In June 2015 I traveled to Istanbul, Turkey to participate in the 2015 3rd Annual Mediterranean FUE Workshop. This was a fantastic opportunity to meet a lot of new doctors and reconnect with many that I’ve known for years. The workshop itself was not just sold out, it was severely over booked and where only 80 doctors and staff were expected over 250 doctors and staff attended. The 2015 FUE Workshop was THE place to be for surgical hair restoration events this year.
Among the doctors I had the pleasure of meeting was Belgium based hair transplant specialist and IAHRS member, Dr. Emorane Lupanzula. He was invited by the organizers of the workshop to be on the faculty of the workshop in Istanbul. I had heard of Dr. Lupanzula less than a handful of times but what I heard was all positive. Dr. Lupanzula has not been known as much in the English speaking world as many of his Belgium hair transplant colleagues but I think that is going to change. While speaking to Dr. Lupanzula on several occasions during the conference I found him to be warm, generous, and engaging but more importantly he is passionate about hair, anxious to learn more and most importantly, he appears to be very ethical.
Belgium hair transplant doctor, Dr. Lupanzula, is from the Democratic Republic of Congo in central Africa. His family has roots in Belgium going back multiple generations. Dr. Lupanzula received his medical degree as a doctor of medicine, surgery and obstetrics from the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium with a specialty in acute and emergency medicine. He eventually went on to Université Claude Bernard de Lyon where he obtained a diploma as Specialist in Hair Transplantation and Treatment of Alopecia. Dr. Lupanzula has been to almost every ISHRS conference and FUE Workshop since 2007 where he closely examined the techniques of dozens of the leading FUSS and FUE surgeons in the world. Dr. Lupanzula has taken components of various techniques from these doctors and clinics from around the world and adapted and modified these components for his own unique approach to surgical hair restoration. This approach has allowed Dr. Lupanzula to create some truly excellent results for all kinds of hair loss sufferers.
Dr. Lupanzula first became interested in surgical hair restoration while working with burn victims in hospital in Belgium. When I first asked him about this he recalled a specific burn case where a man’s face and scalp were so severely burned that there was no hair left nor were any hairs expected to regrow. It was this aspect of the man’s injuries that first made Dr. Lupanzula think about how the patient’s hair could be restored so he could return to a more normal appearance. It was this that motivated Dr. Lupanzula to begin peforming surgical hair restoration since 2005.
Belgium Hair Transplant Clinic
Dr. Lupanzula works out of his clinic “Medikemos” in Brussles, Belgium.
He opened this facility in 2011 and he has dedicated his practice to full time surgical hair restoration offering both FUE and FUSS procedures depending on the patient’s expectations, characteristics and physiological candidacy. Dr. Lupanzula feels that a hybrid approach to surgical hair restoration is imperative as to limit a surgical practice to one type of procedure is potentially depriving his patients of sound and viable alternatives in which to reach their surgical hair restoration goals. Dr. Lupanzula performs all FUE extractions himself and makes all recipient site incisions. Dr. Lupanzula will sometimes take on two patients a day but he generally limits his attention to one patient a day with a maximum daily work load of no more than 2500 FUE grafts. If there are two patients with lesser requirements where the total is no more than 2500 FUE grafts then they will be considered on the same day.When performing FUSS procedures Dr. Lumpanzula routinely harvests 3000, 4000 and more grafts for true megasession procedures in order to gain the biggest cosmetic impact possible in one procedure.
One of the things I discuss with doctors is their follow-up protocol once a patient has had surgery. This is a big deal for me because of how I’ve seen patients ignored once they’ve had their procedure and their payments have been processed. I’m happy to report that Dr. Lupanzula has a solid foundation for patient care after surgery has been performed but more importantly he is implementing suggestions and ideas that I’ve presented that I feel are paramount to help his patients feel they have the BEST care possible after they’ve had surgery.
Dr. Lupanzula and I have also discussed his clean room protocols for the surgical environment in which his patients are cared for. This is another area of concern I have as far too often I have seen standards of intraoperative surgical care that I feel are sub-par, if not dangerous, for the patient. With the number of infections I’ve seen due to poor surgical cleanliness I have strict guidelines that doctors I work with should follow. I’m happy to say that Dr. Lumpanzula agrees with my opinions on this matter.
What I like about Dr. Lupanzula is that he has an obvious passion for his work. I think the word “passion” gets used too much but the word is very fitting when describing Dr. Lupanzula. I like how much involvement he has in his surgical procedures and I like that Dr. Lupanzula is actually excited about improving his already solid patient after care. This is a unique point that stood out for me as it is no secret that one of my goals is to make a quantifiable improvement in the surgical hair restoration industry that I can be proud of and the enthusiasm that Dr. Lupanzula has shown in this regard is promising. Finally, I like his results. Too many times I see results posted by clinics that I feel are acceptable for the uneducated patient but I can easily pick them apart, particularly in the hairline. I see multi-hair grafts or misdirected placement. I don’t see this with Dr. Lupanzula and I think what he offers is a superior opportunity to achieve full naturalness regardless of what the goals are and naturalness is ultimately what matters the most in a final result.
I’m happy and excited to accept Dr. Lupanzula as a Hair Transplant Mentor™ partner and I look forward to having a productive relationship with him and Medikemos Clinic in Brussels Belgium.
You can see the video series I’ve put together documenting my visit to Medikemos Hair Restoration below. It is a multi video series with clinical evaluations, discussion and a tour of the clini. This should help to show why I feel Dr. Lupanzula is one of the doctors to consider when researching your hair restoration options.
