Exclusive: Ex-England Player Live Hair Transplant

Earlier today UK’s first live broadcast of hair transplant surgery took place performed by Dr Bessam Farjo – Medical Director of the Institute of Trichologists. The procedure saw both surgeon and patient take part in a real-time Q and A via Twitter. Ex-England football player, Michael Gray [1. Michael Gray played for premiership teams including Sunderland, Blackburn Rovers and Sheffield Wednesday], undertook the surgery, which was streamed live to viewers across the internet, in a first for the UK’s cosmetic surgery industry.

Viewers were invited to submit questions via Twitter and engage in an online conversation throughout the course of the surgery, providing unprecedented access to the procedure and its progress, from both the patient’s and surgeon’s points of view.

“Our broadcast is intended to orchestrate a pioneering moment for the hair loss community, as well as the surgical field, giving the nation a first-hand look at the procedure and helping to dispel misconceptions around hair transplant surgery.” – Dr Bessam Farjo

The last time the UK featured a broadcast of this type, was when Channel 4 aired operation footage on its programme ‘Surgery Live’ back in 2009, which featured a live broadcast of brain, stomach and open-heart surgery. The show had 3.5 million viewers and gained extensive media coverage, reporting on the exceptional levels of Twitter activity throughout the course of the show.

“People refer to the harrowing experience a woman must go through when losing her hair, however it can be equally upsetting for men, who can suffer from a severe loss of self-esteem. I hope the live broadcast will help us to educate people about hair transplant surgery and open up discussions around the solutions available to those experiencing hair loss.” – Michael Gray

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.