Hair Transplant Surgery – A Growing Hair Loss Solution

Before hair transplant surgery came along, how did men deal with their hair loss?  For centuries, men have been losing their hair to genetics, age and inevitability. For centuries, men have tried to disguise their hair loss with powdered wigs, toupees and, more recently, removable hair systems that adhere to the scalp with special adhesive.  Why all the worry about hair loss? Because feeling good is looking good and a healthy head of hair is intertwined, psychologically, to our feeling of well-being.

Why do thousands of men each year choose hair transplant surgery as a way to solve their hair loss?  Because we feel better when the person we see in the mirror is the person we still expect to see. When our hair goes, so does a chunk of our self-worth.  And while modern technology has made amazing breakthroughs in disguising the problem of hair loss, these solutions are not ever going to be like the real thing; the one important thing you get when you choose hair transplant surgery: your own hair growing back on your head.

To understand hair transplant surgery, you have to understand the answer to the question:  Why does hair fall out? In the case of men, genes predetermine which areas will thin and bald eventually. Hormones– particularly DHT (dihydrotestosterone) that can shrink the hair follicles and weaken them until they fall out for good – are a significant cause of hair loss. More accurately, once weakened this way, hair fails to regrow to replace the one that has fallen out in the natural shedding process. Thus if more fall out than regrow, baldness will ensue.

We’ve all seen the results of the early and awful attempts at hair transplant surgery with “hair plugs”, which resulted in a scalp that looked more like the surface of a brush, not at all natural looking.  Unscrupulous hair loss clinics even performed dangerous hair transplant surgeries by sewing a hairpiece directly onto men’s scalps. Never a good idea.  Both of these procedures are now a thing of the past. For good reason men became suspicious of hair transplant surgery at that time.

However, in the past ten to fifteen years, amazing technological breakthroughs have improved the way hair replacement surgery is performed. One type of hair transplant surgery is called Follicular hair transplant surgery, which utilizes micro-surgical techniques and the hair loss patient’s own hair, harvested from an area at the back of his head. One to two strands of hair at a time are individually implanted into the area of the scalp that requires hair. By the end of the hair transplant surgery, thousands of such individual strands with roots intact are implanted into the scalp of the hair loss patient. Great care is taken to angle the hair properly, to give a natural frontal hairline to the patient and to give what will become good coverage of the scalp.

The hair harvested from this back area of the scalp for follicular hair transplant surgery is not prone to the same genetic problems as the hair in the frontal areas. These harvested hairs are predetermined to keep growing, just as they would at the back of a man’s head throughout his life. Once hair transplant surgery is complete, the hair that is visible will shed or fall off. But the root that is still in the scalp will be settling in to grow. Within six months, a new head of hair will grow where no hair was before.   Hair transplant surgery is a viable solution to hair loss.

While men’s hair transplant surgery is more common, women, too, suffer from hair loss and can benefit from hair transplant surgery. Women tend to lose their hair in an all-over pattern instead of the typical pattern baldness men experience. Often, hair becomes extremely thin, because hair stops growing back once it falls out. Dihydrotestosterone can affect women in this same way as men, but other factors, such as chemical over-treatment, and tension Alopecia due to over-styling are more common in women who suffer from hair loss.

Gina Reyes underwent treatment for breast cancer with radiation and chemotherapy. Her hair fell out, as expected, but unlike others who regrew their hair, Gina’s hair never came back as thick as it had been before. Her recovery was difficult, made worse by how she felt when she looked in the mirror. She tried everything to cover her hair loss condition, but finally settled on hair transplant surgery.  Her recovery was relatively easy and within a month the hair transplanted into her scalp shed. But then, the roots began to grow and Gina’s hair began to look like it used to look. Within a year, she had a new head of hair and her chemo treatments no longer stared at her in the mirror whenever she looked at it. No more will she have to worry about hair systems that adhere to her scalp, or needing to shave what hair she has left to apply it. No more wigs that don’t breathe in the heat. The hair from her hair transplant surgery is real, growing hair.

If you’re suffering from hair loss and you’ve tried the other hair loss solutions only to feel like you’re wearing someone else’s hair, consider going to a hair transplant surgery clinic to see if you are a candidate for hair transplant surgery. The cost is relatively high, but financing is usually available.  And when you add up the other hair loss solutions over a lifetime, then add in how you’ll feel about yourself when it’s done, you may just find it’s worth the price of being you again.