The Trichological Society’s Graduation Day & Presidents Day 2003

The Trichological Society’s Graduation and presidents day 2003 was held at The Novartis Foundation, London on Monday 24th February. The occasion was attended by an assortment of Members, Licentiates, Fellows, Honorary Members, Past Presidents of the Society, Patrons and Guests; amongst them Doctors, Barristers, Founders, Trichologists, Herbalists and many other professions. The ceremony was coordinated to perfection by the registrar, Mr Barry Stevens and directed superbly by the clerk for the day Mr Simon Griffiths. The tasteful setting of The Novartis Foundation in all its splendour only served to compliment the event.

The Presidents Address

The President for the year 2002/2003, Mr Robert Olding spoke of the honour he felt having been awarded a Fellowship last year and now to be President. He shared with the guests that, by next month, he would have been practicing Trichology for 50 years. The President enlightened us with some of the developments in the profession throughout the last fifty years and spoke of the huge growth in knowledge and changes in applied Trichology in that time. This included the introduction of hair transplantation and, more recently, drugs such as Propecia. Mr Olding spoke of the need to draw together as a profession and congratulated the Society for creating and developing an international community in which to do so. He urged TTS to encourage Trichologists in particular to spend more time together in order to further the profession and to discuss treatments and ideas. Finally, the President thanked the registrar for all the hard work he puts into the Society year after year.

The Graduation Day Addresses

The First Address was given by Ms Helen Moore, the Vice President of the Society, a Founder of TTS and a registered Herbalist and Chemist.
Ms Moore began by introducing her background. At the Society’s inception, she was a surfactant chemist specifically involved in the formulation of a shampoo that was suitable to be used for Trichological procedures. Currently she works as a Medical Herbalist. Her discipline is in European Herbal Medicine, mainly using plants that grow in our own countryside, with a few exceptions.
The Vice President went on to give an insightful introduction to the world of Herbal Medicine, explaining the diversity of the treatments, from use in a gentle and steady way to rapidly responding to acute problems. It was clear that her background as a surfactant chemist only served to compliment her work as a Herbalist, highlighting that interaction with orthodox medicine was indeed beneficial and sometimes essential.
Ms Moore stated that she would like to see greater training and knowledge of trichological conditions amongst herbalists. The Society is a good source for referral and information. The two communities will do well to learn more of each other. Like so many areas of medicine there is room for help from both orthodox and complementary therapies. The psychological reaction is a notable feature of many trichological conditions. As herbalists, they would regard the symptomatic or systemic treatment of a condition in itself greatly helped by supporting the nervous system, especially since the nervous system may have been one of the causative factors in the condition to start with. She concluded that a combined, multi-faceted approach is often needed in order to achieve balance and to serve the patient completely.
The address was brought to a close with a request for members to consider the use of a professional Medical Herbalist to augment treatment, re-iterating that it is a complimentary therapy, not necessarily a total and complete alternative. There is clearly room for help from both disciplines in the care of a patient. Ms Moore's full speech

The second Graduation day address was given by Mr Alastair B Hodge, a Barrister at Law and Patron of the Society.
Mr Hodge spoke at the Graduation Day and Presidents Day 2002 and so felt this year he would keep his address brief. He delivered a humorous introduction into the conversations had amongst Barristers and enlightened us of the attention the society is receiving within these circles. As a patron of The Society Mr Hodge is often asked what TTS is or indeed is subjected to hearing what others first think it might be. This scenario lends itself to talking about and therefore promoting TTS. Mr Hodge always has brochures about his personage and never fails to show them when presented with an opportunity. As a Barrister of Law Mr Hodge is specifically involved in the Society with regard to expert witness advice. He has spoken at seminars on the subject and is able to clearly define the role of the expert witness, whilst trying to explain some of the pitfalls and thus how to avoid them. He is not only extremely qualified to teach the subject, but is also thoroughly humorous in his delivery. I would therefore urge you all to attend a future seminar or address that he may give.

The final address was given by Dr Richard Rogers, a Surgeon and Founder member of The Society.
Dr Rogers gave an informative introduction of his career path to date. After becoming a qualified Doctor he initially went into the field of dermatology. A change of scene took him into General Practice before returning back to Dermatology. He then moved into hair restoration surgery where his work is to date. Dr Rogers commented that the industry isn’t always taken that seriously and in some cases has lent itself to gaining a bad reputation. He started a sole practice last year after seven years in the industry. We were informed of the changes that he has seen, for example from doing 250 grafts in a day to 750 or even 1,000 grafts in a session. Since working for himself he has been able to enforce his own high standards of total patient care. His GP experience certainly aids him in this. The patient is always regarded as and treated as a whole person, not just a condition. This is evident in that they are personally seen by Dr Rogers throughout each stage of their treatment.
Dr Rogers continued by speaking about the lack of appeal and attention the study of hair receives. Generally Medical students aren’t taught that much about hair, Dermatologists can tend to regard it as hairy skin and therefore GP’s can be fairly dismissive where hair conditions are concerned. Clearly there is a much more serious element to hair conditions than just cosmetic. As far as hair restoration techniques are concerned there are also social issues. Dr Rogers informed us that New York City had as many restorations carried out last year as the whole of the United Kingdom. Possibly the attitude and acceptance of such procedures contributes to these statistics, as well as the limited knowledge of the public in the UK about what is available. Unifying the industry is a positive step forward and TTS has certainly helped. Regulation has had positive and negative effects on the industry with many surgeons finding other areas of cosmetic surgery more lucrative. Generally, the industry is moving forward.
Dr Rogers allowed for a time of questions. Within that time cloning hair was discussed as well as drugs such as Propecia.
Dr Rogers' full speech

The ceremony continued under the direction of Mr Simon Griffiths and was followed by a champagne buffet reception.
If you have not yet attended a TTS Graduation and Presidents Day, I would urge you to mark next year’s date in your diary. They act as the perfect setting to mingle with colleagues and learn from each other, as well as being informative and, quite simply, delightful.