Dr. Gaston De La Garza

Dr Gastón de la Garza Martínez is a plastic surgeon and the founder and general director of Gardel Hair Restoration Institute in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico 2. The clinic's site says (in Spanish) that he graduated from the Escuela Médico Militar in Mexico City in 1981 2. It says he trained in plastic surgery at the José Guerrero Santos institute in Guadalajara, finishing in 1988, and did a plastic surgery fellowship at the University of California in 1989 2. It says he formed a hair transplant group in Tijuana in 1990 and trained with Dr William Rassman and Dr Robert Bernstein 2. His ISHRS profile gives 1985 as the start of his hair transplant experience 9. He opened Gardel Hair Restoration Institute in 1994 23. The site says he has done more than 7,000 hair transplant cases 2. The current doctors page also names a second doctor, Dra Regina Peña López Portillo, who trained at Gardel 2.

Gardel performs strip surgery (FUSS), FUE and "megasessions" that combine both 7. The clinic counts any surgery over 2,000 grafts as a megasession 7. Its FUE page says FUE alone is limited to about 2,000 follicular units per session and usually costs double the strip method 6. It says FUE extraction uses semi-robotic tools 6. The clinic also offers female hair transplants, beard and eyebrow transplants, repair of earlier transplants, scalp micropigmentation and medical treatment 12. The FAQ says Dr de la Garza is the only doctor who performs the surgery 5. The clinic says nurses with a hair transplant subspecialty prepare the grafts under microscopes 4. Surgery is under local anaesthesia, with optional sedation 5.

The clinic does not publish prices on its site 1. It advertises a USD 250 credit on a transplant session, subject to restrictions 5.

The clinic offers a free assessment, in person or by video 8. The Tijuana clinic is open Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm, and Saturday morning 8. The contact page also lists offices in Mexicali and Hermosillo 8. The FAQ says patients can usually return to non-physical work soon after surgery and should wait 5 to 10 days before exercise 5. It says the full result shows after a year 5. The FAQ says the clinic guarantees results in the sense that the transplanted hairs and follicles will grow 5.

He is an ISHRS Full Member and joined ISHRS in 2001 9. His ISHRS profile says he is certified by the Mexican council of plastic, aesthetic and reconstructive surgery 9. The site says he has taught at the José Guerrero Santos institute since 1997 2.