William
R. Rassman, MD
• Board
Certified by the American Board of Surgery
Dr.
William Rassman graduated from the Medical College of
Virginia in 1966 where he received his Doctor of Medicine.
He completed a surgical internship at the University
of Minnesota and obtained a cardiovascular fellowship
with Dr. C.W. Lillehei. Dr. Rassman completed a residency
in general surgery at the Cornell Medical Center and
Dartmouth Medical Center. He served in the U.S. Army,
reaching the rank of Major. He was stationed as a surgeon
in the Republic of Vietnam. The American Board of Surgery
certified Dr. Rassman in 1976.
In 1991, Dr. Rassman founded the New Hair Institute
(NHI), and quickly became a world leader in hair restoration
surgery and in hair transplant technology. This technology
enables NHI surgeons to perform hair transplants with
large numbers of grafts in single surgeries. These high
graft counts were previously thought possible only with
four to ten surgeries. His many innovations in techniques
and equipment have been presented at medical meetings
around the world, and published in industry newsletters
and prestigious medical journals as he pioneered these
advances. He developed a strong stance on the ethics
involved in hair transplantation as he condemned doctors
who used salesmen to take advantage of naïve, panicky
patients. He attacked the use of scalp reductions as
an illogical and often damaging procedure that put the
patient at risk, and he debated the issues related to
scalp reduction procedures at medical meetings around
the world. Because of his adamant position on scalp
reductions, the procedure has been largely abandoned.
Dr. Rassman pioneered the Megasession in 1992-4 (he
was the first to do 2000 grafts, 3000 grafts and 4000
grafts in single sessions, reporting these advances
in the Hair Transplant Forum), dense packing of grafts,
and the Fast Track® method of hair transplantation
whereby a patient's restoration can be completed in
just one or two sessions. With Dr. Robert Bernstein,
he developed techniques that have proven to be the gold
standard for hair transplantation around the world:
The Follicular Unit Transplantation. He and Dr. Bernstein
published these results in a series of peer-reviewed
articles in major medical journals.
As a professional inventor, who holds both U.S. and
worldwide patents, Dr Rassman invented the Densitometer™
for the precise measurement of hair density and hair
quality. Such precise measurements are now the standard,
required of all ethical medical practitioners in diagnosis
of the balding patient. Three other inventions in medical
instrumentation have U.S. Patents, either granted or
pending, in the hair transplantation arena. He holds
multiple patents in an artificial heart device, other
medical devices, computer software, and, more recently,
in the biochip field (patent pending), an area where
he has great interest.
Dr. Rassman has presented more than nineteen scientific
papers before national and international societies,
such as the: International Society of Hair Restoration
Surgery, International Society for Hair and Scalp Surgery,
Annual Global Convocation of Hair Restoration Surgery,
American Academy of Facial, Plastic and Reconstructive
Surgery, European Society of Hair Restoration Surgery,
and Merck Committee Meetings.
Dr. Rassman's dedication to the dissemination of knowledge
is clear in the more than twenty articles on hair transplantation
and related issues that he has published in highly regarded
medical publications such as: Dermatologic Surgery,
International Journal of Aesthetic and Restorative Surgery,
Hair Transplant Forum International, and Journal of
Dermatology, Surgery, and Oncology. In 2001, NHI published
the sixth edition of The Patient's Guide to Hair Restoration.
This book explains, in layman's language, what causes
baldness, how baldness is diagnosed, the best medical
and surgical options available today, the proper use
of medication, and how to repair the poor results of
older surgical procedures. The Patient's Guide's extensive
photo section includes more than 100 color photographs
of patients in various stages of hair restoration.
Dr. Rassman continues to push the state of the art in
hair transplantation forward. In the summer of 2001,
he announced a breakthrough in the field: Follicular
Unit Extraction™ (FUE™). In this technique,
individual follicular units are extracted directly from
the donor area without the traditional linear incision
in the back of the scalp. An enabling technology, presently
in a 'patent pending' status, has been developed to
make this breakthrough more practical. The advantages
of FUE™ are that these procedures can be performed
on patients with very limited donor hair, and, healing
is fast, without visible scarring in the donor area.
Dr. Rassman is motivated to make a difference in whatever
he does. He strives to be the best and is never satisfied
with the status quo. He is a visionary and has never
allowed his goals to be limited by current thought on
any subject.
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