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Hair Transplants - Ups and Downs
Hair transplants are the most common cosmetic surgery performed on men and it's no wonder - 96% of men will experience hair thinning or loss at some point in their lives. Some men welcome this condition as a sign of aging and maturity; however; those who experience hair loss early in life, suddenly, or to a great degree, find their hair loss traumatic and troubling.
Treatments such as Rogaine and Propecia work to restore hair to its natural fullness, but these solutions do not work for everyone. For some, hair transplant surgery is the most logical, or indeed the only, option.
Hair transplant surgery is not a new innovation. In fact, it has been around for over 50 years. In the past decade, however, doctors have honed the technique they use to transplant healthy hair to balding areas of the scalp, so that they are now able to create a very natural, undetectable new hair growth.
How Does Hair Transplant Surgery Work?
Modern hair transplant surgery is known as micro grafting. This surgery works by taking hair follicles from the back and sides of the scalp and transplanting them to the areas most affected by hair loss. But why don't the new hair follicles experience the same fate as those that stopped growing in the first place?
Men who are genetically predisposed to hair loss find the problem compounded by the fact that their hair follicles are sensitive to the chemical DHT. This chemical is a by-product of testosterone and is present in all men. However, the amount of the chemical on your body and the way in which it will affect your hair growth varies. The hair on the top and front of the head is most sensitive to DHT; this is why men normally bald on top but retain the hair around the sides of the head. When hair follicles that are not affected by DHT are transplanted to the thinning and balding areas of the scalp, they are able to grow normally and fill in the bald patches.
What Kind of Results Can I Expect?
People who seek hair transplants must have realistic expectations if they are to be happy with the outcome. It is unlikely that you will have a full head of hair like you did in your twenties. This is because the doctor is removing follicles from elsewhere on the scalp to transplant into the balding areas; they are not generating new hair follicles. Therefore, they can only take enough hair follicles from one area to another to fill in the holes and must be careful not to noticeably thin out the area from which they are taking the hair.
The quality of the end result will also depend on the method your surgeon uses to transplant the hair. Flap grafting, strip grafting, mini flap grafting and square grafting should all be avoided, if possible. These procedures are performed by removing an entire strip or area of the scalp and moving it to another area. The results can be patchy and awkward. Plug grafting is sometimes used on the crown, where it can be hidden amongst thicker hair growth, but it produces an unnatural, doll's hair-like effect.
Micro grafting is the accepted standard in hair transplant surgery today. Small grafts of three to twelve hair follicles are transplanted into the balding area, producing a much more natural looking hairline. Larger grafts fill in bald spots while smaller grafts create a blended, true hairline.
What Are the Risks?
In plug grafting, the surgeon uses a trephine, a small instrument with a circular cutting edge, to remove thin strips of the scalp while keeping the hair follicles intact. It is possible to relocate up to 600 grafts, but only 50 should be performed in a single session.
Micro grafting involves the use of a thin blade to remove a strip of scalp. This strip is then dissected into tiny grafts, or micro grafts, each consisting of a small number of follicles. The grafts are then inserted into tiny punctures in the skin where balding is occurring.
As with any surgery, patients can expect a moderate amount of pain. The removal and transplant sites are frozen with a local anaesthetic and a sedative may be given beforehand if the patient is anxious or nervous. Patients should expect to take time off work until the swelling in the forehead and scalp go down. A feeling of numbness may persist in the scalp for several weeks, but it will eventually return to normal.
Within hours, the donor and recipient sites will begin to scab over. Skin infections are not common, but are also treated easily with topical or oral antibiotics. About six to sixteen weeks after the surgery, the transplanted hair should begin to grow normally at about 1 cm a month.
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