I got asked the other day why someone would have hair implant surgery when all they have to do is apply some kind of lotion to their scalp and the hair will grow back. Well this person had obviously done more reading of advertisements than of hair implant information. The fact is, once a man has developed bald spots he is not going to get hair growing on the spot again by applying any kind of lotion or cream. I think the person who asked this question had confused hair thinning with hair loss. They are two different problems and need to be treated differently.

The majority of men who have issues with hair loss have male pattern baldness. This is a genetic condition that presupposes some hair follicles to bond with a derivative of the male hormone testosterone. The derivative is dihydrotestosterone which is usually referred to as DHT. It is usually the hair follicles at the hair line, top of the head, and crown that are most effected by this problem. A distinctive pattern is developed which is where the term pattern baldness comes from. This is not an overnight occurrence and the loss of hair can be slowed down by application of certain substances including Minoxidil which has been proven by the FDA to help limit hair loss. Minoxidil actually shields the hair follicles from the DHT so they can continue to produce hair shaft material. So, if you start to lose your hair you can drastically slow down the process by applying Minoxidil twice a day. But if the hair follicle has already been attacked and is not functioning then this drug will not reverse the process.

If the follicles are no longer functioning the only thing you can do is transplant healthy hair follicles into the bald area. When doing hair implants for men the cosmetic surgeon will usually remove hair from the posterior area of the head, pattern baldness does not affect this area, and then implant those follicles into the balding area. This is a very effective method of re-growing hair once the original follicles have stopped functioning.

This hair loss treatment was actually first experimented with in Japan before World War II. It was started with eyebrow hair implant and facial hair implant surgeries and was not used much for hair on top the hair. Most of the research data was lost during the war and it wasn’t until the 1950’s that it was again attempted, this time in the US. The results of these early hair transplant procedures were not really very satisfactory. The implants ended up looking like islands of hair sticking up every which way from the scalp. It looked like a cheap doll’s head with hair plugged into the scalp thus the nickname hair plugs which is still in use today.

Hair implant procedures have become very popular for men as the techniques have been improved upon. When trying to employ hair implants for women there are special concerns that must be addressed. First, women tend to exhibit thinning hair over their entire head so they don’t have as good a donor area as men. This makes finding hair follicles from the scalp to transplant much harder. Second, the thinning hair as opposed to patches of hair loss make it harder to fill in with transplanted follicles. One solution to this is follicular unit extraction which allows for transplantation of body hair to the head. This hair is courser than scalp hair but it does work well as a filler.

The hair implant cost is not cheap, usually costing from a few thousand dollars to over twenty thousand but it can be well worth it if a person is feeling stress from the hair loss. Synthetic hair implants were tried as a way to reduce the cost but there were too many problems with infections so they are now banned in the US.

Hair implants are a great men’s hair replacement option that have helped thousands of men to get their youthful appearance back again. If you are concerned about your hair loss or balding them look into this procedure today.

The term hair plug comes from the results of the original surgeries. Remember, at this time there was no micro surgery like there is today. Hair plug surgery at that time involves removing sections of scalp and hair and then inserting them into slices in the balding scalp. This gave the appearance of hair that had been plugged into the head like you see on a cheap doll. Thus the term hair transplant plugs or hair plugs was coined because of how the results looked.

Things have really changed since these original attempts at hair transplantation. Now, with the use of micro-surgical techniques the results are much better. It is now possible to remove and insert individual hair follicle groups. Hair tends to grow in clumps of from one to three follicles with attached shafts. For the most natural look this clumping must be maintained. The answer to the question of do hair plugs work is now a resounding yes.

A good surgeon will insert the hairs in such a way that they are unnoticeable from the natural occurring hair around the bald spot. The doctor will layer the hair and orientate it to match how the hairs that are adjacent to the treatment lay. This placing, along with the fact that the hair belongs to the patient so it matches the other hair perfectly, gives a result that is almost unnoticeable except under close inspection. With the follicular unit extraction method there is not even any scaring due to the removal of the hair before it is transplanted.

The only draw back is the cost of hair plugs. This is not a cheap procedure but if you compare it to years of buying expensive drugs it does make financial sense. Also, you do not have to worry about these hair plugs once they are implanted into the scalp. Within a few weeks they attach to the surrounding blood supply and within a few months they are producing hair shaft material again. But the price of hair plugs does deter some people from having the procedure.

In general you will pay between three and seven dollars per hair follicular unit. This isn’t too bad but it usually requires from several hundred to a few thousand individual hair plugs to get a good result. It is easy to spend a few thousand dollars on a small area and people with massive hair loss have been known bite the bullet on the hair plugs cost and spend almost thirty thousand dollars for a procedure.

If you have lost your hair then hair plugs or hair implantation is the most effective treatment to get your hair back. In fact, if you have been bald for very long it is the only method that shows consistent results.

• Do Hair Implants Grow-Yes they do. A hair implant procedure actually removes hair from one area of the scalp and implants it in the bald area. Within a few weeks the hair roots will start to connect to the blood supply of the scalp and the process of preparing for more hair growth will begin.
• Do Hair Implants Come From A Donor-The only method of hair implantation that has been effectively used is to have the patient be both the donor and the recipient. This means the hair follicles are first removed from the patient’s scalp and then transplanted to the bald area. Hair follicles have problems with rejection just like other body parts that are transplanted from one person to another.
• Are There Hair Implants For Women-Yes there are. Historically, men were the only ones to get this procedure done but that is changing as more and more women require a way to grow hair in a balding spot instead of just covering it up with a wig. Women tend to have thinning hair over their entire scalp which causes more difficulty than men but the procedure does work.
• Do I Have To Go To A Hospital-Most cosmetic surgeons who do the hair implantation procedure perform it in their office or clinic. Depending on the area of the bald spot to be treated, the process is usually done in one or two afternoons. A follow up procedure may be required in a year to fill in any areas that need further assistance.
• What Is The Cost Of Hair Implants-There is a wide variation in the cost of hair implants depending on several factors including geographic location, the clinic, the area to be treated, and the structure of the patient’s hair. You can assume to pay three to seven dollars per implant unit with several hundred to a few thousand being needed for most patients.
• Are There Artificial Hair Implants-Artificial hair implants are no longer offered in the US due to problems with infection. The skin barrier where a foreign object enters the body is very difficult to keep integral. Artificial implants were offered for a while but they just caused too many problems. They are still available in some European countries and there is a big business in this type of implant in India.
• Can Hair From Other Parts Of The Body Be Implanted-It used to be that a thick area of hair growth was needed in order to harvest the proper number of hair follicles. Now this has changed since the Follicular Unit Extraction method has been employed. With this procedure individual hairs can be extracted from any where on the body and placed into the bald area. This method is very effective for women with thinning hair.

I hope this has answered some of your questions regarding hair implants and what the procedure entails. If you have any more questions leave them in the comment section and I will do another answer period again.