Hair Transplantation

Dr. Vlad Ratushny is a Harvard-trained board-certified dermatologist and hair transplant surgeon. Dr. Ratushny completed his dermatology residency at the Harvard Combined Dermatology Program/Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Ratushny was trained in the most up-to-date methodologies in hair restoration surgery including follicular unit transplantation (FUT, also known as strip excision) and follicular unit extraction (FUE). Dr. Ratushny worked directly with multiple renowned hair restoration surgeons to hone his surgical techniques. Dr. Ratushny had the privilege to be mentored by a highly respected hair restoration surgeon and former President of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery, Dr. Jerry Cooley. Dr. Cooley worked closely with Dr. Ratushny to set up the hair restoration practice at Massachusetts Dermatology Associates to be up to the highest standards.  To learn more about Dr. Ratushny’s credentials in hair transplantation, click here.

Dr. Ratushny’s approach to hair loss begins with understanding the patient’s own goals and vision for correction of their hair loss and then adjusting the treatment regimen to be aligned with the patient’s goal. Given his dual training as a dermatologist and hair restoration surgeon, Dr. Ratushny is comfortable using a multi-modality approach of both medical and surgical solutions for hair loss.   His approach to treating patients at the MassDerm Hair Transplant Institute is further elucidated here.

Strip excision (AKA Follicular Unit Transplantation/FUT) is the gold standard technique which allows moving the greatest number of follicles from the permanent donor zone in the back of the scalp to the recipient sites at the front of the scalp. Under local anesthesia, Dr. Ratushny carefully removes a strip of hair-bearing skin from the back of the scalp and then sutures the surrounding skin edges together under minimal tension to avoid leaving a very noticeable scar. Dr. Ratushny’s team of trained technicians then separate the hairs into individual follicular units made up of 1 to 4 hair grafts under a microscope. Dr. Ratushny then creates hundreds of recipient sites (where the hairs will be transplanted to) among the patient’s existing hairs. Once the hair grafts are ready, Dr. Ratushny and his team use specialized forceps to gently insert them into recipient sites one graft at a time. The body’s clotting factors act as a glue to hold the grafts in place. The surgery is finished after the last graft is put in place and the patient leaves with a hat to cover and protect the transplanted hairs. Patients that choose this methodology may have a donor scar in the back of the scalp after this procedure. Typically, it is very narrow and well-concealed by overlying hair. However, in the event that the patient closely shaves his head, the scar may be visible.  To learn more about the two modern approaches to hair transplantation, visit the MassDerm Hair Transplant Institute by clicking here.

Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) involves individually harvesting follicular units (made up of 1 to 4 hairs) from the occipital permanent zone. Dr. Ratushny uses the best-in-class WAW FUE system to perform his FUE surgeries. Similar to the strip excision, Dr. Ratushny does his FUE cases under local anesthesia. After harvesting all the follicular units, Dr. Ratushny creates hundreds of recipient sites (where the hairs will be transplanted to) among the patient’s existing hairs. Dr. Ratushny and his team use specialized forceps to gently insert them into recipient sites one graft at a time. The body’s clotting factors act as a glue to hold the grafts in place. The surgery is finished after the last graft is put in place and the patient leaves with a hat to cover and protect the transplanted hairs. This is an excellent technique for patients who want to wear their hair shaved or cropped very short. The main advantage of this technique is that it doesn’t result in a strip scar. Instead, patients may have small white dots where the hair was harvested in the back of the scalp. These are typically not very noticeable. Certain patients may require repeat transplants and may have both methodologies (strip excision and FUE) used to help them achieve their hair restoration goals.   You can learn more about hair restoration with FUE and FUT at the MassDerm Hair Transplant Institute.

Most patients tolerate hair restoration very well without any major side effects.
Patients that choose strip excision (follicular unit transfer/FUT) may have a donor scar in the back of the scalp after this procedure. Typically, it is very narrow and well-concealed by overlying hair. However, in the event that the patient closely shaves his head, the scar may be visible. Patients that choose follicular unit extraction (FUE) may have small white dots where the hair was harvested in the back of the scalp, but these are not noticeable in most cases. Potential complications of hair transplantation including forehead swelling, bleeding, infection, scarring around the grafts, anagen effluvium (temporary hairloss around the transplanted hairs), occasional small ingrown hairs causing a cyst. Rare complications of hair transplantation include keloid formation in the donor area, failure of growth of transplanted hairs, severe noticeable scarring in donor area, keloid formation in the donor area, permanent numbness in the scalp.