Nonsurgical Hair Restoration
AMT is one such innovative treatement.
AMT is one such innovative treatment. The AMT procedure involves removing micro-follicular grafts for the back of the the scalp inserting them into the balding scalp areas to give a more cosmetically pleasing result. It has zero downtime and virtually no side effects! The unique and most interesting part about AMT is that it relies on your body’s own ability to produce new functioning hair follicles by ‘activating’ the inactive areas in your scalp, stimulating new blood vessel growth, sending miniaturizing hair follicle back into the “antagen” or growing phase, and keeping them growing longer.
What Is Non-Surgical Hair Restoration?
Have you heard of the word ‘mesotherapy’ before? Most of us haven’t. Mesotherapy is defined as a ‘non-invasive non-surgical technique that uses micro-injections of pharmaceutical or growth factors, vitamins, and other ingredients into subcutaneous fat’. What this means is that it administers superficial injections into the skin surface (transdermal injection), which typically contain diluted drugs such as vitamins, nutrients, and growth factors. When used on the scalp, it helps to stimulate hair growth, hair thickening, and inhibition of hair loss.
Is it safe? – Absolutely!
Regenera Activa is a remarkable new treatment and has gone through extensive clinical trials across the world and is listed as US FDA and CE-certified. The medical devices used – N4SA and Rigenracons – are listed as Class A medical devices by the Health Science Authority (HSA), Singapore and have also been approved by the HSA. These ratings assure patients of its safety and effectiveness. Pioneered in Europe, this procedure has since seen widespread acceptance as a stand-alone or combination treatment option for male or female pattern hair loss.
Is this new? – In Beverly Hills, yes!
Regenera Activa, Regenera-AMT (Autologous Micrograft Transfer) is a technique that has been used to treat hair loss for decades in Europe. We are the proud first users of Regenera Activa and Regenera-AMT in Beverly Hills. With over 400 hundred cases performed to date since its introduction in
How Does Regenera Activa Work?
How do I know if I am suitable for Regenera Activa?
Many options for hair restoration can result in confusion as to which procedure is the optimal one for you. To identify if you are suitable for Regenera Active, we always start with an initial consultation with one of our hair loss professionals.
- What goes on in the initial consultation? – A subjective history-taking will be done where you will answer questions about your personal journey with hair thinning, past medications or medical procedures, family history of baldness, and lifestyle factors (such as diet, exercise, and stress). After that, an objective assessment will be done where your hair is examined under a high-powered microscope specially for hair diagnoses, called ‘trichoscopy’. This diagnostic tool helps to confirm the suspicions of hair loss causes, and provides our hair loss specialists with an accurate picture of your hair and scalp condition. This paves the way for accurate treatment.
- Who are those typically suitable for Regenera Activa? – This treatment will greatly benefit both men and women who want to avoid undergoing a surgical procedure like hair transplant where possible, but are already experiencing areas of hair thinning.
If you are deemed suitable for the Regenera Activa procedure, Dr. McBeth will inform you of the areas that can be restored with Regenera Activa. The areas that are likely to do better with other forms of treatments (e.g. hair transplant surgery or medications) will also be explained.
How is the procedure performed?
Step 1 – Hair Analysis
Dr. McBeth will do an in-depth hair analysis, which is the initial consultation part. [Read above: “How do I know if I am suitable for Regenera Activa?”]
Step 2 – Sample Extraction
Samples, or ‘grafts’ are extracted from near the back of the scalp. This area chosen is important, as sample extraction may form deep punctures that possibly heal with some scarring, i.e. lightening or darkening of the skin. Usually, this can be covered up by other hair shafts. The extraction is performed in a sterile operating theatre in-clinic. While lying on your side, local anaesthesia is injected to the donor sites, and a small area (roughly the size of a fingernail) will be shaven down to skin. The shaving allows for extraction of hair and skin grafts.
Step 3 – Solution Preparation
These ‘graft’ samples are then placed in a ‘regeneracon’ unit to be processed, which helps to isolate the cells with regenerative capabilities. This breaks the larger tissue down into 50-micrometre sized fragments called ‘micrografts’. This micrograft suspension now contains viable hair follicles, mesenchymal stromal cells, and cell-signalling growth factors. It should look extremely dense and non-see through, which indicates an adequate concentration of regenerative cells and molecules.
Step 4 – Solution Application
This rich solution is reintroduced on areas with hair loss to begin initiating the regenerative process of hair follicles. The depth of injection is important to ensure that the follicular bulge and dermal papilla (areas which contain germinal cells that signal hair growth) are targeted.
What happens after the procedure?
The initial assessment is very important for women experiencing female pattern hair loss.
Why?
Some female pattern hair loss patients may NOT be immediately suitable for the procedure. Taking a holistic approach, all other factors will need to be addressed first (addressing concurrent medical conditions, nutrition optimisation, etc.) before considering a hair transplant surgery where needed.
- Female pattern hair loss is a far more complex condition than male pattern hair loss. While genetics and hormonal factors play the main role in male pattern baldness, it may not be so in female pattern baldness. In females, hormone levels may be identified as normal but hair loss may still occur. Hence, we need to look at lifestyle, nutrition, stress, and perhaps even conduct a blood test to identify what is contributing to hair loss.
- Even the classical signs of balding will differ from men and women! In females, it may resemble a ‘Christmas tree’ pattern at the top of the head where the middle parting lies. This means that a diffuse form of hair thinning starts to occur there, eventually getting wider and wider with more scalp visibility.
- However, other conditions may also result in this patchy thinning – things like telogen effluvium, or even hair loss from medical conditions like PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome). As such, the clinical diagnosis may be challenging and may require further testing to identify if Regenera Activa will produce optimal results for the female candidate.
If you ARE a suitable candidate, you may need to consider that:
- Regenera Activa may need to be repeated on a more frequent basis than men. This will be affected by your age, hormonal profile, family planning status, and genetics. There are, however, some combinations of treatments that can be used to prolong the effects of this regenerative treatment, which will be discussed with you.
- Regenera Activa may not be able to target the entire area of thinning. This is because a large area of diffuse thinning often occurs in female pattern hair loss, and attempting to spread the ‘micrograft suspension’ across all areas will just dilute the effects of the cell growth factors. For optimal aesthetic benefits, this regenerative concoction will be utilised in areas that have the most obvious thinning only.
Of the hundreds of cases that have been done in McBeth Elliott Hair, a patient-centric approach to this treatment based on considerations of the aesthetic profile and client expectations provides higher patient satisfaction for women!
Other FAQs
This depends on the severity of the hair loss and whether other hair loss treatments have been prescribed in combination with Regenera Activa. Generally, the effects of Regenera Activa last about 3 years and it is recommended that repeat treatments are done at 2-3 years to give the best chance for the hair to develop fully. A combination of treatments targeting the various causes of pattern hair loss can help to extend the lifespan of the procedure.
The duration of Regenera Activa procdure takes between 45-60 minutes to be completed. During the procedure, a local anesthetic injection will be given over the scalp areas, which may sting slightly. The graft extraction is completely painless due to the anesthetic, and when the micrograft suspension is injected into the scalp, it may sting for 3-5 minutes only. After the procedure is done, there will be minimal to zero residual pain and you can go ahead with your daily activities
It is not known how many times this procedure can or should be repeated. At McBeth Elliott Hair, we review our patients for clinical photography frequently, and by comparison of the photographs, we will be able to advise if a repeat procedure is warranted; likewise, if scalp coverage is still good, then we would advise to hold off the Regenera Activa procedure.
The Regenera Activa procedure is done by collecting hair follicles from the patient’s own body (autologous transplants) and no harmful chemicals are used for treatment. Hence, the treatment involves no risk of harming your health. There may be slight tenderness of the scalp after the treatment, but you are able to rinse your hair and shower after. You will be ready to return to work and exercise the next day.
With the graft extractions, there is a small risk of scarring, bleeding, or infection; however, we have not yet encountered such complications among the hundreds of cases done successfully.
Another risk that you have to keep in mind is that the effectiveness of Regenera Activa depends from patient to patient. Despite being a suitable candidate for Regenera Activa, if your body does not respond accordingly to the micrograft suspension, you may not see the results that you expect.
You should mention all medications that you are currently taking to the doctor, which include blood thinners (NSAIDs, aspirin, warfarin, etc.). If you are a suitable candidate, you will have to stop those medications 1 week prior to the procedure. Stop all multivitamins, fish oil, ginkgo biloba and garlic extract supplements 5 days prior to the procedure which have the propensity to promote bleeding.
Yes! You can use Regenera Activa to strengthen and maintain the areas of thinning that were not transplanted. However, this is on a case-by-case basis – depending on how thin the native hairs are as well as the capacity for your donor area to undergo graft extraction, you may be advised to optimise your hair via a different method. One can also combine the AMT treatment with a traditional hair transplant procedure in order to achieve a more robust cosmetic result. Remember that a hair transplant transfers the “permanent” type hair follicles from the back of the scalp to the front but, the native non-transplanted hairs in the front continue to miniaturize if some other treatment is not done to stop it or slow it down.
At McBeth Elliott Hair, our hair restoration team takes great pride in providing a holistic approach to treating hair loss. We will advise you on what will deliver the best results to match your expectations, and each person’s prescribed treatment will differ based on hair conditions. If you are feeling emotionally distressed over your hair loss, we also encourage you to seek counselling help. This, coupled with effective hair loss treatments, can really work wonders in bringing about a happier and healthier you.
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