Asim Shahmalak

Dr Asim Shahmalak (born 2 April 1961) is a British hair transplant surgeon, broadcaster, and proponent of such surgery. He performed the United Kingdoms (UK) first eyelash transplant in 2009, and has treated a number of British celebrity patients.

Shahmalak began his career as a general surgeon in the Republic of Ireland in 1990, he joined the National Health Service (NHS) as a specialist doctor in general surgery in 2001, practising until 2011 when he dedicated himself full-time to private hair transplant surgery at his own Crown Clinic. He has appeared as an expert on a number of television and radio programmes, including the Channel 4 show Embarrassing Bodies, talking about his techniques and demonstrating his surgery. He also written and commented on hair transplant surgery and associated issues for a number of media publications and blogs in the United Kingdom.

Shahmalak was born 2 April 1961 in Karachi, Pakistan, the son of Hatimali Shahmalak and his wife Mehfooza Shahmalak. He was educated at St Bonaventure's High School, Sindh, before studying for his medical degree (MBBS) graduating at the Sindh Medical College, University of Karachi, Pakistan, in 1988. He trained as a general surgeon, moving to the Republic of Ireland in 1990 to take up a post as a Senior House Officer in General Surgery. In 1997 he qualified as a Specialist registrar in general surgery. He became a member of the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS) in 1995 before moving to the UK in 1996.

Shahmalak worked as a specialist doctor in General Surgery for the Warrington & Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust between 2001 and 2011. He worked privately as a hair transplant surgeon for The Hospital Group, from 2005 to 2007. He founded his own Crown Clinic in 2007 alongside work for the NHS and The Transform Medical Group (2007–2010). In 2011 he left the NHS to devote himself full-time to hair restoration and aesthetic surgery at his Crown Clinic in Manchester and Harley Street.

Shahmalak performed the UK's first eyelash transplant in 2009 using techniques pioneered in hair replacement surgery and for the victims of facial burns. He has helped pioneer eyebrow replacement surgery and commented on the increasing popularity of so-called 'statement eyebrows', modelled on those of Kate Middleton, now Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, saying "Statement eyebrows are the new beauty must-have, but sadly many women have permanently damaged their eyebrows through over-plucking." The Daily Mail reported "The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons has reported a surge in demand for the treatment, boosted, they say, by the current trend for bold eyebrows like those of the Duchess of Cambridge, currently the most high-profile member of the big brow brigade."

Shahmalak has treated a number of celebrity patients, including medical broadcaster Dr Christian Jessen, actor David Fleeshman and Calum Best, the son of footballer George Best.

He has also performed surgery to replace sideburns and moustaches. Commenting on enquiries about the surgery in the wake of Olympic gold and Tour de France wins by cyclist Bradley Wiggins, noted for his sideburns, Shahmalak said: “Lads want to look like their sporting idols but sometimes nature needs a bit of a helping hand. Many men have patchy beards and can’t grow a fine pair of mutton chops like Bradley Wiggins. We have noticed the Wiggo effect at the clinic ever since Bradley started getting mega popular – and particularly in the last month with the Tour de France and Olympics."

Shahamalak has spoken about how men should not undergo hair transplant surgery until they are over 25 and their pattern of hair loss has been established, telling the Sunday Mirror in the case of Wayne Rooney, not as patient, "I'd never recommend surgery before the age of 25. If you start to go bald at a young age, the hair loss is usually more severe. I believe Wayne Rooney had a transplant too early, he'll need further surgery to maintain a good head of hair."

• Embarrassing Bodies on Channel 4
• BBC Radio Manchester.

Shahmalak has written for newspapers and blogs including the Manchester Evening News, and Huffington Post. Shahmalak is a donor and supporter of Operation Restore, a charitable programme run by non-profit medical association the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS) to help burns and cancer victims who cannot afford treatment.

Shahmalak is involved in an ongoing hair follicle research programme in collaboration with staff at the University of Manchester. The research group, headed by Professor Ralf Paus, investigates the biology and pathology of the hair follicle as a microcosmic miniorgan in which many of the fundamental problems of biology can be studied in an exemplary fashion. Current research includes investigations into the neuroendocrine properties of the human hair follicle, their impact on mitochondrial function and hair follicle immune status, and the use of adult stem cells populations associated with human skin appendages for regenerative medicine purposes.

He is a frequent media spokesman, and has written about the importance placed in hair over the centuries and the fact that baldness until recently was not recognised as a social or medical issue, despite the sometimes catastrophic impact it can have on confidence and mental well-being. He wrote: "Male pattern baldness (MPB), the main cause of hair loss, affects an estimated quarter of men by the age of 30 and two thirds by the age of 60. Until recently, the impact baldness might have on confidence and well-being was little understood or recognised by the medical profession at large."

Shahmalak has also written about the impact of work stress and pressure on hair colour and density, highlighting the example of US President Barack Obama and leading UK politicians whose lifestyles have been reflected in their looks. Writing in the Huffington Post he concluded: "These very visible physical manifestations of stress are not simply a gift to the world's picture editors, and hair transplant surgeons like myself. They are an outward indicator of the internal difficulties of leadership in the modern world. And Obama is not the first powerful man – and it is mainly men affected in this way – whose hair has suffered and signalled the strains of his job."

Writing in the Manchester Evening News (31 October 2012), Shahmalak praised celebrities such as footballer Wayne Rooney and Calum Best who have spoken publicly about their hair transplants, and decried public criticism of them as "gloomily familiar". He wrote: "Reading the comments on various newspaper message boards, it struck me how unforgiving many people remain about a young man like Calum who decides to have hair transplant surgery. So why is wanting to save his hair so controversial? And why is the public debate still so blinkered against men like Calum, and Wayne Rooney who admit to having had treatment?" He added: "Of course there is nothing wrong with baldness. I know many men, friends of mine in fact, who are proud to be bald. They wear their shaven heads as a badge of masculinity. But choice is everything."