Dr. Masahisa Nagai

Dr Masahisa Nagai (長井正壽) is the director of the Fukuoka branch of Hair & Skin Clinic, near Hakata station in Fukuoka, Japan, and the group's technical director for transplants 12. The clinic says (in Japanese) that he has performed more than 4,000 transplant operations over more than 25 years 3. He graduated from Kurume University in 1991, per the clinic, while his ISHRS profile gives 1993 24. His ISHRS profile says he began as a hair restoration surgeon in 1998 4. His English site says he had his own hair loss treated with three FUT transplants 5.

The clinic offers FUE and FUT with what it calls the Nagai line-slit method, plus non-shaven, eyebrow, beard, body hair and scar transplants 63. It says recipient sites are line slits cut with a micro-blade along the existing hair direction, and grafts are placed with two forceps 7. It plans graft numbers at 30 grafts per square centimetre and limits FUE extraction to 25% of the measured donor density 7. It says it will not operate on inflammatory hair loss such as alopecia areata 7. Dr Nagai's page says the clinic has moved from him performing every step to a team in which all staff can perform every step; another doctor does FUE extraction and trained staff divide and place grafts 2. An older features page still says the doctor does all steps 7.

The clinic charges 990 yen per graft including tax for FUE, with no base fee for 100 grafts or more 6. Non-shaven FUE costs 1,760 yen per graft including tax 6. FUT costs 1,210 yen per graft plus a 110,000 yen base fee 6. Its homepage example puts 1,000 grafts at 990,000 yen for FUE and 1,760,000 yen non-shaven 3. The first visit costs 1,100 yen, and patients from outside the surrounding prefectures can get up to 50,000 yen towards travel and hotel costs 86.

The clinic does not take bookings more than three months ahead and says the wait is about two months at most 8. The consultation takes about an hour, or two to two and a half hours with the surgery explanation and blood test 8. It offers a free guarantee if the transplant shows no result after one year, subject to conditions it does not publish 9.

The clinic lists him as an ISHRS Fellow, an ABHRS diplomate and oral examiner, and a past president of the Japan Society of Clinical Hair Restoration 2. Registry records list him as an ABHRS diplomate and an ISHRS Fellow at the Fukuoka address 104. Japan's MHLW physician search returns one male doctor under his name, registered in 1991 11.