Hair Transplants – Exciting and Advance Process

Surgery is an expensive but long-term solution to hair loss (Alopecia).  Along with the price tag and the risks involved there is the added burden of finding the right surgeon with the right experience.  Though hair transplants are available for most types of hair loss but most of the men and women who opt for hair transplants suffer from Androgenic Alopecia or Male Pattern Baldness.  Hair transplantation being a relatively complicated and invasive procedure should be explored after exhausting the less expensive and less complicated treatments such as ointments or hormonal suppressant drugs.  The success of hair transplant depends mostly on the experience and skill of the cosmetic surgeon.

The Procedure

After your first consultation with the cosmetic surgeon and deciding on the number of sessions, blood work is usually done.  On the day of the transplant under local anesthetic a portion of scalp measuring about 1 cm x 30 – 35 cm from an area with dense hair is removed.  The donor areas are usually the back of the head or the sides.  The donor portion is then divided into single hair or sometimes tiny groups of hair.  These are now called plugs or grafts.  Tiny holes are then punched in the thinned out or bald areas of the scalp.  These plugs are then inserted into the punched holes where they bond with clotting.  

Thinner hair is inserted at the front of the scalp while the thicker at the back mimicking the grading of nature.  2000 to 3,500 hair can be inserted in a one to two hour procedure.  The hair can take five to six months to settle.  This procedure can produce a noticeable difference in the re-growth and density of hair permanently in a relatively short time.  With the help of the right surgeon with the right experience, no one can detect you had a hair transplant.

Hair transplantation is also done with artificial hair and is marketed for Male Pattern Baldness.  In this technique synthetic fibres are implanted in to the scalp under local anesthetic.  This method however is not recommended by most experts as it carries with it a high risk of infection and scarring.

Another exciting and new advancement in hair transplant is cloning or multiplication. In this technique a small number of patient’s hair cells are taken and multiplied in the lab.  These hair cells are then injected into the scalp in the thinning and bald areas.  This is still a very new technique and is still undergoing clinical trials.  In one of the initial trials 58% of patients undergoing this procedure grew new hair six months after the treatment.  This technique has a long time before it is introduced to general public.

There are other surgical techniques also available that reduce the area of the scalp thus reducing the bald spot.  In another procedure known as the Flap a whole flap of dense hair bearing skin from the back of the head is attached to the front of the head giving a sudden growth of dense hair at the front hair line.  This method like others has its benefits and drawbacks.

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