Hair restoration doctors in the US are actually unregulated unlike most other surgical specialties. Most surgeons are required to be certified by a board of their peers and thus must show proficiency in both knowledge and skill in the area of their expertise. This is not the case with hair restoration surgeons. In fact, any MD or OD can put up a sign claiming to be a hair restoration doctor and start doing transplants.

Hair Restoration Doctors

With this in mind, it is very important that you actually choose a physician who is proficient in the intricacies of treating hair loss with surgical procedures. You can quickly end up with a very bad problem if you don’t make a good choice. The first place to start when considering a particular clinic is the Better Business Service. Check to see if there have been any complaints against the doctor who will be performing the procedure or the clinic where it will be performed. If the results of a hair restoration procedure were so bad that the patient complained to the BBS then you really don’t want to have anything to do with them.

Next, you can talk to your family physician but be aware they may not really have any knowledge of the procedure and the results. If a clinic is real bad your health care provider may steer you clear but you can’t be sure of that because they are often times afraid of law suits. As with any medical treatment, it is always better to start with a professional who knows your particulars first.

Once you have chosen a surgeon and clinic then go for a visit. Hair restoration is a business and the personnel at the clinic understand that. Be prepared for a sales pitch because their job is to sell as many of the surgeries as they can. Do not sign anything on this first visit. Tell the person you are meeting with that you are only looking for information. This can be a big investment and if the clinic won’t take the time to give you all the facts you need to make a good decision then you don’t need to do business with them.

Hair Restoration Photos

Ask to see before and after pictures of patients who have been treated at that particular facility. These should be both shot from the exact same angle and should show the balding area before the procedure and after. They also should be provided with dates so you have a realistic time line of what to expect for hair growth. Don’t accept a before pictures which is shot from the top of the head showing the bald spot and then a frontal shot showing the results. Nothing can be compared if the photo are not taken from the same angle. Generally you want to see about ten sets of photos. Again, if they can’t provide these then walk away.

You should also ask for a list of names and phone numbers of clients you can contact. If they don’t have any satisfied customers then this should be a red flag. When you call these prior patients be sure to ask about the procedure, the follow up care, the length of time required for good hair growth, and if they had any problems. Most people are happy to give you information if you just ask the right questions. Ask if they would use this clinic again and if they have any pointers for you.

Choosing a hair restoration doctor can be a shot in the dark if you aren’t willing to do some research. The more time you spend up front the more likely you are to have good results. This procedure will be with you for the rest of your life so getting it done right the first time is very important.

First lets look at what causes the problem. Most men and women who lose their hair, either experiencing hair thinning or complete balding, are suffering from a genetic condition known as androgenetic alopecia. This is a preponderance for losing ones hair on certain areas of the scalp that is passed from one generation to the next. It used to be believed that the balding problem was only passed down through the mother’s genes but that is no longer true. Now we know that this form of hair loss, or alopecia, is not determined by one parent or the other.

Androgenetic alopecia, also known as pattern baldness or pattern hair loss, is caused by a situation that actually stops the hair follicles from producing hair shaft material. The follicle can be thought of as the hair factories in one’s body. The follicle is connected to the blood supply which provides it with oxygen and nutrients which are essential for the manufacturing of hair. When pattern baldness is active a hormonal metabolite known as DHT is produced in the body and eventually makes its way to hair follicle. The DHT bonds to the hair follicles and causes a disruption in the production of hair material. Normally a hair follicle will produce hair in a cyclical manner. It goes through growth and rest stages that can last several months. The DHT shortens the growth phase of the follicle to the point that it can no longer produce a healthy hair shaft and the shaft falls out. If not treated quickly, the pattern baldness will render the follicle completely ineffective.

The best hair restoration system involves dealing with the affect of DHT and also transplanting new hair follicles into the balded area. There are two hair loss treatment drugs that have been approved by the US FDA and have proved effective at slowing down the loss of hair but they will not do much to re-energize the follicles that have stopped producing so these hair follicles must be replaced. Of the two drugs only one, Minoxidil, is approved for both men and females. This is a topical solution that is applied to the scalp and helps to allow the hair follicles to continue to produce as needed. The second drug, Finasteride, is only prescribed for men as it can cause birth defects. This drug actually works to limit the amount of DHT that is produced in the body. Hair restoration doctors will usually use one of these drugs to keep what hair there is still growing along with hair implantation to provide replacement hair follicles for the balding that has already occurred.

The part of the system that causes the highest hair restoration costs is the implantations. Thus if a person can start the treatments early to save what hair they still have the hair restoration price will be much lower. As is usually the case, the sooner a problem is addressed the cheaper it is to deal with.  Applying the correct hair replacement systems can get you the head of hair you deserve. Start today to determine your path to a full head of hair.

]]> http://www.hairrestorationreplacement.com/hair-restoration-system/feed/ 0 http://www.hairrestorationreplacement.com/hair-restoration-for-women/ http://www.hairrestorationreplacement.com/hair-restoration-for-women/#comments Tue, 04 Aug 2009 18:49:07 +0000 Albert http://www.hairrestorationreplacement.com/?p=20 It used to be that the only hair restoration for women possibilities were wigs. I remember the first time I saw my grandmother without her wig on. I was sure it was a new monster from Friday the 13th. Anyway, luckily for women there are now all kinds of options when it comes to re-growing hair. There are also many different levels of hair restoration cost so it is no longer a problem of not being able to afford the get rid of that bald spot or to increase your thinning hair.

For years the only opportunity for problems with hair loss was directed at men. The subject seemed to be taboo for women except for the use of wigs and other female hair pieces. This was OK but talking about any other possibility to regrow hair was absolutely not acceptable. Because of this the women could not have access to the best hair restoration methods.

Part of this was also because of the technology available. When hair implants, or hair plugs, were originally first started being used in the US the techniques utilized did not allow for dealing with the thinning problem associated with female pattern baldness. When a man suffers from male pattern baldness he usually has a section of scalp remaing that can be used as a donor area in order to harvest hair follicles to be used as implants in the bald area. The first attempts involved removing sections of scalp with hair still growing and then implanting these sections into the balding area. This resulted in little islands of hair surrounded by a sea of baldness. The result were not very nice. In fact, most people said the person looked more ridiculous with hair plugs than he did bald.

In the 1970’s the technique was improved giving a better more natural look but still required a full section of hair in order to have donors. A section of scalp that contained a lot of hair follicles still growing would be removed and then the resulting gap sutured up. An assistant then removed each of the follicles from the scalp scrap and prepared them for insertion. The cosmetic surgeon then placed the follicles into the baldness area. This method allowed for implantation in such a way that looked much more natural. Each individual follicle could be inserted in such a way as to match the surrounding hairs in the bald spot. This was a great improvement but hair restoration doctors still had not learned how to deal with the reality of needing a portion of scalp with thick hair growth.

As the method got more advanced the hair restoration costs also came down. The procedure was no within reach of the average man as hair restoration clinics sprang up all over.

Hair Restoration For women

It wasn’t until the 1990’s that procedures were really revolutionized to the point that women could expect to have a good result. FUE, or follicular unit extraction, was developed during this time and it changed how the hair implant or hair procedure was used. With this new process a cosmetic surgeon could remove individual follicle units and then transplant them were needed. The meant it was no longer necessary to have a donor are with a thick growth of hair. Instead the hairs could be removed from several portions of the scalp and then inserted where necessary. Hair from other parts of the body could also be transplanted in this way. These body hairs worked well for filler but it was still necessary to use hairs from the head at the hair line to match the rest of the line.

Now that individual units could be manipulated the hair restorer could pick and choose where to remove the hair from. This meant it did not all need to be removed from the same spot. Thus, hair restoration for women was now a reality using hair implanting techniques.

Causes Of Hair Loss In Women

New research has changed how we view female hair loss.  Thinning hair in women is now believed to not be tied to the same causes as male hair loss in most instances.  In fact, equating male pattern baldness with female pattern hair loss is usually not done anymore.  Unlike for males, the reason for hair loss in women does not tend to be tied to age nor the genetic predisposition to thinning hair and baldness that is caused by androgenic alopecia in men.  While this is the problem in a few cases, most of the time female hair thinning has one or two other possible causes.
One possible cause of baldness problems in women is a medical condition called polycystic ovary syndrome.  This is a medical condition that may be becoming more common or it may just be more diagnosed now.  That is, this may have been a contributing factor for the need for hair pieces for women all along.
Another possible cause for baldness in women comes from auto-immune disorders.  In particular alopecia areata.  This results in bald spots as hair falls out in clumps or patches that don’t seem to have any rhyme or reason.  This medical female hair loss condition can often times be treated with drug therapy and hair replacement for women will not be needed.  If you are experiencing hair fall in clumps or patches then see your doctor as over the counter hair loss products for women will probably not be able to help you.  Only your doctor can determine what the actual cause of the thinning or balding hair is.
Telogen effluvium is a problem with balding hair that often times follow child birth, crash diets, major surgery or other traumatic experiences.  The good news about female hair loss caused by this problem is that it will generally right itself within several months or a year after the cause is removed.  For example, if you are on some sort of crazy diet (my sister was on an Oreo diet one time where all she ate was Oreo cookies) then getting the proper nutrition will make a big difference.  In this case there is no need to try hair growth products for women but again you should see your doctor about this problem.
As you can see the causes of hair thinning in women are many.  This is why there is no one answer to the question of how to stop hair loss in women.  This is almost completely different for men.  Almost all their hair loss problems and balding problems are caused by androgenic alopecia.  This is why hair transplants are common in men.  Conversely, most of the time, hair replacement for women is not that simple.  Female hair transplants can be used in some cases but most of the time hair implants are not suitable.
To show how varied the causes can be, you may also be suffering from thyroid disorders, anemia, or a chronic illness.  The point is, if you are experiencing female hair loss then the first stop you should make is to your doctor.  Find out what the problem is and then you and your health care provider can decide what would be the proper hair restoration treatment for you.