Tag Archives: Newport SMP

What You Need to Know About Scalp Micro Pigmentation

There are many different avenues to a fuller-looking head of hair. Some might get a FUE or FUT transplant (if they qualify), start using specialized shampoo & follicle activator spray, give laser therapy a shot, or try any combination of methods. We encourage all of these approaches, of course, but there might be another that you have yet to consider. It’s a fairly new trend, and it’s simpler than you might think. 

Allow us to fill you in on what’s known as Scalp Micro Pigmentation, which is often referred to as SMP for short. To keep it short, the person performing the procedure creates a dense grouping of medical-grade tattoos, each about the size of the tip of a ballpoint pen, specifically matching the density of the hairs on that part of the patient’s head.

“Wait, but what’s a medical-grade tattoo?” You might be thinking, “Couldn’t I just have my local tattoo artist take care of it?” Let’s just get this out of the way now: tattoo artists are not qualified to perform SMP by any means. For starters, there’s no sort of major oversight group to monitor the safety of tattoo parlors. In contrast, the people cleared to perform SMP are strictly monitored by the state medical licensing board, meaning that they have to follow an incredibly precise set of guidelines concerning how these tattoos are given to patients.

A Modena patient’s thinning crown before & after their SMP procedure.

Let’s get back to explaining SMP itself, though. This sort of procedure can be useful for quite a few different people. For starters, if you recently got a hair transplant & want to make it seem like there’s more hairs between the transplanted ones, an SMP procedure can be an excellent option. It also works for people who want to fill in the space between thinner hairs, and if you don’t feel like having too much hair restoration work done, you can even have larger areas of your scalp pigmented to give the appearance of a very low-cropped shaved hairdo.

A donor scar resulting an FUT procedure, also known as the “strip” procedure, can be covered up in this manner as well. As another example, if a person decides to go to a less experienced hair surgeon before finding us at Modena Hair Institute, either at our Newport, Beverly Hills, or Las Vegas locations, we can utilize the procedure to cover up poorly-closed donor areas that would’ve stuck out far more clearly otherwise. 

You can see an example of how this plays out in the first half of the video we’ve included here. This Modena patient was dealing with a rather wide donor scar that appeared clear as day along the back of his head. With some moderate pigmentation by Dr. Yazdan, however, one cannot tell that any procedure had been performed in the first place. The same can be said of the person appearing in the second half, who had a space in the center of their head & left with it not only looking completely filled-in, but natural in turn. When it’s all said and done, the results will end up lasting you around 3-5 years.

The best results, however, only come when you have an experienced professional handling things. If done poorly, the results can end up looking worse than unnatural. How can this happen, you wonder? Well, many of the negative experiences people have at outside clinics center on a certain safety factor that wasn’t in play, along with a lack of experience.

One of the main causes of a botched SMP procedure, for instance, is bad ink. If you’ve seen the results of botched budget tattoos people get on other parts of their body, imagine how that would look on someone’s scalp. It’s a sorry sight, to say the least, and it can be easily avoided. All you have to do is avoid the temptation of dubious budget clinics, where cheapness is often a result of cutting corners in safety. Instead, opt for a clinic like Modena Hair Institute, where board-certified & licensed physician Amir Yazdan follows precise medical standards to make the procedure completely safe & sanitary.

Of course, with cheap outside clinics, there’s also the risk of ending up with dramatically unnatural markings on your head, resulting from the performer’s lack of experience replicating real hairlines. Your surgeon should know a natural hair grouping like it’s their first name, and as you can tell from the pictures above, Dr. Yazdan fits that description better than any other hair restoration surgeon out there.

The long-lasting nature of the procedure means it’s more than vital that things are done right the first time. That’s why all SMP procedures at Modena are performed under the guidance of Dr. Amir Yazdan, a board-certified hair restoration surgeon & physician who has years of experience in his field. You can see various examples of his patients here, and set up a consultation of your own here.

What If a Hair Transplant Isn’t an Option?

As hair restoration options grow more effective and varied, FUE & FUT transplants continue to be permanently significant. Yet there are some factors that can limit one’s hair restoration options. For instance, if your available donor areas don’t have enough follicles for your transplant area, you’ll have a hard time getting either type of procedure done. People suffering from alopecia areata, otherwise known as spot baldness, also find themselves unable to receive a transplant due to their condition. These, along with other factors we haven’t mentioned, mean that effective alternatives to a hair transplant are an absolute must.

Thankfully, they’re not only out there, but they’ve already helped scores of people change their life & get their hair back. These treatments, known as PRP hair regrowth therapy, scalp micro pigmentation, and low level laser therapy, are often used as supplements to hair transplants, but they’ve also been extremely helpful as standalone procedures. Let’s go through them one by one so we can show what makes them as important & effective as they are.

PRP Hair Regrowth Therapy

If you aren’t familiar, PRP is short for platelet-rich plasma, which exists as part of one’s blood &  has a wide range of natural healing & growth properties. To obtain its benefits, a hair restoration surgeon like Dr. Amir Yazdan of Modena Hair Institute will begin the procedure by drawing some of your blood & preparing it for PRP extraction. Here at Modena, Dr. Yazdan uses a specialized process unique to his Las Vegas, Beverly Hills & Newport clinics. Specifically, he performs what’s known as the “multiple-spin technique”, which involves rapidly spinning the vial of blood in different directions at high speeds until nearly all the PRP in the sample is separated. From there, proprietary growth factors & activators are added to maximize the growth & healing potential of the plasma.

Once that’s completed, the PRP is lightly injected into the scalp & begins its work to shift follicles from what’s known as the “telogen” phase of their life cycle (when hair loss occurs) to “anagen”, or the growing phase. This, along with the assistance it offers the immune & endocrine systems in tackling hair loss, begins to show in as little as three weeks, fully manifesting in a matter of a few months from there. 

With the combination of our unique extraction system, the state-of-the-art technology at our clinics, and the years of expertise Dr. Yazdan brings to the table, PRP hair regrowth therapy has become a treatment choice for countless Modena patients, whether they’re receiving it on its own or getting it in supplement to a FUE or strip hair transplant.

Scalp Micro Pigmentation

Before & after a SMP procedure at Modena Hair Institute (performed by Dr. Yazdan)

Like PRP therapy, scalp micro pigmentation, known as SMP for short, is quite common as both a standalone procedure & a supplement to others. Unlike PRP though, there’s no drawing of blood involved, and the needles being used are attached to tattoo guns, rather than syringes. 

This is far from a tattoo you could get at a shop across the street, though. How, you ask? Well, simply, it’s medical-grade. With SMP, every aspect, including ink, tools, and the person performing the procedure, falls under the strict supervision of the state’s medical licensing  board, while the inks, processes & tattooers at conventional shops are entirely unregulated from a medical standpoint. Even professional tattoo artists acknowledge infections as a potential danger with their work, and an ink-related infection in the scalp area could be disastrous for future hair growth. Besides that, even just from a cosmetic standpoint, a tattoo artist with no knowledge of hair groupings would be bound to fumble in the pursuit of creating a natural look. In short, not just any tattoo or tattooer will do. Whoever performs this procedure for you needs to know your hair growth pattern like it’s their own first name, along with needing to stick to strict medical codes & keep your safety at the forefront of their mind.

When you come into a Modena clinic, you can be sure that’s exactly what you’re getting. Dr. Yazdan, a licensed physician, has dedicated much of his time to perfecting the SMP procedure, and his patients’ results show that he’s done the necessary work to achieve optimal results in the safest possible way.

Low Level Laser Therapy

Lastly, having become an increasingly popular phenomenon in the past few years, low level laser therapy, known as LLLT or simply “laser hair therapy”, has shown to be very promising for a significant amount of people. So how does it work? Well, as told in the name, in LLLT, a series of low level laser diodes is distributed evenly surrounding the scalp, firing off periodically to kick follicles into the “anagen” stage of their life cycle. This, as we mentioned before, is when hair growth takes place.

As it goes with these promising technologies, not all iterations live up to the hype. For instance, many companies making LLLT devices have cut costs with their products by making them far too weak to be effective. Others are just low quality through & through, merely made to cash in on a rising trend. 

There is one, however, that we’ve found to stick out beyond the rest in a big way. Known as the CapillusRX, its first strength comes in the amount of diodes it boasts compared to the competition. Rather than sticking in the 100-200 range like much of the competition, it comes packed with 312 diodes that cover the entire scalp with little to no blank space. Its second advantage comes with convenience; rather than needing to come into a clinic for treatment, CapillusRX owners can carry out their anti-hair loss therapy in the comfort of their own home, with the device fitting on one’s head like a regular cap. Lastly, this devices rises above the others with the virtue of saving time; patients only have to wear it for six minutes each day, and results start appearing within a few months of starting treatment. 

If you already opened a new tab to order it to your door, slow down. Unlike the standard, less effective alternatives, you can’t order this from a store; it’s only available via licensed physicians who offer it out of their practice. Fortunately for you, Dr. Yazdan offers the CapillusRX out of every Modena location in California & Nevada, and all you need to do is reach out & stop in for a consultation to see whether LLLT is the right hair loss treatment for you. 

Learn more about PRP therapy, SMP, and LLLT, along with the many other services & treatments we offer, by visiting our website.