Dr. Mary Wendel

Founder and Medical Director

Since July 2021

Wellesley, MA

Medi Tresse is one of the only medical practices in the country that is solely dedicated to the treatment of female hair loss. While hair loss is often thought of as a male condition, in fact, women make up 40% of those in the US experiencing hair loss. Unfortunately, for many women when they are first experiencing hair loss they are not sure where to turn or what to do, which is a situation I found myself in when I was in my early fifties. I was shocked at how little investment and research had gone into female hair loss and as a result no one really knew how to treat it or about the complexity of female hair loss. This experience led me to conduct my own research into female hair loss and ultimately, opening up Medi Tresse in 2015 in Wellesley, MA. I opened Medi Tresse with the goal to not only provide the best treatment options available for women, but in a caring and empathetic environment. Since 2015 we have added new locations, our staff has grown to 8 providers, and we have helped thousands of women with their hair loss.<br /> As our practice continues to grow and our network of offices expands, each practitioner treats and cares for each patient with the same compassion and expertise as Dr. Wendel. Her protocols and innovative treatments are changing the way we talk about and care for women experiencing hair loss. Medi Tresse has locations in Wellesley and Worcester, MA; Westchester and New York City, NY; and Chattanooga, TN.

Success has many facets. Certainly financial gain can be a measure of success, but really in medicine it must also include good patient outcomes and relationships, as well as respect within the medical community. We have become very busy, requiring us to hire additional practitioners, but for me, I feel most gratified when patients express gratitude for our work, and other physicians refer their patients to us. We know that we are trusted to care for their patients and that is huge for me.

Hair loss in women is an incredibly emotional problem. It commonly can lead to profound depression with loss of self esteem and confidence. My most transformational moment involves a young teenage girl who lost her hair after treatment for brain cancer. My team has been able to help her regrow her hair which has helped her feel less conspicuous, and now she doesn't feel like a ``cancer patient`` due to her looks. It has been a remarkable journey for her as well as me.

For me, I am not trained to own and run a business. I am trained to be a physician. I spent more than a decade going to school and learning how to be a physician. Even with the support and help of a great business leader, I find that the logistical problems of actually running a business to be challenging. Maintaining a well trained and happy staff can be very difficult. It is a continual work in progress. It became much more challenging during the pandemic when we had to close. We weren't sure if we could survive, but with hard work we were able to keep all our staff and stay operational.

As I stated above, my most proud moment is taking care of a young cancer patient and helping her regrow her hair and feel confident and strong. She is an inspiration to me.

As much as I love medicine, learning new things and taking care of patients, I do enjoy my free time. I am a mother of 3 sons and a grandmother to 7 (soon to be 8) granddaughters. I love spending time with my family. I also enjoy traveling with my husband and family. We own a house at Cape Cod where the entire family gathers to enjoy the beach and boating.

I strongly believe it is our compassion and empathy which distinguishes us. We work hard to be available to our patients when necessary and support them emotionally as well as physically. We also try hard to keep up to date with all the latest treatments and are not afraid to try the newest treatments available.