Hair Restoration Information

Hair Restoration

Male pattern baldness or androgenetic alopecia is responsible for over 95% of hair loss. In addition to androgenetic alopecia, heredity as well as other factors like stress and psychological problems can also have an effect on thinning hair. Several procedures have been developed to help both men and women cope with their hair loss problems. These procedures are hair replacement surgery, hair transplant surgery and laser hair transplantation.

Hair Replacement Surgery:

Hair replacement surgery is performed by a micro-laser that probes the hair follicles on your head. By delivering pulses from the laser light's beam directly to the roots, it stimulates the blood flow in the scalp. This increased blood flow energizes the hair follicles and allows your natural hair to continue living.

Hair Transplant Surgery:

Hair transplantation surgery or hair grafting works to fill in thinning or balding spots by taking hair from other areas of the head that are still full and thick. Sections of hair or grafts are removed from donor areas, or areas located toward the back of the head. Men and women will maintain hair growth in these areas for most of their lives so the grafts do not hinder the hairs ability to grow back. The hair follicles are removed using either a scalpel or a tube-like instrument called a punch graft. Once removed, the follicles are broken apart into smaller grafts or micro-grafts that can include anywhere from a single hair to up to ten strands.

After the micro grafts are constructed they are moved to the area of the head that is experiencing thinning or balding. This is done by transplanting the hair strands into tiny holes or slits made in the hairless areas of the scalp. These holes are made with either a tiny scalpel or even a needle.

Laser Hair Transplantation:

Laser hair transplantation is a little bit more involved than hair transplant surgery. This procedure takes grafts of hair from the side or back of the scalp and, with the use of a laser, the grafts are inserted into areas on the head that are hairless.

Once the grafts are created, a pulsing laser is used to create micro-incisions in the scalp for the insertion of hair. Once created, a small metal probe is used to increase the opening of the insertion point so that blood vessels are stimulated and begin to interact with the inserted hair follicle. Hair follicle grafts are then placed into the insertion holes.

Other Procedures:

While hair replacement surgery, hair transplant surgery and laser hair transplantation are the three main procedures used for hair restoration, there are several other procedures that can be used as well. These are:

Scalp Reduction - This is a procedure that surgically removes bald scalp and pulls up the areas of full hair. This is usually done before hair transplantation because it reduces the area that will receive grafts.
Scalp Flaps - Scalp flaps are surgically created to move a hair-bearing segment of scalp to a place on the head where hair is needed. When a flap is moved from the donor area to the recipient area it is left attached to its nerve endings and blood supply in order to ensure the graft will take to the new site.
Topical Solutions - Products such as Rogaine that contain Minoxidil have been known to slow down hair loss and even aid in the natural re-growth of some hair. These products work very well but you have to keep taking them in order to keep hair loss at bay. As soon as a patient discontinues their use of topical solutions, hair loss will resume.
Oral Medications - Products such as Propecia® that contain Finasteride are orally administered drugs that influence the response of hair follicles to hormones. These are prescription drugs that can only be prescribed by a physician.

All of these hair restoration procedures and products have aided in the fight against hair loss, however, more men and women are using non-invasive hair transplantation procedures to help with their hair loss problems. All hair restoration procedures are being improved upon everyday so that hopefully the problem of hair loss can be put to an end.