Wayne Rooney undergoes a ‘top-up’ hair transplant

Almost two years to the day since he underwent his first hair transplant, 27-year-old Manchester United footballer Wayne Rooney has had a second, ‘top-up’ procedure at the same private London Harley Street Hair Clinic that he first visited in 2011.

The technique performed to combat Rooney’s baldness two years ago was Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE), an excruciatingly long operation that involves the surgeon extracting thousands of hair follicles from an area where they are in abundance – usually the back of the head – and then re-planting them into the areas where they are most needed.

Various reports had suggested Rooney paid anywhere between an incredible £15,000 – £30,000 amount for his initial hair transplant, following endless jibes from teammates about his premature balding. At the time, he stated: “Just to confirm to all my followers I have had a hair transplant. I was going bald at 25 why not. I’m delighted with the result.” Rooney had previously touched upon the subject of his hair loss in his autobiography. He said he looked at himself in the mirror and thought: “Bloody hell, you’re going bald and you’re only a young lad.”

Rooney has been pictured numerous times in recent months with seemingly much thinner, wispier hair, calling into question the long-term effectiveness of such expensive hair transplants – often costing up to tens of thousands of pounds. Just last month at an England training base, onlookers were shocked to see his hair thickness had diminished considerably and his scalp was clearly visible.

However, Clinic director Nadeem Uddin Khan delivered the news of Rooney’s second hair restoration operation, which lasted nine hours, saying: “He visited us for pre-planned second-stage treatment of his successful transplant. This was scheduled when he began in 2011. It’s standard.” A separate source told The Sun newspaper: “It was very successful. He’s as pleased as punch with the results and can’t wait to unveil his new look.”

The pre-planned top-up transplant could not have come at a better time for Rooney after hair loss expert Dr Asim Shahmalak spoke last month about thinning areas appearing on the footballer’s head and even advised another transplant before baldness strikes again.

Dr Shahmalak, a hair transplant surgeon on Channel 4′s Embarrassing Bodies, had seen recent pictures of Rooney and commented: “It’s very clear from the pictures that Wayne has kept hold of the hair from his first transplant at the front of his head. But he has continued to lose his hair further back on his head and on his crown. It has given him two noticeable bald patches. The best way to remedy this is with a second hair transplant. He also needs to start using the drug Propecia, which footballers can take quite legally without failing any drug tests…”

Visit the Men’s Health or Women’s Health area of the Medical Specialists Pharmacy website to find out more information on how to obtain hair loss treatments such as the previously mentioned Propecia, and other popular products such as those featured on television – Regaine and Alpecin caffeine shampoo.

Can the ‘beautific’ drinks from Coca-Cola and Sanofi bring any health benefits?

Soft drink giant Coca-Cola is to join forces with the French multinational pharmaceutical company ‘Sanofi’ to launch a new range of ‘beautific’ drinks. The two powerhouses even claim that the new drinks will boost well-being as well as being able to ‘strengthen hair and nails’.

If that wasn’t enough, those who drink the Beautific Oenobiol brand on a regular basis, will apparently see an improvement to skin in addition to weight loss. Whether all this is true or not is another matter, but they are certainly bold statements from Coca-Cola and Sanofi.

The drinks will be given a launch this autumn primarily in France, before makers look to increase distribution throughout the rest of Europe. A spokesman for the launch said: “This is a small-scale pilot which is currently limited to a number of pharmacies in France.”

The Oenobiol range will come in four different flavours and will consist of mineral water, fruit juice and nutritional additives. The latter are what the manufacturers will help to embellish skin, strengthen hair and nails, lose weight and improve vitality.

Despite the early promise, it does remain to be seen just how successful the project will be between Coca-Cola and Sanofi. Their Oenobiol drinks are following a disastrous precedent laid down in the past after the shambles in 2009 that occurred when the drinks giant teamed with food company Nestlé to produce the green-tea brand, ‘Enviga’, which too claimed various weight-loss benefits.

A marketing war ensued and a lawsuit battle which eventually involved 27 U.S. states. In an embarrassing climb-down for Coca-Cola and Nestlé, all subsequent cans or bottles of Enviga were ordered to have a disclaimer printed that made drinkers aware that the product would not actually cause weight loss and that this would instead be achieved through a healthy diet and exercise.

The news about the latest addition in a long line of health drinks has not been met with excitement by everybody. It is believed that Coca-Cola and Sanofi only even made announcements regarding the new drinks after a leak from Sanofi labour union representatives.  They blasted that workers were irate the drug manufacturer was ‘spouting about beauty drinks’ only a month after plans were made for job losses expected to reach the 900 mark.

Release of drinks such as Enviga and Oenobiol are probably connected to an increasing worldwide obesity epidemic and concerns are growing. In recent years Coca-Cola and Pepsi, the world’s two biggest soft drinks manufacturers, have released ‘zero’ branded low calorie, no-sugar drinks aimed at those who are weight conscious.

However, the true ‘healthiness’ of these types of beverages is debateable due to the high volume of additives that are loaded inside the drinks, many of which are disastrous for teeth. After all, something needs to be put inside the drinks to give them a sweet taste with there being no sugar present.

In addition, it remains to be seen if the new drinks will be able to promote weight loss, strengthen hair, skin and nails, etc. From Medical Specialists’ experience, and from contact with our thousands of patients, success comes firstly from factors such as lifestyle improvements such as a healthier diet and more exercise. Help can also be had from clinically proven treatments for the aforementioned issues such as, obesity: Xenical, XLS-Medical, skin: Dianette, Spironolactone, Retin-A Gel, hair loss: Propecia, Regaine, Regaine for women, Alpecin caffeine shampoo and there are products such as Nizoral shampoo for dandruff and T/Gel for both dandruff and psoriasis. All are available today at incredibly low prices from Medical Specialists Pharmacy.