Bet You Can't Tell Who Had the Hair Transplant

In the past couple weeks, there has been lots of Internet buzz about the possibility that New England Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady might be consulting with a hair transplant specialist. The National Enquirer even tailed Brady’s SUV and reported that he spent an hour at the offices of a hair restoration doctor in Rhode Island. Even Sports Illustrated is participating in the rumor mill.

Our question is: so what? After 20 years of advancing and perfecting the art of hair transplants and hair restoration, can’t we all get beyond the petty snickering that arises whenever a notable person chooses to explore his options?

We have seen great strides in the past few years to bring other cosmetic procedures out of the back rooms and into the open. It's not uncommon for celebrities to openly discuss their breast augmentations, their mommy makeovers or their Botox regimen. But hair transplants? They remain a secret.

The fact is that there are lots of notable people that have undergone hair transplant procedures that you might never suspect. Modern, state-of-the-art hair restoration is virtually undetectable. To illustrate that point, the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery recently fielded the 2010 Hair Transplant Challenge Survey and presented respondents with the photos of four men and four women.

After looking at those photos can you pick out the man in the group that has undergone a hair transplant?

If you identified A – the man on the far left – as most respondents did, you are wrong. The man who underwent a hair transplant is B. Nearly 66 percent of respondents could not identify the right man, which really shows how undetectable today’s hair restoration techniques are.

How about among the women – which one of these women do you think has undergone a hair transplant?

If you answered A, the woman on the far left, you are correct. However, less than 12 percent of the survey respondents were able to get that right, meaning that more than 88 percent could not tell which of the women had undergone a hair transplant.

The bottom line is that the next time you read about a celebrity possibly considering a hair transplant remember that today's hair transplant techniques are undetectable -- so there are probably a lot more celebrities who are having the procedures done than you would ever imagine.

Stop the snickering and accept that nobody should be criticized for seeking to feel better about themselves. If we can openly discuss Botox injections, breast implants and eye lifts without worrying about the National Enquirer jumping on the story, why shouldn't we be able to openly discuss a hair transplant?