While state of the art hair transplant surgery can be an undeniably, positive life changing experience for those who make the the right choices, today’s hair transplant patients face more difficulty choosing a qualified practice than in any other time in history. IAHRS accepted member, Boca Raton hair transplant surgeon, Alan J. Bauman, M.D. drops by the studio to discuss the frightening state of today’s hair transplant field and provides his insights on how patients safely navigate this treacherous field.

Spencer Kobren: The good news is there's a lot of good information out there online, but people have to find it.

Alan Bauman, MD: Sure.

Spencer Kobren: There is so much noise out there that I think it can be difficult to find.

Alan Bauman, MD: To navigate, yeah.

Spencer Kobren: Absolutely.

Alan Bauman, MD: Look, the IAHRS and The Bald Truth, those are primary sources for patients to go and look at so they can see who's been vetted, who's actually out there doing quality work and it's more important now than ever.

Spencer Kobren: Well, it's interesting that you say that because I was having a conversation yesterday, I went to dinner with a couple of well-known hair transplant surgeons, and they were saying how that while I founded the IHRS 18 years ago and it was necessary 18 years ago, now it is more valuable and more important to their practices and to consumers than ever before.

Spencer Kobren: We were making a lot of progress for years. We got to a logical endpoint, I felt, where there was consistently great work being done. Then all of the sudden the new industry exploded. I guess the message, and the takeaway that I want from at least this segment is people to know if you do your research, yeah, you're going to see a lot of bad stuff out there. You're going to see a lot of people who were in bad shape, they made the wrong decisions because they didn't choose to research.

Spencer Kobren: But if you do your research, there are guys like Joe Tillman walking around with incredible hair transplants and you can be one of those people.

Alan Bauman, MD: Absolutely right, absolutely right. The great work can be done, so a surgeon who is diligent and disciplined in the technology, but also has that artistic side, that's where the patient's going to get their best results. You have the great technology, less invasive, so the procedure is not uncomfortable. You have a quick recovery time. Those grafts are taken care of while they're outside of the body.

Alan Bauman, MD: You have a surgeon who's going to do the design, hairline or swirl, wherever the area needs to be in terms of restoration and everything gets executed from the way that the process is started and photographed to the planning and the design to the harvesting of the grafts, the sight making which is so critical. When I make the angle, the orientation, the position of those sights, I'm using every bit of creative energy and concentration to make sure that it looks 100% right.

Alan Bauman, MD: Then orchestrating, obviously, the implantation of those grafts. Then, after that, it's the follow up. Making sure that the surgeon is available. I'm there for every patient, every follow up, every time.