Hair Restoration and Replacement

Going bald or having bald spot is one of the worst things that can happen to a man’s social life. Once the hair has fallen out in the bald area it is time to look at a hair restoration procedure to get it back again. Men who are bald are generally assumed to be ten to fifteen years older than their actual age because out society views baldness as being age related. In reality, although we are more susceptible to baldness as we age there are a lot of men who experience almost total hair loss on the top of their head by the time they are thirty. So there is more than age at work here.

What is causing this hair loss is a genetic condition known as Androgenic Alopecia. This is a fancy term for the fact that there are certain hormones in our androgynous system that will cause hair follicles to stop producing hair when they are genetically pre-dispose to this condition. Hair loss from this condition is also known as pattern baldness and pattern hair loss. Both men and women can suffer from this condition but it generally is more noticeable in men because they lose patches of hair where as women have more of a hair thinning problem.

A quick explanation of the problem goes like this. If a man is susceptible to hair loss because of his genetic make up then he has receptors located on the hair follicles in the frontal and top scalp area along with the crown of the head. These receptors bond with the free hormone, DHT, in the blood stream. Once enough DHT has built up it starts to shut off the flow of nutrients and oxygen to the hair follicle. This shortens the growth phases of the hair causing them to get weaker and weaker. Eventually, the hair shaft falls out and the follicle becomes encased in fibrotic material like scarring. At this point the hair follicle will not grow any more hair.

Men-Hair Restoration

Once a man has lost use of the hair growth mechanisms the only option for treating the baldness is with hair implants also known as male hair restoration. This men hair restoration procedure has become quite common and very successful over the fifty years it has been in use. Basically, a cosmetic surgeon will map out the area of baldness and determine how many hair follicles need to be transplanted in order to give a good hair appearance again. He or she will also determine the direction and spacing needed for the individual hair units to be implanted.

The next step to the hair restoration for men procedure is to remove a patch of scalp from an area that still has good hair growth. Interestingly enough, most men do not experience any loss of hair from the back of the head when they are suffering from male pattern baldness. Thus this gives the surgeon a good area to transplant the follicles from. Once the strip of scalp is removed the individual hair units in groups of one to three follicles are separated from the surrounding tissue and prepared for insertion. The surgeon then makes very small slits or holes in the scalp at the balding area and implants the hair units. Sometimes as many as a few thousand units will need to be transplanted in order to give a good full head of hair. Usually, within six months after the procedure the patient will begin to see the beginnings of good hair growth again.

Women-Hair Restoration

The procedure for women’s hair restoration is more complex because instead of bald patches women usually develop hair thinning over the entire scalp. This does not give a good donation area for the surgeon to utilize. Instead, individual hair units must be manipulated or hair from other parts of the body can be used for filler.

The fact is, once a man has bald spots the best and often times only way to get hair growing there again is with the men hair restoration procedure. This is not cheap but it gives a very nice result that will give you growing hair for years to come.