A hair transplant is one of the most common cosmetic surgery procedures and is especially prevalent among men who suffer from male pattern baldness. Most men will experience thinning hair or baldness to one degree or another as they age and most are also emotionally affected by their hair loss. Of course, women can also thin or go bald. This is precisely why there are a great number of specialists in female hair restoration.
Transplants represent a proactive choice for men and women who are tired of being victimized by hair loss. These surgical interventions allow the apparent regrowth of hair in thinning or balding locations almost anywhere on the head or body.
What is a Hair Transplant?
Hair implantation procedures can also be called hair harvesting or hair relocation techniques. Although there are many possible approaches to care, they all have certain facets in common:
Hair is harvested from a donor location, usually on the back of the head, where growth is thick and possible scarring will not be as noticeable.
Harvested hair is separated into grafts, which are then surgically placed into the thinning or balding regions of the scalp.
Some procedures involve scalp reduction, in which large sections of the scalp are surgically removed. Often, scalp expansion is accomplished first, in order to loosen the skin and allow better coverage during the procedure.
Hair Replacement Therapy Factsheet
Although commonly only seen on the head, hair implantation can be used anywhere on the body, as well.
Scarring may prevent hair from regrowing anywhere where it normally occurs and the resulting empty space may be aesthetically unsettling for many patients. This is why some men and women elect to undergo bodily hair implantation in the beard area, pubic area or virtually anywhere.
On the head, transplantation is the most common and is used to fill both large and small balding and thinning patches in men and women.
Hair Transplant Expectations
Hair implantation has come a long way in the past decade. Long gone are the ridiculous looking strip grafts and hair plugs so common when transplants were in their early development.
Now, almost every quality surgeon specializes in micro-grafting hairs into place 1, 2 or 3 at a time. This provides a far more natural look and feel.
As long as the grafts are harvested using the FUE method, there is no scarring or truly invasive surgery needed. These procedures can be expensive and time consuming, but the results are generally excellent and patient satisfaction is rated among the highest of all surgical techniques.
Best of all is that the micro-graft approach works ideally for any type of baldness, male or female, and at any location of the scalp or body.
To learn more about hair replacement using surgical interventions, contact a specialist in hair procedures today or call your cosmetic surgeon for a referral.
