Trusting Hair Transplantation As a Solution to Hair Loss

I’m Tired of Hiding My Hair Loss: What are the Options?

If you suffer from androgenic alopecia, more commonly called pattern baldness, you are not alone. This condition affects approximately 40 million men in the United States. Concealing your hair loss with quick fixes, like hairpieces and hats, is not only temporary, but also binding and potentially embarrassing in many situations. These provisional options prove futile when swimming, for instance, or during adverse weather conditions. A toupee will not endure through a competitive soccer game, nor will a baseball cap suffice for a black tie event. Hiding your hair loss is a frustrating and finite solution.

You have other options for restoring your pattern baldness. The two most popular and medically sound hair loss solutions are:

• Prescription drugs: Propecia (finasteride) and Rogaine (minoxidil)
• Hair transplantation: this includes follicular unit strip surgery (FUSS) and follicular unit extraction (FUE)

Hair Transplantation: A Permanent Solution

While Propecia and Rogaine are viable options for restoring hair loss, they are subject to the severity of baldness, they are limited as to what parts of the scalp they restore, and they must be used continually to abate hair loss. If your hair loss is average to severe and you are in search of permanent re-growth, hair transplantation is your best option.

Hair transplantation in general is the removal of hair follicles from the donor area for implantation into the recipient area of the scalp. Once hair transplantation is complete, the follicles take root, so to speak, and grow permanently.

Follicular unit strip surgery, also called “strip harvesting,” is a common hair transplantation method. This type of hair transplantation removes a strip of flesh from the donor area-which, in FUSS, is always the mid-back of the scalp-to be cut up into smaller grafts and implanted into the recipient area. This hair transplantation surgery is not ideal to achieve a natural-looking hairline, as the donor hair extracted is thick in nature and will create a harsh wall of hair. FUSS is also infamous for leaving a strip scar across the back of the head, which can stretch and worsen over time.

FUE Hair Transplantation: The Best Solution

Today’s vanguard of hair transplantation is follicular unit extraction, wherein grafts are removed in single follicular units. This method expands the selection of donor follicles to include finer hairs, such as those behind the ears or at the nape of the neck. Thus, these follicular units (natural groups of one to four hairs) are extracted with a specific hairline design in mind, and to achieve desired fullness and evenness across the scalp. The results of FUE hair transplantation remain matchless in restoring a full, natural-looking, and healthy head of hair.

Other reasons why FUE hair transplantation may be your hair loss solution include:

• It is a minimally invasive procedure
• The tiny round scars left in the donor area heal to become cosmetically insignificant
• It boasts a quicker recovery time
• It infinitely widens the pool of donor hair by enabling body hair transplantation (BHT) for advanced FUE surgeons
• FUE hair transplantation using BHT gives new hope to those suffering severe hair loss, who have a depleted store of head donor hair.