Dr. Keith R. Durante M.D., F.A.C.S. is a perfectionist. Plus. A highly trained, board certified general surgeon, with over 25 years’ experience in general and micro-vascular surgeries, Dr. Keith Durante, in recent years, parlayed an already esteemed career in one of the most delicate areas of critical medicine into another space critical to people’s lives: hair transplantation for men and women.
“I have to admit, when I explained to my colleagues that I wanted to pursue a new area of medicine, they said ‘are you crazy?’ ”Dr. Durante muses. “You’re a high-powered, fellowship-trained micro-vascular surgeon who is replacing aortas, restoring limbs, fixing carotid arteries, and saving lives. Now you’re going into hair?”
Dr. Durante says that his normal reaction was “Well, yeah!” And, the rest is manna for the men and women of New York —and far beyond — who are used to getting only the best. Now they don’t have to look far for it. “I tell the naysayers to think about it: There’s not much on the body that’s finer than hair.
New technology eliminates the barbaric, ugly scarring of former methods, allowing people to wear their hair short, and no one will know they’ve had a transplant,” says Dr. Durante. “So, for single hair transplant, who better than someone who’s used to working with suture materials that are finer than hair.”
A number of things set Dr. Durante apart in what has become a crowded field of would-be perfectionists in hair restoration, and most of those attributes are what allow adding the word “fine” before “art.” “The satisfaction of improving someone’s self-image is what truly moves me, and I have learned that my credentials are a gift, allowing me to really take this area of medicine to the next level,” says Dr. Durante. “The connection between the physical appearance and self-image can be vital. This underscores the psychological aspect of this profession, which is often overlooked.”
Durante says that he has seen patients come into his office who are flat-out depressed. These are men and women who look in the mirror and are unhappy with themselves. Dr. Durante loves to help these patients. “Why should someone wait and make a hard decision harder,” he asks.
Dr. Durante has indeed become the go-to for various methods that Social Life will explore in a series of articles throughout the 2018 season. From treating scalp hair loss to fixing horrendous botch jobs to transforming eyebrows (a feature, that literally can make or break your facial expression), Dr. Durante has perfected it all. Additionally, he is a frequent traveler to Africa, where he volunteers his knowledge, insights, and surgical skills at hospitals in Uganda.
He is a true renaissance man, in the Italian vein. But, here in the States, he is laser focused. “Hair is my dedicated practice, and I’ve never been happier. I take great pride in the medical management of hair loss, which is about maintaining existing hair by dealing with certain causes of hair loss. Medical management can be even more important than the gold standard of hair transplant,” says Dr. Durante. “I am lucky to have found this new profession, and thrilled that thousands of people have discovered me and my practice.”
