YOU were once young. Now you’ve grown a bit older, but you’re still okay. That’s what you keep telling yourself, but you’re aging. What’s the worst thing that can happen to you?

Men in their 30s can start to lose their hair. Bald spots may appear. Thinning patches are unsightly. The women in your lives may complain. It’s downright obvious. You are starting to lose the look of virility. You have male pattern baldness. Or you may have been born with a naturally high forehead. It may be a sign of genius, but you don’t need to be a genius. All you need is improvement.

Solving your beyond bald fears

SOME years ago, television came out with the story that  symmetric faces are beautiful. Symmetry was defined when both sides of the face are equal. To check, draw a vertical line down the middle of the face and see whether the left side mirrors the right. It was found that supermodel Christy Turlington has the most symmetrical face.

Years afterward, another concept was added; symmetry wasn’t enough.  Harmony was needed. Dr. Stephen R. Marquardt theorized that a general pattern of facial proportions exist to define “universal” beauty. This may be graphed upon a “beauty mask.”

But for another (and simpler) definition, without the use of arcane paraphernalia such as a mask, turn to the study of classical proportions—concepts in use since art studies began.

Solution by planting

IN this paradigm, forehead height must be equal to the height of the space between the eyebrows to the tip of the nose. In turn, this measurement  must be equal to the space from the tip of the nose to the tip of the chin. This is the law of facial thirds, also a technique in art class. If a forehead goes beyond the heights, it is a high forehead. Vanity demands construction. Although all types of beauty are appreciated, some types of beauty may be better than most. A solution is the hair transplant (HT).

Not limited to the balding head, an HT may be done almost anywhere on the skin. To do a procedure years ago, we contacted the clinic of Dr. Danilo Arsenio “Archie” R. Lumibao, an HT specialist trained in Los Angeles and Brussels. In our case, he filled the uneven spots that ruined an otherwise full goatee. Dr. Lumibao has done HTs on Hollywood celebs and rock stars.

The procedure

AFTER the preop consultation, the patient is scheduled for surgery and returns to the clinic. The patient’s donor area is given small shots of buffered local anesthetic to numb the area. A second round of long-acting local anesthetic with adrenaline is injected to lessen bleeding. A strip of flesh is harvested by scalpel 2 to 3 inches above the back hairline. Hair found at the occipital protuberance rarely fades in time.

This strip of flesh includes skin, hair follicles and fat. The grafts are dissected and kept in isotonic saline solution in a petri dish. This is placed atop ice to lower the solution’s temperature, allowing the grafts to live up to 24 hours outside the body. Cool temperature keeps the grafts alive by slowing down tissue metabolism.  The doctor closes the donor area using sutures which are removed after a fortnight. Due to the excision, a slight neck lift may be observed, pulling the jawline to prominence. This is one of the byproducts of a hair transplant: you get a free neck lift.

Meanwhile, local anesthetic is injected in the recipient area. Sites for the grafts are then made with a large bore hypodermic needle from the hairline up to the top or where grafts are needed, i.e., to close a goatee, etc., following the angle of naturally occurring hair. The holes replicate the random pattern of follicle growth. In the case of a balding head, a new hairline is produced, creating a mildly jagged outline on the forehead. If the hairline is stylized, it may look unnatural. Now comes the interesting part.

Grafts are inserted one by one via jeweler’s forceps in the sites made by the needle. It takes as much as 6 seconds to insert a graft. Inserting 500 grafts would take seven hours to complete. The slow process of healing starts. In two weeks, the transplants are expected to fully graft themselves in the new locations. Hair begins to grow and lengthen naturally in three to four months.

Aftercare

THE procedure demands no aftercare. The patient enjoys a full head of hair, a goatee, or even corrected eye brows, although a second HT may be desired to cover random patches that may have died out. Medical literature claims that as much as 20 percent of grafts may disappear due to physical tampering or stress. Another session may also be needed to create fullness.

Said Dr. Lumibao in a recent interview: “The procedure benefits the patient aesthetically. HTs are the most common type of plastic surgery performed on men.”

A recent US survey found that such procedures increased in number in North America by as much as 2 percent in 2010, a record year. “Men are starting to take care of their looks even in the Philippines. This bodes well for the quality of their lives.”

Lumibao noted that 90 percent of his clients are men who are stationed abroad, but visit the country for the procedure, owing to lower local costs. He also counted an increasing number of balikbayan and overseas workers who have opted for transplants.

Dr. Lumibao calls Baguio City his home, but maintains a clinic he visits weekly in front of the ABS-CBN compound in Quezon City. According to company literature, Lumibao received the Asian Achievers Award and the Global Excellence Award for Outstanding Hair Restoration Specialist of 2009.