Touchy.
Moving on, this is a comment by Dr Taleb Barghouthi, who I personally don't know, regarding Dr Zarev:
1. I strongly believe that hair restoration- just like hair loss is a dynamic process. Therefore, Restoration should in most cases be seen on a patient by patient basis. It is important to start off with the safest region first, extract a decent number that will greatly fulfil expectations . These patients are then followed up and if the donor pattern is leaning towards a less aggressive pattern, then that donor area extraction can be extended gradually if no significant miniaturization is seen on dermoscopy. I’m not in line with utilizing the entire donor limits from the first go unless the final pattern is clearly reached.
2. Vaccum assisted extraction adds further stress on the follicles. It is hard to judge the effect of vaccum on drying up grafts. Remember that dryness is more significant than partial transection when it comes to survival.
3. I have numerous patients who have had surgeries in clinics that claim new and secret techniques. One of them is a clinic that claims only partial extraction of the follicles to preserve your donor. Unfortunately they end up having 2-3 procedures before noticing any significant growth in the recipient area. When we do one session for them after that, they realize how different their results are and the huge improvement they get after only one proper transplant.
4. I am on the members selection committee of the ISHRS. I therefore go through the new applications. According to the ISHRS guidelines, naming new techniques that are not backed by evidence for the sake of marketing is a questionable thing and can lead to a member being refused membership or even for an existing member to be asked to provide further explanations about this technique.
I think Dr. Zarev stirred the pot with his pictures, so there will be a reaction in the whole hair transplant community.
