Hair Transplant Info - Forever Young, Hair Loss, Dr Gary Hitzig, Hair Transplant

Robert Esposito was riding his bicycle in Brooklyn several years ago when he saw his reflection in a car window. What he saw shocked him.

"Holy cow," he realized. "I'm losing my hair!" He was 48 at the time and had just retired as a lieutenant in the New York City police department. He had no intention of looking like a retiree.

After seeing an ad for hair-replacement surgeon Dr. Gary Hitzig in a local newspaper, Esposito hightailed it over to the doctor's Manhattan office. He had his first hair replacement in 1992 and has had 13 more since then, the last one in February. After a face-lift to deal with baggy eyes and a nose job five years ago, Esposito estimates he's spent $40,000 on cosmetic surgery in the past 12 years.

Is it worth it? "Absolutely," said Esposito, now 60. "I can lie about my age and get away with it."

Big bucks to look good

Esposito is part of a growing wave of Americans who know they're getting older -- but don't feel it. They're also willing to spend big bucks, often tens of thousands of dollars on procedures that health insurance plans do not cover. In some cases, they endure a lot of pain -- and occasionally serious medical risks -- to make sure the rest of the world doesn't think of them as "old," either.

"There is an enormous desire to look good in our youth- oriented society," said Ken Dycht.wald, founder and president of Age Wave, a business consulting firm in San Francisco and author of a best-selling book by the same name. "The public appetite for youthfulness and rejuvenation is enormous."

Television shows such as "Extreme Makeover" and "The Swan" highlight how popular cosmetic surgery has become, but doctors worry about the message they convey.

"People should not have plastic surgery to look like someone else. They should look like themselves," said Dr. Laurence Glickman of the Long Island Plastic Surgical Group in Garden City.

Risks, including death

"There are risks in surgery, up to and including death," said Glickman. "We do not ignore or diminish the risks," he said, adding "in general, the risks are small." Fatalities from cosmetic surgery occurred in one out of 51,459 cases, or 0.0019 percent, according to a recent study done by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

Despite the risks, cosmetic surgery is more popular than ever. To get rid of the wrinkles, bulges and bags that time has deposited, Americans underwent more than 8.7 million cosmetic procedures costing more than $8.3 billion last year, according to the plastic surgeons' society. That figure was up 33 percent from the number of surgeries and treatments done in 2002, and it represents a four-fold increase since 1997. The majority of patients are between the ages of 35 and 64.

"People are taking better care of themselves. They're dieting and exercising, but when they look in the mirror, it doesn't reflect how they feel on the inside," said Dr. Lyle S. Leipziger, chief of plastic surgery at North Shore University Hopsital in Manhasset and Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park.

Dawn Seal, 44, the owner of a nail salon in Seaford, is one of those people. Seal exercises every day and watches what she eats, but, as she put it, "gravity takes its toll."

In the past two years, Seal has undergone four procedures with Glickman, including a tummy tuck, liposuction and laser resurfacing of her face.

That last procedure, done in February, was particularly tough. "I looked like a burn victim," she said. But, she added, it was well worth it. "People don't believe I'm almost 45," she said. "All the lines and spots on my face are gone."

In fact, people are willing to undergo a substantial amount of discomfort to look better, putting truth into that old "Saturday Night Live" line by Billy Crystal's Fernando character: "It is better to look good than to feel good."

Last August, for example, Lia Giovanniello, 43, of Farmingville, had thousands of dollars of cosmetic surgery done at no cost in exchange for agreeing to participate in a British television show on the subject. The process was not simple. She was nine hours in the operating room and had liposuction and a tummy tuck, as well as a breast reduction and lift.

Serious pain after surgery

The next day, she said, she was in such serious pain from the surgery on her stomach that, "if I had had a gun, I would have killed myself." But, after three days, the pain subsided -- and today, "I'd do it all over in a minute," she said.

Luckily, pain is not a prerequisite to looking good these days. Of the number of cosmetic procedures done last year, the fastest-growing are minimally invasive treatments such as Botox injections, collagen treatments and laser skin resurfacing. One big benefit of these treatments is that they avoid the cutting associated with surgery.

Noelle Kolnik, 79, of Bridgehampton, went through a series of 10 laser-treatment sessions on her face this past winter. The treatments, done by Dr. .Alexander Covey, surgical and medical director of East End Laser Care in Southampton, were designed to eliminate wrinkles and get rid of age spots.

"You feel no pain. It's very gentle," Kolnik said. "I don't want to look like a sad, old person. I want to stay young."

Kolnik is happy with the results. "The lines on my nose, under my eyes and on my forehead are gone. It's fabulous," she said.

Better yet, these types of treatments require little recuperation time.

Connie Esposito (no relation to Robert), a 53-year-old divorced mother of three daughters who lives in Setauket, decided to go for a so-called nonsurgical face-lift in January. This type of face-lift works by heating the deep tissues of the skin, using a form of radio waves to gradually tighten the skin, according to Covey.

Esposito has had both Botox and collagen injections in the past. But the effects of these treatments wore off in a matter of months. "You get used to not seeing the wrinkles. I hate wrinkles," she said.

The nonsurgical face-lift was done in Covey's office during the day and Esposito went dancing at a club that same night. "It's not like you've had anything major done," she said. "You can go back to work the next day."

More men under the knife

The vast majority of cosmetic patients are women -- 82 percent -- but men also are increasingly undergoing cosmetic procedures. Last year, male patients surged 28 percent from the previous year, to 1.23 million, according to the plastic surgeons' society.

"I've seen more men in the last year than ever," Leipziger said.

Among his patients have been executives looking to get rid of the marks left by too many nights working late and entertaining clients -- bags under their eyes and "love handles" around their waists. "People want to look as best as they can in the competitive business world," noted Leipziger, who performs eyelid surgery and lipo.suction to deal with these problems.

But among the most popular procedures for men is hair transplantation surgery. Pat.rick Marcone, a character actor who has had speaking roles in "Analyze That," "Law and Order" and "Maid in Manhattan," has had two hair transplants done by Hitzig in Rockville Centre since March 2003. The 47-year-old Riverhead resident had always had thick, wavy hair, he said, but two years ago he noticed his hairline was receding.

"My appearance means so much to me as an actor," said Marcone. "I told Dr. Hitzig, 'You gotta put my hair back!'"

Six months after his latest surgery, and after spending $7,000 on the two procedures, Marcone's hairline is back. The discomfort from the surgery was minor and the area where Hitzig operated looks "totally natural," Marcone said.

Older parents with young children also are electing to undergo cosmetic surgery. Tracy Spanover Dowd of Manhasset had twin boys at age 46. "It was a hard few first years, and I looked tired," she said. Dowd, now 51, said, "I'm a lot older than the other mothers. I want to look younger for my children. I want them to be proud of me."

Dowd initially thought she'd just have eyelid surgery to make her eyes look more alert, but last August she went to Leipziger for a face-lift and a tummy tuck as well. More than $20,000 later, she's glad she did.

"Oh, my God, yes, it's worth it," she said. "I'm very, very happy with the results. It was the right thing for me to do."

Weighing the risks

Still, medical professionals worry that some eager patients are not aware of the potential risks of cosmetic surgery.

Earlier this year, two patients, including 54-year-old novelist Olivia Goldsmith, author of "The First Wives Club," died while undergoing elective procedures at the well-established Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital.

"It is surgery, after all. It involves anesthesia, scalpels and knives, and people have died," noted Karena Rybarczyk, spokeswoman for the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery. "This is not like having your nails or hair done."

Nor does looking good come cheap.

Seal estimates she has spent a total of $25,000 on her four procedures. But that hasn't stopped her. "That's what they make charge cards for," she said.

Not for everyone

The surge in cosmetic procedures in recent years troubles Dychtwald. "I'd like to rebel against the idea of everyone looking young," he said. "I like the idea that everyone has a different face, marked by their experience."

Darin Tripp, who just turned 50 and lives in Lloyd Harbor, is one such rebel.

"I have never even considered cosmetic surgery," said Tripp, a married homemaker with two children, ages 17 and 20. "I don't even dye my hair. I'm very happy with how I look. I don't see why you should try to look different."

But for some people who have gone under the knife, the change can be more than cosmetic. Since undergoing her surgeries last year, Giovanniello of Farmingville also has lost 52 pounds. "The surgeries changed my life," she said. "They got me on the path to lose the weight."

"We see people make lifestyle changes," Glickman said. "There's no doubt there's an impact from a psychological-social point of view."

As long as people passing age 40 continue to wake up each morning wanting to look good, there will be an appetite for treatments, therapies and procedures that can deliver, Dycht.wald said.

"If your car gets wracked up, you get it repaired, right?" said Robert Esposito, the retired police lieutenant. "You do the same thing for yourself."