Bosley

Yesterday, I got to visit the Washington D.C. Bosley office for the first time. For those who don't know, Bosley deals with hair restoration. What is that you ask. Hair restoration deals with restoring hair on men who are going bald for various reasons. There are different ways you can deal with balding. There are hair transplants which is the most expensive method. As far as I know, this can cost between $3,000 and $4,000. The reason for that is because you have to transplant a lot of hair to make a noticeable difference in the balding area. 5 or 6 strands of hair isn't going to make much of an impact. Another method is using Rogaine cream. Rogaine can cause new hair growth however, it isn't 100% effective in all men and, it requires to apply it to the area where you want the new hair twice a day. Yet another method is laser comb. Like Rogaine, it isn't 100% effective and, you have to use the comb every other day for at least 10 but no more than 20 minutes. I have 1 of these myself but because of the hassle of using it, I use it off and on. One advantage of the comb is it is a 1 time cost. You pay the $500 plus for it and, that's all you pay. If you take Rogaine, you have to keep getting new cans of it and correspondingly keep shelling out the bucks.

Back to Bosley. Before using Bosley, I used Medical Hair Restoration who I really liked. Sadly, Bosley bought them out. In order to get my Propecia prescription (it requires one) renewed, I needed to see one of their doctors. The doctor I met at Bosley was Dr. Peter Morse. He turned out to be a very nice, informed and helpful doctor. I found out from him how things work with name brand medications and generic with the Food and Drug Administration. By this, I mean he told me what kind of variance you can have with name brand vice generic. In the case of Propecia, if must not go over a 5% variance. If it's a generic of Propecia, it can vary as much as 15%! Obviously, that means you may not be getting the required dose. Worse still, with foreign generics, there isn't any way you can find out just how much of the actual drug you're getting if any at all. I confess I was wondering about that with the Fincom-1 (Indian Propecia generic) I've been taking. You don't want to find out the hard way i.e. your hair starts falling out. Because of our chat, I will be taking more of the name brand Propecia though I wish Merck sold the stuff for less. It isn't a cheap drug.

I was advised I was eligible for hair transplants but, I don't care to spend that much money right now. I did decide to get their hair treatment package. The package includes vitamins which are supposed to be particulary good for your hair, shampoo and conditioner that helps remove DHT (the male hormone that causes baldness) and Rogaine cream. I'm curious to see what if any difference taking these will make. We'll see. I'll post future observations on here after I've given them some time to work.

Overall, the Washington D.C. Bosley practice seemed very knowledgeable and professional. They have very nice offices in Chevy Chase, Maryland with a parking lot right next to their office. I stayed at the Bosley practice for over an hour and, it cost me $3 to park there. I think that charge covered 1 to 3 hours though I'm not 100% certain on that. Getting to their offices can be a bit of a pain as driving through Washington D.C. is never fun. Cheers all!

Medical Hair Restoration Clinic Closes

When I visited the Medical Hair Restoration clinic in Chevy Chase, Maryland this month, Dr. Varona said the clinic would be moving to new offices not far from their present location. It turns out that wasn't the actual situation. The company Medical Hair Restoration was bought by the company Aderans in 2007. Aderans also owns the company Bosley which also specializes in hair restoration. This year, Aderans decided to combine the 2 companies in order to get various efficiencies and streamline their operations. Example: instead of having a Medical Hair Restoration clinic and a Bosley clinic the Washington D.C. area, they would have just one clinic. Also, Aderan decided to go with the Bosley brand though I confess I never heard of that brand. I guess they thought it had better recognition. Anyway, all Medical Hair Restoration clinics will be closing the end of this month and, their patients will be moved to the closest Bosley clinics. I'm saddened that the Medical Hair Restoration clinics will be closing as I've been very pleased with them. I know nothing of the Bosley clinics though I'll find out next year at the latest when I have to get my Propecia prescription renewed. That's when I will meet my new doctor Dr. Peter Morse. I may take a trip to the Bosley clinic later this year to get some of their shampoo which supposedly helps remove DHT. DHT is the hormone that causes hair loss. The shampoo might be helpful plus, I'd like to see their offices so I know where to get my prescription renewed. We'll see. That's all for this update.

Prescription Renewal

This past Monday, I made me yearly trip to the Medical Hair Restoration Clinic in Chevy Chase, Maryland. I needed to see Dr. Jonathon Ballon to get my Propecia prescription renewed. Propecia is a hormonal drug which blocks a certain male hormone that affects the hair follicles on men's heads. By blocking the release of a certain hormone (I don't remember its name), the hair follicles stay active and, men taking the drug are able to stop going bald as in my case. According to the folks at the clinic, the drug is 90% effective of those who take it. The drug does have one potential bad side effect in that in 1 of 250 cases, the man taking the drug will lose the ability to perform sexually. However, if that happens, I think you can take another drug (Viagra?) for that.

Anyway, I called the clinic for an appointment and found out Dr. Ballon is no longer with Medical Hair Restoration. I don't know why he left though I was saddened to hear he did. He was a very nice doctor and easy to work with. Dr. Christopher Varona has taken over for him at the clinic. Dr. Varona was kind enough to fit me into his schedule. My appointment was at 2 p.m. though I showed up early. I left early to make sure I made my appointment. I wasn't sure how long it would take me to reach the clinic. You can never be too sure about traffic in Washington D.C. and its outskirts. I played it safe and arrived early.

Dr. Varona reviewed my medical file and could see the Propecia was working. As I still have too much hair to need transplants (thankfully considering what that costs), all I needed was to take Propecia. He wrote me a new prescription and gave me 2 weeks worth of free samples which was really nice of him (it saved me $42). As he wasn't going to make any money off my visit, I bought some of the hair vitamins the clinic sells so I could repay him for seeing me. According to Dr. Varona, the REVVup supplement WON'T cause new hair growth but, it WILL make the hair you have healthier. We'll see. The clinic was offering a special where the vitamins were a 1/3 off which was nice.

Dr. Varona informed me that the clinic would be moving from its current location 5454 Wisconsin Avenue to a new location close by. He didn't tell me why they were moving. As long as my Garmin GPS can find the new location, I wasn't concerned. My GPS was real handy in finding the clinic.

So, I'm set for another year as far as Propecia is concerned. I found Dr. Varona very nice and look forward to meeting him again next year. That's all for this post. Cheers all!

Laser Comb

I used the laser comb I bought Tuesday for the first time yesterday. It was interesting using the thing. You have ensure the laser light hits your scalp and you have to give it enough time to have some effect. The operating instructions state you are the make sure the teeth in the comb touch the scalp. You also brush against the hair so the light will reach the scalp. In order for the light to have enough time to do any good, the comb has a timer. It beeps every 4 seconds telling you to move the comb 1/2 inch. You'll work through your hair front to back and right to left in an imaginery grid. By working the grid, you hit every spot on the top of your head. Once you've completed the grid, you start all over again. You keeping combing for between 10 and 15 minutes. If you do it any longer than 15 minutes, it doesn't do any additional good. I used the stop watch on my watch so I could time myself as far as the overall time. The whole procedure is a bit tedious but, if it helps me grow new hair, I'll be happy. Supposedly, if the comb works, I'll see some kind of results in a couple weeks. I'll report on if I see any results or not.

Dr. Ballon

I got to see Dr. Jonathan Ballon today. He's the hair restoration surgeon at Medical Hair Restoration's Bethesda office in Washington D.C. I had to see him to get my Propecia prescription renewed. The prescription is only good for 1 year. I don't know why it doesn't stay good longer. Also, I wanted to buy a laser comb from him. His office treated me really well my previous visit and I was grateful. I know I'm not one of their usual high profile clients.

In regards to the laser comb, I found out that you must use it 3 non-consecutive days for 10 to 15 minutes each time every week. You have to have the teeth of the comb touch your scalp so the laser reaches your scalp. If the laser doesn't reach your scalp, it won't work. As I understand it, what the laser does is break up the male hormone DHT in the scalp. The less DHT you have in your scalp, the more hair you'll have. Using the comb more than 3 days won't have any increased effect according to Dr. Ballon. As I previously blogged, the comb is supposedly between 30% and 90% effective. I guess they haven't been able to come up with a definite percentage like they have with Propecia. Dr. Ballon showed me one example where the comb did work. It did make a very noticeable difference. We'll see how it does on my head. Cost wise, the comb cost me $577. The comb will reportedly last for 15 years.

Concerning Propecia, I have found this drug to work. According to the folks at Dr. Ballon's office, Propecia is 90% effective in stopping any further hair loss. However, it won't cause any NEW hair growth. Propecia is also EXPENSIVE. A 3 month supply of it costs me $178.37 at Costco. According to Dr. Ballon, Merck & Co. is offering a $25 rebate for those who get a 90 day supply of the drug. According to the Merck website, the $25 rebate will be good till June 30, 2008. I hope they continue it after that.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Women and children are prohibited from taking Propecia and pregnant women should avoid all contact with Propecia as it supposedly can be absorbed through the skin.