Jenny Robinson was only 28 when doctors diagnosed her with a life-threatening brain tumor. Thanks to chemotherapy, surgery and an experimental treatment at Duke University—not to mention her own unyielding desire to live—Robinson survived.
However, the invasive procedures took their toll, both emotionally and physically. Robinson was left with a huge bare spot on her head—an area about 8 inches across and 5 inches wide. The zone could not be covered by extensions, and Robinson was not medically able to undergo transplant surgery.
That’s when she turned to salonb (561/394-0024), the brainchild of Alan Bauman and his Boca-based Bauman Medical Group. Since opening in 1997, Bauman Medical Group has become one of the leading practices in hair treatment technology. Over the years, Bauman has treated some 17,000 patients and performed over 7,000 surgical procedures.
The renowned hair-transplant surgeon spoke with Boca Raton about salonB and his work with Jenny Robinson.
What services does salonB provide that distinguish it from your other practice?
Normally, we treat men and women with hair loss, and we do surgical treatments and so forth. salonB allows us to do two different things: Number one is help with scalp health and trichology. Trichology is the study of hair and scalp, and it’s kind of like a paramedical field. Like an aesthetician would help a dermatologist or a plastic surgeon, a trichologist would help a hair transplant surgeon. The other thing that salonB allows us to do is offer state-of-the-art, high quality, Italian made hair replacement systems. And so this is human hair that is basically inserted into a scalp prosthetic that’s made specifically for the patient.
This is important for patients who are not candidates for hair transplant—maybe it’s a medical reason where they can’t undergo surgery but they have a large area of hair loss. Or maybe they have a temporary situation, like undergoing chemotherapy, where their hair eventually will grow back. We can now take a mold of their scalp— look at the quality, curl and color of their existing hair, along with the length that they want—and send all of that information over to Italy and have a beautiful hair system made.
Can you tell us more about the CNC hair treatment that you recently performed on Jenny Robinson?
It’s not a wig. It’s more like a wig than a hair transplant, but instead of having to lace mesh over the scalp, this gets attached with medical grade, FDA-cleared adhesives, which have been patch-tested way in advance for allergies. She literally will wear this system, which is like a second skin, a second scalp, with all of this amazing hair, for four to six weeks—and then she’ll go and have it maintained. This means they’ll carefully remove it, treat the scalp gently with some masks and de-bonding agents, clean and service the hair system, and then they’ll reapply it. So she’ll do that on a monthly basis.
So what we did about 10 weeks ago now, was measure her for what we call this CNC, and that’s the Cesare Ragazzi hair system. It took about eight weeks for them to create it, and the CEO flew over from Italy to hand-deliver it to her. The stylist that referred her to me from New Jersey also flew in to style the hair. It was a pretty amazing story to see. Jenny is a fighter, an amazing survivor of this very deadly type of brain cancer. To give her the hair back that she wanted … well, it really gave her a boost.
With salonB, do you plan on doing more pro-bono treatments like the one you performed on Ms. Robinson?
One of the main things that we’ve been doing at Bauman Medical for almost 20 years is offering pro-bono treatments and services. That includes laser therapy treatments for cancer patients and hair transplants for people who had birth defects or trauma or injury. We did eyelash transplants for a woman who lost her eyelashes in a car accident. We’ve always done this pro-bono work. salonB now allows us to offer this extra hair-replacement technology, this state-of-the-art hair system; it becomes another extension of what we do. Now it’s really full service—we can run the full gamut of symptomatic scalp, hair loss, etc.
What’s the next generation of hair treatment, and do you think the techniques and technology used at salonB will play a role in this generation?
I think what we have is really the model for full-service hair loss issues and healthy scalp concerns. We can take anybody with some kind of a hair or scalp problem, diagnose it, medicate it, monitor it, treat it, and track the improvements over time. Whether it’s something simple like itchy, flaky scalp, which about half of all people have, or something more concerning like a hair-loss situation through accidents or trauma or heredity, we can address all of that.
Why do you think clinics like salonB are so important for people to have access to?
Hair is such an important part of looking good and feeling good. I mean you can live without hair, but science and our research and psychology of hair loss tells us that when you have a hair problem, you’re having a bad hair day. And if you have a chronic hair problem, that can turn into a bad hair life. Being able to address these symptoms of scalp, hair loss, breakage, baldness, etc., and being able to give someone back a full, thick, healthy head of hair and a healthy scalp gives them an amazing emotional boost. That’s the benefit of salonB.
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About Emma
Emma Grubman is a senior at Indiana University studying Journalism and Marketing, and is interning at Boca Magazine this summer. In addition to her passion for writing, she loves pizza, coffee and her dog Charlie. You can reach Emma at grubmane@gmail.com.
