Hair Transplants
Hair Replacement Surgery
Hair loss is primarily
caused by aging, a change in hormones, and a family
history of baldness. As a rule, the earlier hair loss
begins, the more severe the baldness will become. Hair
loss can also be caused by burns, other thermal
injuries, trauma, and prior surgeries. In these cases
hair replacement surgery is considered a reconstructive
treatment, and may be covered by some health insurance
policies.
If you're considering
hair replacement surgery, this brochure will give you a
basic understanding of the variety of procedures
involved. It cannot answer all of your questions, since a
lot depends on your individual circumstances
The truth about hair loss
Baldness is often blamed
on poor circulation to the scalp, vitamin deficiencies,
dandruff, and even excessive hat wearing. All of these
theories have been disproved. It's also not true that
hair loss can be determined by looking at your maternal
grandfather, or that 40-year-old men who haven't lost
their hair will never lose it.
The best candidates for hair
replacement
Hair replacement surgery
can enhance your appearance and your self-confidence,
but the results won't necessarily match your ideal.
Before you decide to have surgery, think carefully about
your expectations and discuss them with your surgeon.
It's important to
understand that all hair replacement techniques use your
existing hair. The goal of surgery is to find the most
efficient uses for existing hair.
Hair replacement
candidates must have healthy hair growth at the back and
sides of the head to serve as donor areas. Donor areas
are the places on the head from which grafts and flaps
are taken. Other factors, such as hair color, texture
and waviness or curliness may also affect the cosmetic
result. There are a number of techniques used in hair
replacement surgery. Sometimes, two or more techniques
are used to achieve the best results.
Transplant techniques,
such micro-grafts, follicular unit transfer, and single
unit transfers are generally performed on patients who
desire a fuller, thicker head of hair.
In follicular unit hair
transplantation, a donor strip of hair is harvested
excising a narrow strip of scalp from the donor area—an
area at the back of the head that is resistant to hair
loss. Each follicular unit from the donor strip contains
one to four hairs follicles.
Follicular unit transfer
can be combined with dense packing techniques in a
megasession. Patients enjoy more dramatic results with
less operations when these procedures are performed at a
single sitting. As many as 2200 follicular units can be
transferred in one megasession.
Follicular unit
transplantation is an extremely efficient manner of hair
restoration because several thousand hair grafts can be
obtained from one small, thin donor strip. While
follicular unit hair transplantation is very simple by
principle, it takes an experienced surgeon, attention to
detail, an artist's touch, and micro-surgical skills for
the best implementation of this technique.
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