'I'm a hair surgeon - here's how it works, what we earn and the celebrity who's had the best transplant'
If you've ever spent your morning commute daydreaming about starting afresh with your career, this feature is for you. Every week, we speak to someone from a different profession to discover what it's really like and today we chat to hair surgeon and co-founder of The Treatment Rooms, Dr Roshan Vara.
A typical salary for a hair surgeon... really depends on whether you're an owner or employee. In the UK, salaries can start at £38,000 but range north of £150,000.
I wanted to be a botanist while growing up... I still have a passion for plants, and you will often find me tending my garden on a weekend. I went on to study medicine as, ultimately, I had a fascination for all the sciences, and medicine was a great blend of them all. My background is in acute medicine and surgery, and I've worked in hospitals throughout London.
A friend's botched hair transplant... prompted me to consider opening my own hair transplant clinic. Sadly, our friend's experience was not isolated; we realised that many people were seeking solutions for bad hair transplant results.
I get into work for 6.30am... I will look at my emails and take a look at my surgical case that day. I'll mentally prepare for the patient - their personality, their goal from surgery and what they're most worried about. My patient arrives at 7am and I'll go through their consent and get them ready for surgery. I'll be operating from 8am until 12pm and then there will be a break between 12pm and 1pm. I then restart surgery around 1pm and operate until 3pm-5pm - this varies from patient to patient.
I do a lot of "hair counselling"... After surgery finishes, I'll head into my office, where I may have patients scheduled to be seen. This is where I will be counselling them around their hair loss and their surgical requirements. There is a lot of managing expectations, and most of the time I'm helping patients understand how their hair is going to change over the next 10-30 years and what we need to be prepared for.
After 5pm, one of my staff will ask me to shoot a social media video... to showcase a result or explain surgery. I'll have time to catch up on emails again and work on the clinic's business operations.
I complete around 250 to 300 surgeries a year... and I average between 50 to 70 hours a week.
The celebrity with the best hair transplant is... Steve Carell, star of the US version of The Office. His hairline was noticeably thinning in season one, and underwent a dramatic, natural change in season two. It made such a big difference to him. Importantly, the plan for his surgery was suitable for his age, and one that will hopefully last him a long time. Equally, I've seen plenty of famous people with less-than-optimal results. I wouldn't feel comfortable naming anyone publicly, especially as they may be perfectly happy with the outcome. If someone ever needed advice, I'm always happy to help.
I'm a massive cricket fan, so... working with any top cricketer would be amazing - maybe Joe Root? Virat Kohli? Steve Smith? Not that they need it!
There is a real lack of formal training for hair transplant surgery.... Doctors require a medical degree and then afterwards need to find an established surgeon from whom they can learn the process of hair transplant surgery. It often takes a full year to become relatively proficient at the procedure.
You need to be able to hold high levels of concentration during the six to eight-hour procedure... and have an artistic flair to understand how light and shadow patterns in hair can create wonderful natural results.
The biggest misconception about my role is... that I'm able to clone or replicate hair when performing surgery. Hair transplant surgery currently involves the redistribution of hair from an area of abundance (commonly the back and sides of the scalp) to an area lacking it, such as the hairline and crown. Eventually, a patient will run out of hair if they keep having surgery to cover bald areas. Hence, I spend a lot of my time advising patients that it might not be the best time for them to have surgery and to delay it.
I remember one patient who... had anxieties about his hair dating back three decades, when he was bullied at school. It was made worse during his time in the army, where he was required to shave his head. As the years went by and his hair continued to thin, he began to lose touch with his former self - and, crucially, with a passion for art and painting. It left him in a prolonged state of anxiety. He underwent surgery to his hairline with an amazing outcome, and has since rekindled his old passion for painting and found a new lease of life for himself and his family. He and his wife were so thankful for the efforts of me and my team, and it's a case that will live long in my memory.
We treat TV personalities, musicians, athletes, actors, Fortune 500 CEOs, and more... Many request unshaven hair transplants, which we specialise in, allowing them to return to work with minimal downtime. For these patients, privacy and confidentiality are handled with the utmost care. NDAs are often part of the process, and of course, confidentiality is something we uphold as part of good medical practice. Sadly, I wouldn't be able to divulge which famous patients we've treated!
A hair transplant will cost between... £3,000 and £10,000 at our clinic. We'll only know an exact price for surgery after an in-person consultation with the patient. Our clinic offers a 0% finance plan that can help spread the payments.
It is imperative that we recognise the mental health implications of hair loss... and the transformative potential of hair transplants. Destigmatising these procedures is not just about reshaping hairlines; it is about reshaping societal attitudes towards ageing, appearance, and mental health for men. By fostering an environment of acceptance and understanding, we encourage men to take proactive steps towards enhancing their confidence and overall well-being.
I suspect I'll begin to wind down at the age of 55... but, knowing me, I will get restless. I love solving problems and thinking of new ideas for growth, and I don't see myself losing this passion.
One of the most extreme cases I've worked on... was a repair for a patient who had travelled to Turkey for surgery at an unregulated clinic. The previous procedure had been done so poorly that parts of their scalp were left with severely compromised blood supply - meaning even the basic healing process was a concern, let alone hair growth. The scalp is incredibly delicate and requires careful handling - it's your head, after all.
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