Modern Techniques Of Hair Transplantation

By William H. Lindsey, MD, FACS

Ophthalmic Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeon

. http://www.beauty4eye.com/

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Modern Techniques Of Hair Transplantation

Hair loss impacts the lives of a large portion of people in our area. Androgenic alopecia, or male pattern baldness, starts impacting genetically susceptible men in their 20s. The incidence increases roughly 10% per decade such that 50% of men in their 50’s have lost a large amount of their hair. Women also can be plagued by hair loss.

Fortunately, several options are available to combat hair loss. First, camouflage with a different hair style or even a hairpiece can be an option for some. Second, medical therapy with Rogaine, or Propecia (for men only), can often slow hair loss and even re-grow lost hair. And third, hair transplantation can offer many patients an excellent option to address either hairline recession or balding in the crown.

Hair transplants take advantage of the hairs that do not have DHT receptors and which won’t go bald, as DHT receptors cause hair loss. Those hairs and their roots are surgically moved into areas that have been affected by baldness. As the root itself is being moved, the follicles still do not have DHT receptors and will not go bald once transplanted.

Modern techniques of hair transplantation are a vast improvement over the plugs of the 1980s and 1990s. Today’s doctors typically remove a strip of hair-bearing scalp from the back of the head and suture this closed. With proper techniques, the scar is usually minimal once healing is complete. Then a team of trained technicians dissect each hair root out of the scalp using microscopes and precision instruments.

And lastly, the doctor creates recipient slits, made to the exact size of the root to be transplanted, making a nice snug fit for the newly placed hair follicle. Careful planning and placement of individual hairs, not mini-grafts or plugs, allows for a very natural hairline to be created. Dense packing allows enough hair to be placed in a particular area to give excellent coverage, and in the crown, we recreate the natural “swirl” that is seen in normal heads of hair.

Once placed, the hairs quickly take root, but then most go into a rest period for several months before starting to grow normally, as they did in the back of the head before surgery. The entire process is very similar to moving a plant from one part of the yard to another. Careful planning, attention to detail, and artistic execution can result in the dramatic restoration of hair in balding individuals.