistently natural-appearing transplanted hair.
Follicular unit transplantation is the standard surgical technique to treat male- and female-pattern hair loss. Follicular unit transplantation is also used to correct unnatural-appearing plug-like transplants, repair eyebrows, and redistribute hair in persons with inactive scarring alopecias.

The ARTAS System

For the very latest technology in hair restoration, Dr. Mark Bishara is now using the FDA approved ARTAS System. This interactive, computer assisted equipment employs image guidance to enhance the quality of hair follicle harvesting. ARTAS is the first hair transplant robot to improve the most challenging aspects of Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE).

Frequency

Male-pattern hair loss affects approximately 50% of all men, and female-pattern hair loss affects approximately 30-40% of all women. The rate of loss and extent of loss vary from patient to patient.
Follicular Unit Transplants (FUT) is designed to produce effective results with minimal downtime and no damage to surrounding hair follicles. Dr. Bishara is highly experienced in performing all of these procedures, and will help you determine which one is right for you in order to achieve the best possible results.  Please call our office to schedule a consultation appointment with Dr. Bishara at (817) 473-2120 or visit our website to learn more at www.MarkBisharaMD.com.

 

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Hair Restoration- For Men and Women

What is Hair Restoration?

Hair restoration includes the surgical and non-surgical methods used to counteract or slow symptoms of hair loss in men and women. Methods may be used individually or in combination to produce the desired results depending on a person’s needs. Finding the right hair restoration solution can be difficult. It’s an important decision that can improve your life in unimaginable ways. But one size does not fit all types of hair loss.

For Men

Getting straight answers about hair loss treatments for men can be almost as frustrating as losing your hair.
Some guys are great candidates for hair transplant surgery, others prefer the lifestyle advantages of the hair replacement process, and some simply want to prevent their existing hair from thinning any further. No matter what kind of hair loss you have, it’s an ongoing process that changes over time.
Dr. Mark Bishara’s office offers a variety of treatment options, including non-surgical and surgical.

For Women

Millions of women suffer from hair loss, more than 30 million in the U.S. alone. And while most treatments available today seem to be designed with men in mind, the good news is that there are safe, proven treatments designed especially for women.
Women’s hair–and women’s experiences with hair loss–are very different. That’s why Dr. Bishara will first assess why you are having hair loss and what option we can do to help you.

Hair Restoration Options:

PROPECIA®

PROPECIA® is available by prescription from Dr. Mark Bishara and is a once-a-day pill developed to treat mild to moderate male pattern hair loss, a hereditary condition that causes receding hairlines, thinning and/or balding on the top and front of the scalp. This product is proven effective for treating hair loss in MEN ONLY.

Low Level Laser Technology (LLLT)

The low- level laser therapy treatment is also known as “The Cold Laser”. The laser light generated by low-powered (cold) lasers has recently come into use as a non-surgical hair restoration treatment for patten hair loss.
The LaserCap® using Low Level Laser Technology (LLLT) can help men and women of all ages who suffer from hair loss by emitting pulses of laser light energy to the scalp to stimulate the hair follicles and improve blood circulation in the area, encouraging hair growth once again.

Robotic Hair Transplants- The ARTAS System

Dr. Bishara uses the ARTAS System, which is an interactive, computer assisted equipment employs image guidance to enhance the quality of hair follicle harvesting. Performed in both of Dr. Bishara’s offices (Mansfield & Southlake), FUE robotic hair transplant moves healthy, functioning follicles to the areas of the patient’s scalp most impacted by baldness. The implanted hairs develop their own blood supply, begin to grow and new hairs are seen a few months after the procedure has taken place. New hair continues to grow over the course of a full year, making the change in the patient’s appearance gradually noticeable to others. Healing time is short, and there is no resultant linear scar as happens with other methods of hair restoration, because there is no incision.   This procedure is done on men and women.

Hair loss is a condition that occurs as a result of a side-effect of medication, aging, genetics, and traumatic injury to the scalp with scarring. Hair loss affects both men and women of all ages. This condition may cause pattern baldness, patchy spots or thinned hair.
Dr. Mark Bishara is proud to offer a wide range of comprehensive hair restoration procedures. Combined with his extensive experience and advanced skills, these procedures are often highly effective. The best treatment option for each patient depends on the location, cause, and extent of hair loss. Dr. Bishara will take the time to evaluate each patient, discuss his/her individual goals and together develop a personalized treatment plan using one of his many successful hair loss treatment options.  Please contact our office at (817) 473-2120 for further information or visit our website at www.MarkBisharaMD.com.
 

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Hair Replacement- The Next Generation


Today’s options for hair growth have gone through a major evolution since 1952 when hair transplantation surgery was first pioneered.
Hair transplant surgery has changed completely — from large to small grafts. The large-graft technique used to be state-of-the-art back then. Treatments have shifted from unnatural-looking transplants to sophisticated new drugs and improvements in hair transplant surgery, like Robotic Hair Transplants- to the future of cloning individual hair cells. The future of hair restoration looks even brighter than the present.
According to estimates form the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 40 million men and 20 million women experience hair loss.
To perform a hair transplant, Dr. Mark Bishara obtain skin grafts with hair follicles from places on the scalp that are still growing hair (typically the back or side of the head) and transplant them into the balding areas where it will continue to grow. Today, surgeons use smaller grafts which contain anywhere from one to five hair follicles per graft; this helps give the scalp a more natural appearance. By contrast the larger grafts had 15-20 hair follicles; they looked artificial with the appearance of rows of hairs. These are known as hair plugs.

For the very latest technology in hair restoration, Dr. Bishara is now using the ARTAS System.This physician-controlled, state-of-the-art system enables the harvesting of hair follicles during hair restoration procedures. It offers numerous beneficial features, including an image-guided robotic arm, special imaging technologies, small dermal punches and a computer interface. The ARTAS System is capable of identifying and harvesting individual follicular units to implement the FUE technique. The device, guided by cameras and 3-D imaging software, can perform the dissection of hair follicles individually at a rate of up to 1,000 per hour.
FUE offers less discomfort and a faster return to normal daily activities than traditional, more invasive methods of hair restoration. Performed in Dr. Bishara’s office, FUE with ARTAS moves healthy, functioning follicles to the areas of the patient’s scalp most impacted by baldness for more dramatic results. The implanted hairs develop their own blood supply, begin to grow and new hairs are seen a few months after the procedure has taken place. New hair continues to grow over the course of a full year, making the change in the patient’s appearance gradually noticeable to others. Healing time is short, and there is no resultant linear scar as happens with other methods of hair restoration. The only evidence is tiny, white scars left in the donor area, which are the same as those produced by manual FUE.
In the case of hair transplantation, going from large grafts of hair to small grafts was what made this procedure so much more natural and because of this, more people doing better transplants today.

The Evolution Continues

Hair transplantations have continued to evolve into smaller and smaller grafts and the next step will be to add a cell-based transplant where you can inject hair seeds into the balding area that can grow into a brand new follicle (cloning). Within five years, we should be able to augment and add this to the follicle-based transplant. Cloning has certainly become possible in other areas, so it is very possible that there will come a time when hair can be cloned. If hair cloning can work that would give us the best ability to restore hair. It would deliver the best results, physically and cosmetically.
Dr. Mark Bishara is proud to offer a wide range of comprehensive hair restoration procedures. Combined with his extensive experience and advanced skills, these procedures are often highly effective. The best treatment option for each patient depends on the location and extent of hair loss. Dr. Bishara will take the time to evaluate each patient, discuss his/her individual goals and together develop a personalized treatment plan using one of his many successful hair loss treatment options.  Please call our office at (817) 473-2120 or visit our website for more information at www.MarkBisharaMD.com.
 

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What Happens When My Hair Surgery Leaves an Unsightly Scar?

If you have previously undergone a hair transplant and are unsatisfied with your results, we can help you achieve the results you had hoped for through hair restoration revision surgery with the ARTAS System. Unsuccessful, unfavorable outcomes from hair transplant surgery often occur because of technical errors, poor planning on the part of the doctor, and unforeseeable complications.  For the very latest technology in hair restoration, Dr. Mark Bishara is now using the ARTAS System. This interactive, computer assisted equipment employs image guidance to enhance the quality of hair follicle harvesting. ARTAS is the first hair transplant robot to improve the most challenging aspects of Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE).

Technical Errors and Complications

If your scalp has a plugged, tightened, cobblestone, or ridged appearance, we can dramatically improve your results using the ARTAS system. Technical errors generally occur when a specialist uses sub-standard transplantation techniques. When hair follicles are placed at incorrect angles or inappropriate depths, the newly transplanted hair will grow in the wrong directions and each transplant will look unnatural and pitted.

Poor Doctor Planning

In some cases, an underqualified, inexperienced doctor can be to blame for an unsatisfying result following hair loss surgery. If your surgeon isn’t properly prepared for surgery, not only can he or she damage your healthy hair follicles, but he or she can prematurely deplete your supply of available, transplantable donor hair prior to the completion of treatment. Planning of the positioning of the hairline using donor hair is a precautionary step that must be carefully performed at the beginning of the surgical process. During this stage, your doctor should anticipate future hair loss and allocate available hair follicles to be placed in the appropriate areas.

Benefits of Hair Restoration Revision Surgery

During hair restoration revision surgery, we can:

  • Improve the aesthetic of your scalp, hairline, and hair
  • Improve botched hair
  • Conceal scaring that was a result of a former surgery
  • Create a single linear scar that masks multiple incisions that were previously made during your former surgery
  • Extract existing follicles that were miss-placed by your former surgeon
  • Implant new, healthy hair follicles
  • Alleviate the discomfort of a tightened scalp and scar tissue

This physician-controlled, state-of-the-art ARTAS system enables the harvesting of hair follicles during hair restoration procedures. It offers numerous beneficial features, including an image-guided robotic arm, special imaging technologies, small dermal punches and a computer interface. The ARTAS System is capable of identifying and harvesting individual follicular units to implement the FUE technique. The device, guided by cameras and 3-D imaging software, can perform the dissection of hair follicles individually at a rate of up to 1,000 per hour.  We have an ARTAS robot in each of our offices in Mansfield and Southlake.  The procedure is done in office and requires no downtime- most patients are back to work the next day.

Contact Dr. Mark Bishara’s Office for Hair Restoration

We ensure you will have a quality, satisfying experience when you receive treatment. Whether you are in need of hair restoration revision surgery or subsequent restoration procedures, our team is here to help you achieve the results you are looking for and natural hair your want. Don’t let an unsatisfying outcome keep you from looking and feeling your best. Contact us today at (817) 473-2120!
www.MarkBisharaMD.com
 

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