category

Dr. Alan Bauman - On Reversing Hair Loss, The Art Of Hair Transplants, The Scalp Microbiome, Hairloss Causes, Androgens, Transplant Technologies, Hair Span and More

The Longevity & Lifestyle podcast

The Longevity & Lifestyle podcast

The Longevity & Lifestyle podcast

Episode 107

By signing up, you agree to join the Longevity & Lifestyle newsletter and to receive emails. We respect your privacy and abide by strict privacy policies.

Join
The L&L INSIDER

to receive insights, tips, invitations, and tools from Claudia:

Ready to Make Your Dreams Happen?

I'm cLAUDIA!

hello,

tell me more

Performance coach, detail-loving educator, big-thinking entrepreneur, podcaster, mama, passionate adventurer, and health optimization activist here to help people transform their lives, and reach their highest potential! All rolled into one.

"There's a lot of intricacies that go into the process and the problem solving and the puzzle working and the artistry. That's all part of what I do in conjunction with my team." - Dr. Alan J. Bauman, MD, Hair Transplant Surgeon, ABHRS, IAHRS, FISHRS, Founder, CEO & Medical Director of Bauman Medical

My guest today is Dr. Alan Bauman, Alan is a surgeon and has been a board-certified hair restoration specialist since 1997. Dr. Bauman has performed over 12,000 hair transplant procedures to date. He has an artistic approach to protecting and restoring the hair and scalp and has successfully treated over 33,000 patients in preserving their hair.

Dr. Bauman was voted “#1 Top Hair Restoration Surgeon” in North America by Aesthetic Everything for the 7th consecutive year, “Top Hair Restoration Surgeon of the Decade”, and received the 2022 “Lifetime Achievement Award in Hair Restoration”. He was also recognized by Forbes as one of the “10 CEOs Transforming Healthcare in America.”

In this episode we dig into:
  • Why hair is so important and the impact it has on our self-confidence
  • The microbiome of our scalp and what happens when it's disrupted
  • Alan’s pioneering methods and the technologies that he uses specifically around hair transplants 
  • Recovery after a hair transplant 
  • And much more!

Please enjoy!





ABOUT THE EPISODE & OUR GUEST

Powered by RedCircle

APPLE PODCASTS

SPOTIFY

Listen on

Listen on

Show Notes 

(1:24) Dr. Bauman tells us why hair is so important and the impact it has on our self confidence
(2:43) Dr. Bauman talks about the microbiome of our scalp and what happens when its disrupted
(4:22) Dr. Bauman tells us what causes hairloss, alopecia and common types of hair loss. 
(5:56) Treating adrogens at the source, DHT and testosterone
(7:49) How Alan became a hair surgeon 
(11:20) Alan shares his pioneering methods and the technologies that he uses specifically around hair transplants
(15:09) How do you know youre the right candidate for a heir transplant
(17:44) What does recovery look like after a hair transplant 
(19:05) Alan explains the feeling of the payoff after a successful transplant 
(21:10) Alan explains the limitations to getting a surgery 
(24:04) Alan talks about the exciting and new technologies in hair surgery 
(26:07) Alan shares some helpful resources including his website where you can get the best and latest hair and tech news including his final message


MORE GREAT QUOTES 

“Our genes determine our hair loss destiny, at least, to a large part.” - Dr. Alan J. Bauman, MD, Hair Transplant Surgeon, ABHRS, IAHRS, FISHRS, Founder, CEO & Medical Director of Bauman Medical

“The microbiome is an amazing new field of study for sure. We know so much about the microbiome when it comes to our gut and its impact on inflammation and all these little organisms that live symbiotically with us. It's so important and we're learning more and more about what's going on in the microbiome of the skin and how it helps protect us from infection and disease and dysregulation. There's a microbiome on the scalp and when this microbiome gets disrupted, all kinds of scalp health issues can occur. And sometimes those issues can exacerbate hair loss. It’s a nuance that most, physicians aren't even aware of yet, and of course, most consumers are not yet aware of it.” - Dr. Alan J. Bauman, MD, Hair Transplant Surgeon, ABHRS, IAHRS, FISHRS, Founder, CEO & Medical Director of Bauman Medical

“Scalp health is really important here at Bauman Medical. I have an entire department that's geared towards the health and wellness of your scalp and the beauty of hair. So, beyond what we do for hair growth, we want to keep that scalp healthy. That's like the soil in the garden, if you will.” - Dr. Alan J. Bauman, MD, Hair Transplant Surgeon, ABHRS, IAHRS, FISHRS, Founder, CEO & Medical Director of Bauman Medical

“Sometimes alopecia is caused by inflammation, it’s the body attacking the hair follicles. And sometimes alopecia or hair loss is caused by our own doing, meaning that we're not treating our hair and scalp properly. Maybe it’s pulling of the hair with braids, extensions, wigs or weaves.” - Dr. Alan J. Bauman, MD, Hair Transplant Surgeon, ABHRS, IAHRS, FISHRS, Founder, CEO & Medical Director of Bauman Medical

“People ask me all the time, how do we innovate here at the practice, and I guess the basic philosophy is that I'm a bit of a problem solver. I always like to tinker with things, attracted to new technologies and new techniques.” - Dr. Alan J. Bauman, MD, Hair Transplant Surgeon, ABHRS, IAHRS, FISHRS, Founder, CEO & Medical Director of Bauman Medical

“I always wondered, was there a way to get the follicles out one at a time or in small groupings, without having to cut that big strip out of the back of the scalp and I wasn't the only one thinking about that.” - Dr. Alan J. Bauman, MD, Hair Transplant Surgeon, ABHRS, IAHRS, FISHRS, Founder, CEO & Medical Director of Bauman Medical

“The benefits of FUE is that there's no linear scar and a much faster recovery. Just a couple of days. You could be back in the gym.” - Dr. Alan J. Bauman, MD, Hair Transplant Surgeon, ABHRS, IAHRS, FISHRS, Founder, CEO & Medical Director of Bauman Medical



Legal Disclaimer: Please note, to avoid any unnecessary headaches, Longevity & Lifestyle LLC owns the copyright in and to all content in and transcripts of The Longevity & Lifestyle Podcast, with all rights reserved, as well as the right of publicity. You are welcome to share parts of the transcript (up to 500 words) in other media (such as press articles, blogs, social media accounts, etc.) for non-commercial use which must also include attribution to “The Longevity & Lifestyle Podcast” with a link back to the longevity-and-lifestyle.com/podcast URL. It is prohibited to use any portion of the podcast content, names or images for any commercial purposes in digital or non-digital outlets to promote you or another’s products or services.

PODCAST EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Claudia von Boeselager: Welcome to another episode of the Longevity and Lifestyle Podcast. I'm your host, Claudia von Boeselager. I'm here to uncover the groundbreaking strategies, tools, and practices from the world's pioneering experts to help you live your best and reach your fullest potential. Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast to always catch the latest episodes.

Legal Disclaimer: Please note, to avoid any unnecessary headaches, Longevity & Lifestyle LLC owns the copyright in and to all content in and transcripts of The Longevity & Lifestyle Podcast, with all rights reserved, as well as the right of publicity. You are welcome to share parts of the transcript (up to 500 words) in other media (such as press articles, blogs, social media accounts, etc.) for non-commercial use which must also include attribution to “The Longevity & Lifestyle Podcast” with a link back to the longevity-and-lifestyle.com/podcast URL. It is prohibited to use any portion of the podcast content, names or images for any commercial purposes in digital or non-digital outlets to promote you or another’s products or services.


PODCAST EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Claudia von Boeselager: Welcome to another episode of the Longevity and Lifestyle Podcast. I'm your host, Claudia von Boeselager. Here to uncover the groundbreaking strategies, tools, and practices from the world's pioneering experts to help you live at your best and reach your highest potential. 

My guest today is Dr. Alan Bauman, who's a surgeon and has been a board certified hair restoration specialist since 1997.

And I know hair loss is a big issue for a lot of people out there, so I'm really excited for our conversation today. Dr. Bauman has performed over 12,000 hair transplant procedures to date. He has an artistic approach to protecting and restoring the hair and scalp and has successfully treated over 33,000 patients in preserving their hair.

Dr. Bauman was voted number one top hair restoration surgeon in North America by Aesthetic Everything for the seventh consecutive year, top Hair Restoration Surgeon of the Decade and received the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award in hair restoration. He's also recognized by Forbes as one of the '10 CEOs Transforming Healthcare in America.' 

Such a pleasure to have you on today, Alan. Thank you so much for coming on. 

Dr. Alan Bauman: Claudia, great to be with you. 

Claudia von Boeselager: Alan, I'd love to start with a question that should be quite simple, but I actually don't know the detail of, so why is hair so important in the first place? 

Dr. Alan Bauman: Yeah, first of all, hair makes you look good and feel great, so, of course it's gonna be important. Evolutionarily, we know that hair is a great determinator of your ability to reproduce. And so you can imagine that to propagate the species you wanna choose a good mate, make sure that they're healthy and that they're well-nourished and they've got good DNA. And for eons, obviously there's been outward signs of how we look at and how we feel and how our DNA is made up. And hair is a big part of that, obviously, right? So for most it's a clock, right? Meaning that, over time as the clock goes on, you decrease your amount of hair, hairline recedes in men. It gets thinner sometimes in women for sure. And, this tells our, our outward sign, if you will. You can tell from across the room you can make a snap judgment, maybe how old or healthy that person is. Now, of course, as you know, we're not just superficial beings. And so, uh, you know, in the modern age, it comes down to more than just hair. But that's why we're hardwired to like our hair, to want to keep our hair. And, there's no way around that. You know, our mid-brain, our reptile brain wants to pair us up with somebody who has great skin and great hair and looks good. And that's to make sure that we propagate the species. So it all comes down to Darwinism like many things and health.

Claudia von Boeselager: And is there a scientific scalp microbiome impact of maintaining good hair for the head? 

Dr. Alan Bauman: Well, gosh, that is an amazing new field of study for sure. We know so much about the microbiome when it comes to our gut and its impact on inflammation and all these little organisms that live symbiotically with us. It's so important and we're learning more and more about what's going on in the microbiome of the skin and how it helps protect us from infection and disease and dysregulation. And so we for sure that there's a microbiome on the scalp and when this microbiome gets disrupted, all kinds of scalp health issues can occur. And sometimes those issues can exacerbate hair loss. So you're absolutely right. I mean, that's a nuance that most, physicians aren't even aware of yet, and of course, most consumers are not yet aware of it, but the research is pretty clear. For example, simple over-growth of fungus, right, which is part of the natural microbiome of the scalp, is a trigger for dandruff.

And uh, that's really one of the reasons why treatments like head and shoulders, which happens to be the most popular shampoo in the world, is effective because Zinc Pyrithione is something that helps dysregulate the fungus that actually triggers that inflammation and irritation and flaking and all of that.

So, in fact, scalp health is really important here at Bauman Medical. I have an entire department that's geared towards the health and wellness of your scalp and the beauty of your hair. So, beyond what we do for hair growth, we want to keep that scalp healthy. That's like the soil in the garden, if you will.

So my trichology lab, staffed by a certified trichologist and cosmetologist and her team, helps our patients every day, to help maintain a good healthy scalp. And healthy scalp microbiome, for sure. 

Claudia von Boeselager: Wonderful. So what causes hair loss? What's happening there? 

Dr. Alan Bauman: So there's many, many reasons for alopecia, which is the general term for hair loss. Sometimes alopecia is caused by inflammation. Your body attacking the hair follicles. Sometimes alopecia or hair loss is caused by our own doing, meaning that we're not treating our hair and scalp properly. We're maybe we're pulling on our hair with braids or extensions or wigs or weaves. And so we're causing it ourselves. Sometimes, as I mentioned earlier, androgenetic alopecia or male or female pattern hair loss happens over time. And that's the most common type of hair loss actually out there is the genetic variety. 

Our genes determine our hair loss destiny, at least, to a large part, and we have to fight that. So in men, for example, what we're genetically sensitive to is a breakdown product of testosterone. And so that androgen, DHT, dihydrotestosterone is the main or primary trigger for miniaturization of a hair follicle. And when DHT levels, whether they be normal or low or in the middle, in averages, uh, they can always and, and usually degrade the quality of the hair over time. And it's a very common pattern to see. You can recognize it. Like I said before, across the room, a receding hairline and thinning in the crown is what you would observe in men. And very often these same androgens can affect hair loss, in women as well. You could see thinning in that frontal zone, but yet the back is totally preserved.
And sometimes in women you'll see a receding hairline a little bit as well. 

Claudia von Boeselager: Is there a way to treat the androgens as well, going directly to the source? Has that been developed yet? 

Dr. Alan Bauman: Absolutely. I mean, the mainstay of therapy, for decades literally has been the use of medications in men to slow down the hair loss process or reverse it using a 5-Alpha Reductase Inhibitor. 

So, a 5-Alpha Reductase is that enzyme that converts testosterone into DHT. And there's a couple of different versions that we're aware of now in the body, it's a couple of different types of that 5-Alpha Reductase Enzyme. But the main one is type - 2. And type-2 enzyme can be blocked using a medication called Finasteride.

So it was launched as Propecia back in the 1990s. And by lowering or inhibiting the production of DHT, you can preserve and protect the hair follicles pretty well, actually. So. 9 out of 10 guys who take an oral dose of about a milligram a day are gonna see, either a stoppage of their hair loss process or even some hair regrowth. So it's a pretty effective treatment. But it does come with some risk of side effects.

And men, of course, are very concerned about their libido and sexual performance. So even if you tell them only 2% of patients have this side effect, many are concerned and may not necessarily want to use the oral version of this medication.

But the good news is that we topical Finasteride and that eliminates virtually the risk of systemic side effects and still has that nice, good, strong effect on blocking that androgen production at the level of the scalp. And many of our postmenopausal women are also on androgen blockers for this reason to help protect and preserve the function of the hair follicle. Becomes even more important in men who are looking to maintain vitality and lean muscle mass by doing Hormone Replacement Therapy. And I'm sure in the spheres of longevity, you know about hormones and peptides and such. And so, when you replace testosterone in both men and women, sometimes, not always, but sometimes that can trigger an acceleration of hair loss depending on your genetic profile.

Claudia von Boeselager: I'd like to take a step back, Alan, and just understand why you became so passionate about hair restoration and a hair restoration physician?
 
Dr. Alan Bauman: Well, gosh, that story starts early in my childhood years. My grandfather on my dad's side never had hair, never met him with hair, and my dad started losing his hair, when he was in his thirties.

And so I always wondered if that was gonna happen to me, although I didn't really think about a therapy or treatment or even that it was medically possible to do anything about it. I really got interested in plastic surgery and cosmetic surgery as a teenager. I was mentored by a plastic surgeon at that early age, and what he showed me was this amazing artistic skill that he had, really to change people's lives using surgical intervention, right?

So rejuvenation of the face or the eyes or change in the nose and body contouring and such, made such an impact in their lives. And I saw his work as just being so exciting. I always thought that that's what I was gonna end up doing. 

And later on in my surgical career after medical school and my residency in general surgery, I became aware of hair transplants. It was mainly by a patient who had had a procedure done and I looked at him and I was trying to figure out, I knew his medical history, but I couldn't tell that he had had a hair transplant. And so our conversation started something like this. You know, do you mind if I ask about where you had your hair transplanted?

And he said, oh, up in Toronto. And I was in New York at the time and I was thinking to myself, first of all, that's weird because we're here in New York, the greatest technology is right here. But I was more concerned about where on his scalp, because I couldn't tell that it was a hair transplant.

So we kinda had a little bit of a laugh and he told me in layman's terms about single follicle implantation. And I was a casual observer, but I really could not tell that he had had a transplant. And I thought it just looked amazing. So I kind of stored that in the back of my mind because what he described was something artistic and microsurgical and unique.

And it really kind of, struck me sideways, I wasn't really aware of it, so I always kept that in the back of my mind, like, well, maybe I should look into this. And so over the years, as I went through my mentorship with my plastic surgeon mentor, I always kept my eyes open in the field of hair transplant surgery.

I did some traveling. I visited clinics. I went to conferences, and the more that I learned, the more that I realized that the technology of hair transplant was way beyond the plugs and the nastiness, that was very common and what I would considered typical in the 1990s, and it was evolving into something that was actually looking good.

You didn't need a scalp reduction or this pluggy look, um, was not required anymore. You could actually create something that was artistic and natural, and that's what drew me into the field. And, the more that I learned, the more I got excited about it. And the rest they say is history.

Uh, as I got into a a preceptorship program up in New York in hair transplantation, and I did that for about a year, worked in a very busy practice, and then eventually struck out on my own here in Boca Raton, Florida back in the 1990s. And so we set out with this goal of creating a beautiful result for each and every patient.

To provide an exceptional patient experience and also to protect the hair that patients had. And so by combining these kinds of philosophies together, my practice grew very rapidly and, came to local and national attention pretty quickly, and to what we built today, which is, uh, as you mentioned earlier, have treated tens of thousands of patients, well over 10,000, almost 15,000 procedures.

And over, uh, 30 staff members in a 12,000 square foot facility here in Boca Raton, Florida, which is, is certainly a super exciting place to live and work. 

Claudia von Boeselager: I'd love to hear a bit more about your pioneering methods and the technologies that you're using specifically around hair transplants. Can you share that? 

Dr. Alan Bauman: Yeah, for sure. So, people ask me all the time, how we innovate here at the practice, and I guess the basic philosophy is that I'm a bit of a problem solver. I always like to tinker with things, attracted to new technologies and new techniques. I always thought in the early days of hair transplants, when I first got started, that the strip harvest, the linear harvest, seemed very invasive. And remember that I came from general surgery where things were moving towards laparoscopic procedures, small cameras, small incisions, minimally invasive procedures.

And I always wondered, was there a way to get the follicles out one at a time or in small groupings, without having to cut that big strip out of the back of the scalp and I wasn't the only one thinking about that. There was maybe six or eight of us around the world that were kind of pioneering that in the late 1990s and the early 2000's.

And it wasn't an easy process. We didn't have great technology. We had manual tools that varied in their sharpness and so forth. And even our magnification and lighting was not so great. And patient positioning was a challenge, but over time, I developed techniques that allowed me to harvest those follicles in those individual ways using a very, very tiny instrument without the use of a scalpel or stitches. And so that's how we came, to really be experts at FUE follicular unit extraction or excision. And that technology obviously has caught on around the world and today is the mainstay of therapy. The vast majority of all procedures around the world are performed that way, and in some countries it's the only way it's performed.

Here in the United States, we still have surgeons that perform, the linear harvest. And for them, if that's what works in their hands, that's great. For us, I haven't taken a linear strip in over 15 years, so I'm an FUE only practice. Oh, and the benefits of FUE, obviously there's no linear scar, much faster recovery. Just a couple of days. You could be back in the gym. You don't have to worry about stitches or staples becoming infected. And of course, using individual grafts that are as small as a single hair follicle, we have unique control over their angle orientation position. And essentially the naturalness of the final outcome is determined by the stroke of my hand. Which is really, really nice for our patients who want to keep their hair transplants undetectable and totally, and 100% natural. It does take a long time though. 

Claudia von Boeselager: I can imagine. Just from my understanding, so you're literally extracting a hair follicle by hair follicle from the back of the head Just bit by bit. Is that what's happening?

Dr. Alan Bauman: Yeah. So each follicular unit contains between one and three hair follicles. Those are the natural groupings of hairs that exist on the scalp, and that's how they're extracted. And they're placed into very tiny incisions that we make. If it's the crown area, for example, most people have at least one swirl back there, if not more. And so we have to adhere to those angles in the orientation, the position, making sure that we're not damaging the existing hair. So it's an artistic process and especially the hairline or an eyebrow. There's a lot of intricacy that goes into the process and the problem solving and the puzzle working and the artistry. That's all part of what I do in conjunction with my team. Because it is a labor of love, it's a lot of labor that goes into these procedures. And without my team, I would not be able to do it. So there is a, a lot of work involved. Each procedure is about 20 man hours start to finish. 

So when I say man hours, obviously there's more than one person working on the procedure at any given time. So parts of the procedure are a hundred percent me, like the artistry, the design work, the pre-made recipient sites.

I'll make all of those myself, and then my team and I will work together to do harvesting and then eventually implantation. So there's a lot of people working in some phases of the procedure to get the job done over time. 

Claudia von Boeselager: For people who are like, I think my hair might be getting thinner, but I don't know if I am a candidate for hair transplant. How do you do that evaluation process for men and for women as well? And are there potential candidates that are just not relevant for hair transplant or that's not possible to do it with them? 

Dr. Alan Bauman: Sure. A lot of patients want to know like, am I a candidate for this kind of procedure and what can it do for me?

And sometimes patients are not candidates for procedure if they have like an autoimmune condition, a hair loss condition that is not related to their genetics. Sometimes we see women with scarring alopecia. So getting the right diagnosis really is the take home message, and that starts with a consultation.

So many of my patients, over half of them, may start their consultation process online, meaning that we'll have a video call just like what we're doing today on your podcast. We can connect with patients from around the world. From anywhere, all four corners of the globe, from their home or their phone, as we say, with a video call, with Zoom or another, method of FaceTime or Skype and whatnot, and we're able to evaluate their current situation.

Now, can we do measurements over the phone? No, of course not. We can't do that over Zoom. Not yet. But we're working on that. And so we do encourage patients to come in if there's a question, and so many patients will come in for measurements. AI powered microscopes are available to give us a complete readout of data, what's going on in each area of the scalp.

But again, it all starts with the medical history and the current physical exam that we can see on photos and video to know, uh, primarily most of the time what's going. And then we wanna make a plan, right? So sometimes the plan may be a hundred percent non-invasive. We're in the early stages of hair loss.

All we need are some good quality nutraceuticals, proper hair care, get the scalp healthy, maybe some topical or oral medications. Sometimes it's a laser-like device, but you can see that there may be things that you can do at home to help protect and enhance the hair that you have, and these are well-documented, scientifically studied FDA-approved medications or FDA cleared devices for hair regrowth, you know, so this is not the age of snake oil from, decades ago. This is the stuff that actually works. 

And when we talk about compounded medications for home use, we don't want you going down to your regular pharmacy or local drugstore. We want to go with a pharmacy that has a quality control process with expert pharmacists who know what the product is supposed to look like, what it's supposed to literally smell like. And do the testing to verify that the medication is actually as potent as the manufacturer says it is. And then that's the medication that I might feel comfortable taking myself or giving to my family or friends. And that's what we use. Compounded medications. 

Claudia von Boeselager: Can you talk about the recovery process you mentioned, that after a hair transplant, someone could even show up at the gym a few days later. How come it's so quick? What's going on there? 

Dr. Alan Bauman: So, hair transplantation today, as I mentioned, the follicular unit extraction process requires no scalpel or stitches or staples.

And that's very different than the years past. Because if you had a row of stitches in the back of your head, the last thing you wanna be doing is doing some kind of exercise to stretch out that area that's gonna really cause damage and increase your risk of scar tissue. And unfortunately, a lot of patients who didn't have good guidance years and years ago, ended up with wider scars, nasty looking scar tissue. No fault of the surgeon, but just, really, uh, the postoperative care, which is a big issue. So because we're taking the individual grafts one at a time, there is no risk of that. There's nothing that could stretch out or cause any poor healing. And so you can be back in the gym in three or four days as long as you're not putting the transplanted zone at risk for damage.

Right. So the transplanted area is fragile. It's got a graft sitting in the scalp right into the sites that I created. If you rub or scratch or bump that area, you know, you could put it at risk. And so no MMA fighting or doing yoga poses on your head, no rough play, as we say, at least until those crusts are gone, which usually takes about six or eight days with the today's technology that we have.

Claudia von Boeselager: Can you talk about some client success stories? What are some of the impacts you see from your patients after undergoing hair transplant with you? 

Dr. Alan Bauman: I mean, truly Claudia, that is the payoff of being a hair transplant surgeon is you get the chance to see the quote unquote payoff that you say, right?
And so what is that? That's the change in someone's life that a hair restoration procedure brings. And so I remember vividly even just dating back to that time when that first hair transplant patient that I met that was not pluggy looking. One of the things that stuck with me from that conversation was how he described the change in his social life and his professional career.

After he had the hair transplant. And so that was the first patient I ever met. And I didn't do that procedure, but he was telling me, and I remember it so vividly in my mind, that job opportunities came his way. That he felt more confident in social situations, that he met the love of his life and, and his whole life had changed just from the hair restoration process and the procedure.

Just on the flip side, when patients come in with hair loss men or women, it can be very sad. It can be very emotional. Sometimes my nurses are crying, we're crying, everybody's crying. We've got the tissues on hand, you know? But obviously on the backend, when we're, completed the work and the patient is doing well, even just the measurements initially, as they start their medical regimen or recover from, let's say a, a stem cell therapy or regenerative treatment, it's super exciting to see their faces light up.

When they have had an improvement in their hair numbers, and of course visually when they look so different, I get the chance at six months, nine months and 12 months to put those before and after side by side with those patients and show them. And, that's the really, really fun payoff for me is to see their big smiles light up. And, they just walk differently, they walk a little bit taller, you know, shoulders back, chin out, you know, they just, they just have a different look when they're coming in after the hair growth is, is happening. And so it, that's a really, really fun part of the practice. And most patients say that they just wish they had done it sooner.

Claudia von Boeselager: One of the points of longevity and living long, I mean, my goal is to live to 150, but we don't want to look 150 when we live to 150, we want to keep that youthfulness and on the outside as well. Do you have any limitations to who you can treat?

Dr. Alan Bauman: So the limitations certainly are not age. 150 sounds great, you know, Dave Asprey wants to do 180. That's good. I will definitely be skiing at a hundred. So I'll see you guys all there. . I've got my, uh, what is it called? The centenarian decathlon training ongoing. So those are the exercises I hope to be able to do, when I'm a hundred years old and do them well.

And so I definitely have a plan for that. And it's not, as you say, just lifespan, which is the amount of years, right. But it's also health span. So that's the amount of vitality that we have during those times, keeping our brain and our body functioning well. I'm certainly a big advocate for that.

But what we do in the practice is primarily hair span. We wanna have that hair all the way through till the end and, you know, the amount of years that we spend with a thick, full, healthy head of hair is really important to my patients. And so, no, I don't have an age cutoff, but certainly there are some limitations.

If we think about how much hair is available for transplantation. Around the sides in the back of the scalp or an extensively bald male, for example. There's a limit as to what we can do, but sometimes we have to tap into the beard or the body hair, and that's certainly a viable technology. That comes with some questions and concerns, obviously, but is workable for many, many patients, especially if they've had previous procedures or scarring in the back of their scalp.

We often use the beard, I mean, nearly every single week we're harvesting beard and transplanting it onto the scalp. And, it's a very, very effective way to tap into these alternative sources of donor hair to make candidates who have been turned down by other surgeons into absolutely viable candidates for surgery moving forward in hair transplantation.

So that's one way to go. And then of course, keeping and enhancing the existing hair with a variety of tools. We've previously mentioned, you know, medications and nutrition and hair care and scalp care. But of course red light therapy is a big part of that. Using something like the turbo laser cap or regenerative treatments like stem cell therapy, PRPPDO, Exosome Therapy, the latest and greatest technology in that regard.

Or even TED Trans Epidermal Delivery treatments. So there's a lot we can do to turn patients who are really kind of almost fallen off the wagon in terms of not being a good candidate, get them back on the path and growing some really good hair and tapping into alternative sources of donor hair to shift that supply and demand in their favor.

And that's what I love to do is turn these difficult cases, like my dad's for example, he had total bald. Before we started with him and, he needed a, a couple of sessions to get the job done, but, he had a good amount of hair around the sides in the back, and today he enjoys a full head of hair from transplantation.

Claudia von Boeselager: Must be really exciting. I know for some men they're very self-conscious and they feel like it ages them and the emotional distress that comes with it. 

I mean, I think it really opens up a pathway to feeling the youthfulness and having the look that people want to as well. Alan, what are the breakthroughs that you're excited about? Either recent ones or upcoming ones that you see on the horizon? 

Dr. Alan Bauman: I think, probably for me, being in the field of health and wellness and longevity, you know, we are seeing hormone replacement therapy, peptides coming of age. We're learning about these small molecules and their effect on not only organ systems, but also the organs of the hair follicle, the mini organs of the hair follicles. And so the latest and greatest technology that we've used in our practice is something that was just launched literally a year ago here in the United States.

I don't even think it's available in Asia or Europe yet. And that's called TED, Transepidermal Delivery. And so TED uses Sonophoresis, which is not really all that new. It's been around for about almost 70 years to deploy, medications and other things through the skin without a needle. But combining that technology of ultrasonic sound waves and this impact pressure wave to push stuff through the skin, combining that with the new knowledge that we have about these really, really powerful growth factors and peptides. That's really what the technology brings is that, is combination of the delivery system and then the serum that really gets the job done.

So TED is a really nice treatment if you're experiencing a lot of shedding like from some trauma, physiologic trauma or otherwise. TED treatments are done typically in a package of four, four treatments one month apart, and it's the first thing that many patients say is that it stops the shedding.

Which is really, really nice for a treatment that requires no needles, no blood drawn, no pain, no preparation, no recovery. So as we say, no trauma, no drama. with Ted, it's a great treatment modality. And it only takes about a half an hour to 40 minutes to apply that serum through the skin.

So there's a preparatory process where we're priming the skin, making it more permeable, and then applying that peptide and growth factor serum right through with the impact delivery and the ultrasonic delivery system. So I'm super excited about that. I was just in Paris, recently lecturing on that topic and we've been lucky enough to be one of the only locations qualified to perform that here in the United States.

Claudia von Boeselager: For my listeners, interested in understanding hair loss, but also hair transplant more. What are some resources, you would recommend they start with? 

Dr. Alan Bauman: So a great resource that I've had for over 25 years is baumanmedical.com. It's got thousands and thousands of pages of information about the different treatments and procedures and surgeries that we do.

The latest information on health and wellness and how it affects your hair from the scalp microbiome, all the way down to the latest and greatest transplant procedures and devices. It includes information on the TED that we talked about, platelet-rich plasma, and how we do it differently. It includes compounded medications like 82 M and 82 F, which contain either Minoxidil, finasteride, or both.

That's a great place for people to start. And obviously, you know, there's other locations around the web, but I would just caution folks, because you know a lot of medical information on the internet is maybe not that accurate. Even today when we look at things that are being produced using AI powered blog posts and things like that, what we find is that if you go search up the references, the references are not real.

And so I would just caution people, even though that may quicken, your search engine, it may not necessarily be accu rate. And we have to be more critical today of everything that we read or see and wonder, was it created with accurate information.

And so, you can be sure that at baumanmedical.com that's where it's gonna be. And the good thing about baumanmedical.com is that patients can also ask a question. If you just go to baumanmedical.com/ask, you can ask any hair loss question you want, and my team and I will respond personally with an answer.

And, obviously people can request consultations. You can see some of the different products and devices that we recommend, things that we've curated, things that we've developed ourselves. So that's a great place to start. But there are other places, the American Board of Hair Station Surgery has lists of physicians, as does the International Alliance of Hair Station Surgery.

There are some good consumer advocates out there, like, uh, Spencer Spex Stevenson, who compiles a list of the top 20 surgeons in the world today, and what you should look for in your hair restoration physician or surgeon. But I feel very blessed that I have an amazing team and they're always wondering, Hey doc, what's new?

And there's always new technologies on the horizon and that's one of the reasons why we have a newsletter that goes out twice a week to keep people informed about what the latest and greatest treatments are. 

Claudia von Boeselager: ... and helping people live, longer, better, increasing health span and hairs span. I love the term hair span. It's really great. 

Dr. Alan Bauman: Absolutely. 

Claudia von Boeselager: Alan, do you have any final ask or recommendation or any parting thoughts or message for my audience today? 

Dr. Alan Bauman: Well, I would just say that if someone's out there and you're struggling with hair loss, whether you're a man or a woman or you know somebody, you could be a family member, whether it's a mom, dad, or son or daughter or somebody that you know that you care about. Hair is probably important to them, whether they admit it to themselves or to you or not. So I would just encourage them and you. To seek action, you can make a referral, as I said, at baumanmedical.com. You can send them a link. You can tell them that you heard this podcast, and if there's a lot that can be done today and if you're in a place of despair about your hair, well don't worry, there's always something that we can do to help. Everything from the treatments that you've heard about today to things that we didn't get a chance to cover. Like, cranial prosthetic devices and things like that for extensive hair loss and even chemotherapy patients as well, or trauma or injury victims.

And, those are some of the most rewarding cases that we do. So I do, uh, want to end with just a feeling of gratitude, Claudia, for having me on, and for me to help get the word out about the treatments and the procedures that we do. And, it's really been a pleasure to be on with you and, and to get that word out to other folks because we're on a mission to help billions and billions of hair strands and so we need millions and millions of people to hear the message about what we do and how we do it.

Claudia von Boeselager: Wonderful. Thank you so much, Alan, for coming on today. Such a pleasure to have you on. Thank you. 

Dr. Alan Bauman: Same here. Great to be with you.
 


I’m Claudia von Boeselager

Longevity Coach, detail-loving educator, big-thinking entrepreneur, podcaster, mama, passionate adventurer, and health optimization activist here to help people transform their lives, and reach their highest potential! All rolled into one.

more about me

Hey there!

Steal Claudia's 10 Hacks to Improve Your Life & Longevity Playbook 

get it now

FREE DOWNLOAD

Learn the secrets of health, lifestyle, business and finance optimization

DISCOVER MORE episodes

Podcast

 Top Resources

Steal My
10 Hacks to Improve Your Life & Longevity Playbook

Free guide

10 Hacks to Improve Your Life & Longevity

Want to learn how to live a smarter, healthier (and, let’s be honest, more exciting) life? Check out my free playbook with top tips just for you!

By signing up, you agree to join the Longevity & Lifestyle newsletter and to receive emails. We respect your privacy and abide by strict privacy policies.

LONGEVITY & LIFESTYLE 

© Longevity & Lifestyle llc 2021  |  Design by Tonic  |  Photos by social squares, Unsplash & Rebecca Reid

contact
shop
podcast
About
Home

SEND ME A NOTE >

GET ON THE LIST >

@longevity&lifestyle

follow along:

NEWSLETTER