Lastly, feel free to inquire if the doctor has helped contribute to the science of hair restoration by performing some research in the field and publishing his or her findings. Publishing medical papers shows that the physician is sharing ideas and experience with other doctors in order to promote patient care. If the publications are in peer reviewed medical journals, the medical community holds them to be of significant value.

Techniques and Approach
You are going to want to ask the Doctor what techniques they use and how long they've been performing them. Follicular Unit Transplantation, or FUT for short, is the procedure that has made modern hair transplantation completely natural – if performed correctly that is. If they do perform FUT, ask the doctor where they learned it. It is preferably that they learned the procedure from one of the technique pioneers, like Dr. Robert Bernstein, Dr. William Rassman or Dr. Bobby Limmer. This will give you a sense of whether they really know the nuances of this procedure.

When conducting your interview, ask whether the surgical staff uses microscopes for dissection, loop magnification, or simply the naked eye. Using the naked eye does not allow the optimal harvesting of the follicular units and loop magnification is only a tad better. Stereo-microscopes allow the surgeon and his team to perform the most accurate graft dissection and best preserve donor hair. Take a look at the operating room to make sure it has clean up-to-date equipment, and that there are plenty of microscopes on hand, as each clinical staff member will need one.

Questions to Ask

• What percentage of patients do you recommend surgery for? (People may not be candidates for a hair transplant for a variety of reasons. If the doctor recommends surgery for most patients that he sees, then something is wrong). Many men with early hair loss should be first treated with medication and the majority of women is actually not good candidates for surgery (because of their generalized thinning) and will never be.
• What about shedding? (If the doctor says "my techniques are very good so my patient's never shed existing hair after surgery" then run out the door because that is simply not a realistic prediction of the surgical outcome of a hair transplant).
• What did my examination show? (The doctor should be able to tell you exactly what he ascertained about your hair loss condition after examining you).
• What age do you start treating patients? (Anyone under 25 has yet to display the traits used to predict their hair loss in say 10 years, for that reason a good surgeon will not perform a hair transplant on anyone too young).

• Are you being evaluated by a salesman or a doctor? (Though it is fine for a medical assistant to answer general questions, and a salesman to answer financial ones, any examination should be conducted by a doctor and he should be the one making the recommendations. The doctor should not come in as the finisher; he should be the starter and the only one practicing medicine.
• Is your consultation focused on your long-term plan for your hair loss problem or is it just about quickly getting a "hair fix"? (A good doctor will be thinking about where your hair loss is headed many years from now.)
• Is the doctor examining you thoroughly? (He or she should not take a cursory glance at the back of your head and exclaim "oh you're a great candidate for a hair transplant!". Make sure that you are examined very carefully, having your density checked, with a diagnostic tool called a densitometer, and your scalp assessed for laxity.)
• Is your doctor at the office all the time or does he travel from office to office with some other person doing the follow-up care?
• Are you getting the feeling that you are being rushed? (Hair restoration surgery, or any cosmetic procedure, is not right for everyone. It is important that the doctor not rush you into surgery, but rather discuss all options, emphasizing the importance of medical therapy with, or without, surgery.)

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