AT ‘A’ INSTITUTE, IT ONLY TAKES 30 MINUTES ONCE A YEAR TO GROW BACK YOUR HAIR
Ialways knew my days of lush hair were numbered. Hair loss and baldness is typically associated with men — see every hair tonic ad and the US president’s awkward toupee — but I knew from looking at the women in my family that I was genetically predisposed to it. I just didn’t think it would happen so soon. Hair thinning in my late 20s was one of the symptoms that clued me in to my polycystic ovaries, a condition that wreaks havoc on a woman’s hormones like menopause and childbirth. I managed PCOS, but growing back my hair required magic. I tried weaves and hairline makeup — all Band-Aid solutions. I prayed to resurrect my hairline, expected a miracle, yet there I was, pounding herbs, mixing potions by Dr. Google, only to smell like curry.
Aivee Group founder Aivee Aguilar-Teo has the genetic good luck of thick hair in her 40s, but she’s always thinking of her patients’ needs. Working directly on all kinds of skin concerns on faces and bodies in A Institute and Aivee Clinic’s four branches around Metro Manila, she says, “We can’t forget the hair. Thick, healthy hair makes a difference.”
She adds: “A big percentage of women want to do hair thickening and restoration but not everyone wants to do a hair transplant. There’s a huge demand for noninvasive treatments, but the ones we have require patients to come multiple times with multiple treatments. We have busy clients who can’t come to the clinic all the time. We also have clients who come from overseas and outside Manila like Davao and Cebu so they cannot come monthly or weekly. We sought a long-term solution that would benefit both men and women.”
A Institute is the first clinic in the country offering the Lotus Hair Restoration System. It’s a once-a-year, non-invasive, 30-minute treatment that involves autologous micro-grafting, injections and a laser cap to use at home. It’s backed by clinically proven results that get better as the months go by. Lotus is like the hair counterpart of the efficient, once-a-year antiaging laser, ultrasound and radiofrequency treatments for which A Institute and Aivee Clinic have won international awards.
“I see a lot of parallels in hair and skin,” notes Aivee Group CEO Z Teo. “Ten years ago, in skin, we used to do a lot of facelifts simply because we didn’t have the option to prevent the skin from dropping too fast. Right now, we have everything — lasers, Ulthera and Thermage. Facelifts, we hardly do anymore. For hair, that’s also the road it’s gonna go: the Lotus and its take-home laser cap are parallel to the non-invasive treatments we do for the face and body. We’ve done Lotus on some patients during the past couple of months and we’ve seen hair regrowth.” Teo has also referred patients in his Singapore practice to A Institute for Lotus. “It’s a good first line of treatment for most people instead of buying shampoos,” he adds with a laugh, making me regret what I’ve spent on placebos.
“Some shampoos are okay, but they are not enough,” Dr. Aivee says. “It’s always best to consult. It’s not as simple as buying a new lipstick that you can discard if you don’t like it. Here, there’s a whole program.”
IS LOTUS RIGHT FOR ME?
A Institute’s Hair Lab head Jose Crisanto III (a.k.a. Dr. Third) starts with some real talk gained from over two decades of experience: “There’s no holy grail, no silver bullet — there’s nothing instant in hair restoration. Therefore, we try to approach it from many angles. One hair follicle and one hair strand is as complex as an eyeball. There’s a lot of movement and parts, so we can stimulate growth in different ways.”
The A Institute approaches the different causes of hair loss through four modalities. “All four have clinical value — backed by my peers, discussed in conferences, and researched with evidence and data from studies,” he says.
Dr. Z adds, “The A Institute is always at the cutting edge of dynamic changes in medicine. Medicine is always changing. If there are new things and the promise is good, we’re at the top of the game. We now have all the options.”
The medical approach uses twicedaily application of tried-and-tested pharmaceuticals like Minoxidil and Propecia. While available in drugstores, all three doctors warn against self-prescription. Dr. Third explains, “These have a rebound effect, so once you start, you have to stick with it for life.”
The laser approach is Revage. For those in need of a targeted approach, there are two injection treatments available. The Lotus’ predecessor is the Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) treatment, widely used for almost two decades now. Eight CCs of blood is drawn from your veins and subterfuged into a machine that extracts the PRP from the blood. The extract is then injected into areas in the scalp where you are losing your hair. Like Revage, it has a schedule of multiple treatments with weeks in between.
Dr. Third explains, “Hair grows half an inch a month, so it takes a while to really see results. Even just having less hair fall is already a positive way to grow hair. We normally lose 50 to 100 strands a day. Each strand has a lifespan of five to seven years and it will fall off, like how we shed our skin. When it reaches the end of its lifespan, it will leave the root behind as it goes into a resting phase for four to six months and it will get internal signals to grow for another four to seven years.”
He adds: “PRP and Lotus’ role is that when the follicle goes into a resting phase, it will shrink, shrivel and miniaturize. If it doesn’t get internal signals, it dies. That’s the balding process. When you lose hair and it’s not being replaced. Lotus is like a fertilizer that grows the progenitor cells, the mesenchymal cells with internal signals, so it shortens the resting phase and lengthens the growing phase. You lessen hair loss by not letting it sleep. These progenitor cells come from you. There’s nothing synthetic, no medicine, so we concentrate it and let it work efficiently.”
Lotus is different from PRP due to the donor cells needed and the frequency recommended. At the heart of Lotus is a small but incredible machine that obtains autologous micro-grafts from the skin in the scalp. It’s a breakthrough technology invented by Italian scientist and plastic surgeon Antonio Grazia no for the treatment of androgenetic alopecia, a hereditary androgen- dependent progressive th inning of scalp hair affecting 60 to 70 percent of the adult population worldwide. He wanted another permanent treatment option besides fairly invasive hair transplantation.
A Institute offers surgical hair transplantation, from the traditional stripping technique to the cutting-edge Artas Robotic System that dramatically reduces operating time and downtime to give faster visible results.
“Lotus is good for those who are not candidates for hair transplant. There are very few females who qualify for it. There are conditions where this won’t work, like lowering the hairline. That’s where a hair transplant comes in. But if you’re in the early stages of losing your hair, this is very good,” Dr. Third says. “If your hair starts to grow, then maybe you won’t need to do it again. Maybe you won’t need surgery one day.”
But no matter how good the technology is, how soon you start solving it matters. He says, “The more hair you lose, the less hair you’re able to recover. You have to get something to build something.”
TRYING LOTUS
The treatment begins with a blood pressure check. Dr. Third then inspects my scalp and asks me about my health history for his diagnosis. He then points out areas where my hair is thinning out. The nurses take “before” photos so we can track my progress. They then apply topical anaesthetic, Emla numbing cream on the sparse areas as well as a tiny area behind my right ear where the skin samples will be taken. We wait for it to kick in and then proceed to the operating room.
Dr. Third shaves off about two centimeters of hair behind my right ear, injecting anaesthesia into the area until it is completely numb. He then takes punch biopsies measuring two millimeters — usually three — but because of the condition of my scalp, he was able to take five. They are then inserted into the Lotus’ cartridge. The machine shakes the cartridge around, cutting skin tissue to an even tinier 50 microns.
“This is not damaging but cutting with a very fine blade. Then it will give me mesenchymal cells, the origin cells or mother cells,” Dr. Third explains.
He then mixes it into a saline solution and injects it into the sparse areas of my scalp. “Injecting into the area where you need the hair is not adding cells. These produce regulatory systems by giving bioactive signals to stimulate existing hair to grow more. It’s not adding more cars to the road but making the cars more efficient.”
The A Institute uses a technique that lessens the pain of injections. In 30 comfortable minutes, we’re done. The Lotus protocol includes a laser cap that you bring home. You plug it in and place it over your scalp three times a week for 30 minutes to enhance Lotus’ results, like Revage would. I was concerned about treating the tiny punches at home, but I barely noticed them and they healed quickly. The rest of my hair plus my ear effortlessly conceal the shaved spot, too.
Dr. Third notes, “I’ve done this to patients before a transplant and saw quicker healing and regrowth, visible within three months.”
While Lotus has the quickness of a lunch break treatment, your hair will be slicked by Emla and you can’t wet your scalp until the day after, so I recommend doing it on a day when you won’t mind having sticky hair. After that, Dr. Third says there’s no issue in terms of washing, styling and even coloring your hair and enjoying a fuller mane in the months to come as if the clock had been turned back. Ah, the magic of science!
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The A Institute is at 3/F Burgos Park building, Forbestown Road, BGC, Taguig. Contact (02) 9429574 or (0917) 5210222 for appointments.
The trend of efficient, non-invasive treatments expands to hair with the Lotus Hair Restoration system.