La Mesa Medical Hair Restoration has a reputation for repairing previous clinics’ bad work. The severity of such cases, and their solutions, range a great amount. What is certain, however, is that patients who receive disastrous, or even sub-par, hair transplants deal with a huge amount psychic stress; and for a number of reasons. Unfortunately, instances of bad hair transplant work are an increasing trend. Many surgeons are also committed to prior techniques (FUT) that have less satisfactory results.
FUE Magazine, FUE Europe’s (FUEE) new publication, is an effort to counter this tendency. While founded by a regional organization, FUE Europe emphasizes accepting articles from across the globe. The goal, after all, is to facilitate overall industry progress and inform patients.
Why a New Publication?
A growing industry, there are an unfortunately small collection of valid resources on FUE hair transplantation and such work is often disparate. Collaborative medical resources, meanwhile, are particularly sparse. FUE Magazine is FUEE’s effort to address this vacuum, and negative industry trends, with a reliable publication that combines medical science with patient advocacy.
FUE Magazine brings surgeons the opportunity to present their research or procedures and patients can increase their awareness. Both are essential to encourage surgeon awareness and skill while also addressing the trend of subpar and/or exploitive results that patients face. This is not to make surgeons feel insecure or ostracized but, rather, to stay current on new developments and important conclusions.
Why Europe?
Europe was actually the first region to begin widely practicing FUE, then Asia, and then the US. Worldwide, this is entirely due to the medical students and practitioners who saw promise in the technique. One of the original researchers of contemporary FUE, Dr. Ross particularly has advocated for progressive changes within the industry. Standards, practices, and availability have changed since the early days of FUE. Once a developing method, FUE is now the most practiced option worldwide.
FUE’s ascendency results from an increase of surgeons with adequate training. However, many clinics are also offering the procedure for competitiveness’ shake. There is nothing wrong with such an incentive, it encourages mastery of the technique as well, but many inadequate clinics are just attempting to profit off FUE’s reputation.
Standards and regulations, or “red tape,” can frustrate research. However, it also controls practices. This is particularly why FUEE is putting its effort into FUE Magazine; surgeons and clinics must maintain demanding standards to operate. This is not the case in much of the rest of the world, including the US, where hair transplantation remains largely unmonitored and unregulated even if subject to general US standards and regulations.
FUE Magazine Champions Patient Advocacy
Establishing the importance of patient advocacy is essential to FUE Magazine’s values. Most hair transplant content focuses on surgeon interests and consumer demand. Surgeons themselves, depending on their scruples and skill set, can cut corners in a number of ways without feeling liable to their patients.
The only real option to advocate for patients, therefore, is to increase awareness to discourage bad or exploitative practices. Further, patient advocacy undoubtedly means facilitating and informing surgeons. FUE is a demanding procedure but many surgeons with international acclaim prioritize conferences and workshops wherein surgeons can develop of their skillset. Informing developing hair transplant specialists of their options, many of them new and in reaction to current negative trends, is essential. Further, keeping established surgeons informed of trends and developments, both the good and bad, is necessary to encourage, and maintain, the best results possible. There are several ways FUE Magazine’s content advocates for patients while empowering surgeons.
Featuring Content Written by Patient Advocates
First off, championing patients means printing content from established and respected patient advocates. Featured in the second issue of FUE Magazine, for instance, are well known and proven advocates Spencer David Kobren and Joe Tillman. FUEE’s overall collaboration with the IAHRS further underscores this intrinsic value and readers should expect future commentary in the future.
Featuring General Articles to Improve Technique
A number of respectable surgeons contributed to FUE Magazine’s second issue. Such articles typically focus on research to inform and aid hair transplant surgeons. Differentiating between hair loss causes, selecting proper candidates, descriptions of techniques, and other research articles are all essential for maintaining good practices. Particularly useful for surgeons just entering the hair transplant industry, such articles also contain new research for developed hair transplant specialists.
Informing Readers of New Practices and Trends
The primary reason for FUE Magazine’s founding, examining practices and trends is essential for the longevity and well being of the whole hair transplant industry. The unfortunate fact is that much of the industry receives confluent information depending on the source. FUE Magazine, meanwhile, seeks to highlight effective treatments, techniques, and devices as advocated by individual surgeons. Further, it seeks to examine reasons negative trends, such as slow adoption of FUE and/or exploitive or subpar clinics or device makers, and examines their impacts on the industry as a whole.
Facilitating Surgeons to Perform at their Best
FUEE’s and the IAHRS’s collaboration are opening new inroads for surgeons who want to learn about FUE. This includes facilitating workshops and talks about how surgeons can best service their patients while serving their clinic’s interests. Contributors may plug new opportunities, learning or professional, while the magazine itself will critique and examine industry practices to help better guide hair transplant specialists.