- First of its kind to be streamed live in the UK
- Ex-England footballer, Michael Gray undergoes live surgery
- Real-time Q & A via Twitter
Ex-England football player, Michael Gray, took part in the UK’s first live broadcast of hair transplant surgery on Monday, 11 June. Over 22,000 viewers tuned in from across the globe to witness the procedure – performed by Dr Bessam Farjo, Medical Director of the Institute of Trichologists.
Both surgeon and patient took part in a real-time Q and A via Twitter throughout the seven hour operation, in a first for the UK’s cosmetic surgery industry. Hundreds of questions came in from men considering the procedure, with topics ranging from its cost to the sensation of having the hairs implanted.
The event started at 10am and was hosted by Herald and Times journalist, Brian Beacom – author of Diary of a Hair Transplant: A Journalist’s Search for David Cassidy Hair. Viewers watched as Dr Farjo took follicular unit grafts from the back of Michael’s head, before re-implanting approximately 5,000 hairs at the front, where he had been receding.
Michael commented: “I’m really happy with the ways things have gone today and to have been part of this landmark project. I never expected 22,000 would be watching me have a hair transplant, but hopefully it’s given anyone else who is considering the surgery some insight into how it all works.“
Now that he has had the operation Michael will start to grow new hairs in around three months, with the full extent of new hair growth being apparent between eight and 14 months.
Michael continued: Although it will be some time until the results are clearly visible, I can already see an indication of what my hairline’s going to look like and I couldn’t be more pleased. I’d definitely recommend this to anyone thinking about having it done.”
Dr Farjo, a world-leading authority on hair loss and hair transplant surgery, commented:
“Michael was a fantastic patient and coped extremely well in what was certainly a very unusual day for him (and us). I’m delighted with the response from the public and the level of interest it has generated for hair transplant surgery.”
Dr Farjo is consistently at the cutting edge of cosmetic surgery. He performed the world’s first full beard reconstruction by hair transplantation in 1996 and his recent research projects included the ICX-TRC study, working with Intercytex Plc. The findings of this project will hopefully contribute towards the successful cloning of human hair, heralding a new era in the field of hair transplant surgery.
Dr Farjo continued: “The aim of today was to help educate people about this procedure and I definitely believe that this has been achieved.”
