Hair Restoration Options

Are you experiencing hair loss but wish you could have the hairline of your youth? There are many options for hair restoration today with probably the most successful being hair restoration surgery. But which surgery is right for you? Hair restoration surgery aims at either decreasing the bald spots or redistributing remaining hair.

Though there are many causes of hair loss, for men the most common cause is termed male pattern baldness. This type of balding is genetically predetermined and is due to androgens such as testosterone. In women, balding is usually not as clear cut and may signal a medical condition which should be treated. Once the cause of balding has been determined, hair restoration can be undertaken.

Options for hair restoration include reduction of the balding scalp or redistribution of the remaining hair. In some patients, especially those with hair loss due to trauma, scalp reduction techniques may be appropriate. This technique involves simple excising the bald area and primarily closing the incision. The technique of scalp reduction may be combined with tissue expansion to provide more area for wound closure. In simple cases of male pattern baldness, this is not a good option and techniques for hair redistribution should be examined.

Hair on the back and sides of the scalp will not ever fall out due to androgenic alopecia. Even when transplanted, the hair will continue to grow, though natural balding of the native hair will continue. Several techniques exist for transplanting hair. Older techniques relied on taking a ‘plug’ of hair. Using a round punch device, an area of hair was removed and then transplanted to a bald area. This created a quite unnatural look and caused some to shy away from hair transplants. While this can still be done in some circumstances, newer techniques rely on transplanting individual hair follicles or units of follicles. To do this, a strip of hair is taken from the back or sides of the scalp. Using magnification, this strip is cut into individual hairs. Tiny incisions are then made in the bald part of the scalp and the individual hairs are transplanted to the bald area.

The newer techniques of follicular unit grafting create very natural appearing hairlines, ones that even a hairstylist will be unable to discern. By creating a hairline with an irregular contour, a high ‘temporal tuft,’ the area on the sides of the scalp, and a frontal hairline that does not extend too far down the forehead, a more youthful, natural appearing hairline can be maintained.

At present, the main drawback to hair transplant technology is the limited donor site. The next generation of hair transplant technology will focus on hair cloning. Though this technology is not sustainable at present, efforts are being made to improve the technology so that donor sites will not be limited in the future.

For more information about this and other hair loss topics, visit Dr. Verret on the web at http://www.drverret.com or call for a consultation 866.972.FACE (3223).