A Health Adventure

AN APPLE a day, it is said, helps keep the doctor away. For two desperately ill babies however, taking Viagra – the male impotence drug – has actually saved their lives.

Lewis Goodfellow, born 16 weeks early, is making excellent progress after being given the drug, also called Sildenafil, to help open blood vessels in his under-developed lungs.

Erin Cottington, on the other hand, is doing well after taking one of the blue pills every day to help keep her blood pressure down.

Lewis, one of the first babies to be given the drug at the Royal Victoria Infirmary’s special baby care unit in Newcastle, was born premature, with seriously under-developed lungs.

When he was three weeks old, he needed open-heart surgery to correct a faulty valve. But doctors became increasingly worried about his lungs. Despite being given maximum supplies of oxygen, he still struggled to get it into his blood, reported the Daily Mail.

As a last resort the doctors tried Viagra through a drip – and he started to improve.

Now after five months in hospital, Lewis is back at home with his parents. And he is even starting to smile.

Erin Cottington was first given Viagra when she was a few days old to help her overcome life-threatening circulatory problems caused by her under-developed heart and lungs.

Erin was born with her intestines and bowels pushed into her chest cavity, crushing her heart and right lung.

Artificial blood was pumped into her lungs to help increase their capacity. She was given Viagra to open up her blood vessels and improve the flow.

Altogether, Erin had had eight operations, including open-heart surgery, before she was three months old.

After more than 10 months in hospital, Erin returned home to Blackley, Manchester, where she is developing like a normal child.

Source : Thestar

I had the honor to visit the world renowned Limmer clinic in San Antonio, Texas on Tuesday, March 20th of 2007. In many respects the Limmer clinic is the birth place of “follicular unit grafting” since it was Dr. Bobby Limmer and his staff who first began using microscopes to visualize [...]

I had the honor to visit the world renowned Limmer clinic in San Antonio, Texas on Tuesday, March 20th of 2007. In many respects the Limmer clinic is the birth place of “follicular unit grafting” since it was Dr. Bobby Limmer and his staff who first began using microscopes to visualize and trim naturally occurring follicular units into follicular unit grafts.

Dr. Bobby Limmer’s significant contributions to the refinement and advancement of follicular unit hair transplantation are well documented, including in the ”History of Hair Transplantation” section of the Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center.

Dr. Bobby Limmer shared his techniques and findings with his peers and was a persuasive advocate for the follicular unit procedure. For his part in pioneering this excellent surgical procedure Dr. Bobby Limmer was awarded the “Platinum Follicle Award” by the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery in 1996.

Over 14 years ago Dr. Bobby Limmer was joined by his son Dr. Brad Limmer who also has a strong background in dermatology. By joining his father’s hair transplant practice Brad was able to study under his renowned father and learn what would later become accepted as the “Gold Standard” in hair transplantation. He also learned his father’s emphasis upon honest and upfront education with all patients.

The Limmer clinic has continued to refine their follicular unit technique and today create minimally invasive incisions that are as small as 0.7 mm for the one hair grafts. These tiny incisions enable them to place more grafts closer together when appropriate for the patient. Patients now experience more rapid healing.

The Limmer clinic also using a technique referred to as “stick and place” in which the grafts are inserted immediately after the incision is made. Since the fresh incision is still dilated and has not begun to contract it is easier for the staff to place tiny grafts into very tiny incisions.

In general I was impressed by how refined, clean and minimally invasive the incisions and graft placements were.

They also typically remove a donor strip that is 1.2 cm wide and do not like to exceed this width because they feel it increases the risks of a visible donor scar. They also use internal and external sutures that are dissolvable. They feel that the internal sutures remove much of the tension from the external skin layer closure and thus minimize any potential scarring.

Dr. Bobby Limmer was not at the clinic on the day of my visit. But I was impressed by Brad Limmer and their very experienced staff.

My son is 24 and is balding from crown to front across the whole top of his head.He’s depressed and we’re going tomorrow for a consult with hrg, pgh, pa. we are both paycheck to paycheck, but, i’d do anything for his state of mind to get back on track, this is so unfair and he’s become [...]

My son is 24 and is balding from crown to front across the whole top of his head.He’s depressed and we’re going tomorrow for a consult with hrg, pgh, pa. we are both paycheck to paycheck, but, i’d do anything for his state of mind to get back on track, this is so unfair and he’s become a different person. how much are we in for with a hair transplant? it’s gonna be the entire top of his head. thanks for any replies. i’m his mom and he’s had a tough life, and he’s quite a good kid, man….help!!!!

I’m sorry to hear about your son’s hair loss experience. It’s particularly tough for a young man.I strongly suggest that you get him a prescription for Propecia/Finasteride. This once a day pill is the closest thing to a “Miracle Cure for Hair Loss”. In 80% of men it either slows, stops or even reverses hair loss. To learn more about Propecia visit the Propecia section of this site.

The generic version of Propecia -  ”Finasteride” can be as cheap as $20 per month. Hair Transplants to cover the entire top of his head could cost $15,000 or more. TRY PROPECIA FIRST.I suggest you get a free prescription from one of the top hair restoration recommended on the Hair Transplant Network

Best wishes, PatPublisher of the Hair Transplant Network, the Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center, and the Hair Loss Q & A Blog. To share ideas with other hair loss sufferers visit our Hair Restoration Discussion Forum.