How does hair transplant work?

[jojojo1]

Hi everyone,

 

i am new to the forum and in need of some advice.

 

Exactly how does hair transplant work?

 

Does the surgeon cut a piece of flesh from the back of you head and simply remove the hair follicles and then put them in the desired areas?

 

Are these surgeries that they simply pluck the has from the Donor area without having to be cut open?

 

Currently i am 23 and my hair line has receeded small amount ( i would consider it small compare to people who have no longer has a hairline) and was wondering what is the best way to get my hair to grow back?

 

Does propecia work? Will it restore my hairline?

 

Thank you

[jojojo1]

Hi everyone,

 

i am new to the forum and in need of some advice.

 

Exactly how does hair transplant work?

 

Does the surgeon cut a piece of flesh from the back of you head and simply remove the hair follicles and then put them in the desired areas?

 

Are these surgeries that they simply pluck the has from the Donor area without having to be cut open?

 

Currently i am 23 and my hair line has receeded small amount ( i would consider it small compare to people who have no longer has a hairline) and was wondering what is the best way to get my hair to grow back?

 

Does propecia work? Will it restore my hairline?

 

Thank you

[jojojo1]

Sorry there are a few errors in the posting earlier.

 

In the 4th paragraph i was simply asking if there are any procedures out there that does not require the surgeon to cut you open?

 

Are there surgeries where they simply pluck hair follicles out and then transplant them?

[MrJobi]

Hi

 

Your question can be answered on the home page of this site ..

 

Welcome to the forum

[TheHairLossCure]

Jojojo,

 

On Propecia: You probably will not get your hair back with this drug, but there is a good chance you can slow down the loss or even halt the pattern completely. I strongly recommend you look into it further.

 

On Transplants: Hair transplants hinge with the idea of "donor dominance." Donor hairs grow on the back and sides of the head and are resistant to hair loss. Even very bald men retain hair on this part of the scalp. Donor dominance dictates that some hair is genetically blessed to grow for a lifetime, regardless of the area on the scalp that it is relocated too. This phenomenon enables the process of hair transplantation surgery. Men with baldness can have donor hair surgically redistributed into areas of baldness, knowing that this new hair will not succumb to the hair loss process.

 

Natural hair is relocated in hair transplantation. This does not necessarily mean that hair transplant results will look natural. In the early days of HT surgery, physicians used 4 and 5 mm biopsy punches to remove "plugs" of hair bearing tissue from the donor site. The plugs were then implanted into the balding areas. As you can imagine, this left tremendous scarring on the scalp. Moreover, the densely haired grafts, when placed into thinning or bald tissue, stood out as "dolls hair".

 

Transplant surgery evolved into the strip excision method whereby an ellipse of hair-bearing tissue is excised via scalpel from the donor zone. The incision is closed with sutures or staples to reducing the potential surface area of scar tissue. Unlike the "plugs" and open donor harvesting where the donor is littered with circular punch scars, the strip method leaves a single linear scar on the back of the head. When expertly handled, the incision can heal as a faint surgical line.

 

In the infancy of the procedure, strips were cut into large grafts. Some physicians realized the aesthetic benefits of using smaller grafts. This movement led practitioners to what is known as follicular unit grafting or Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT). In this process, naturally occurring follicular units of 1, 2, 3, or 4 hairs are carefully dissected out of strips under microscopes. The process acknowledges the way hair naturally grows and thus has the potential to produce an undetectable result even under close examination.

 

Further developments in the field have lead to harvesting techniques whereby strip excision and strip scarring can sometimes be avoided. The generic term for this surgery is Follicular Unit Extraction or FUE. During Follicular Unit Extraction, follicular units are harvested from the donor site one by one via a tiny surgical tool, punch, or needle. As with FUT (strip), the units are placed into small incision over the area of hair loss. Both approaches can be used to exclusively manufacture follicular unit grafts.

 

The follicular unit graft is essential in creating a natural appearance in hair restoration surgery.

[TheHairLossCure]

Also JoJoJo,

 

I noticed your age, 23 yrs old.

 

I recommend you check out this thread: Young Patients and HT

[pushing 40]

I am beginning to understand now how so many people get butchered by bad surgeons. People want to just stand there and ........EDIT: never mind. Rest of post deleted because it serves NO purpose whatsoever in this thread. Thanks Bill for reminding me of the "intent" of this forum, regardless of who is using it.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Pushing40,

 

Breathe easy brother

 

jojojo1,

 

Welcome to our community.

 

I posted a thread awhile back that addresses some of your concerns:

 

What are the various methods of hair transplantation and how does it work?

 

http://hair-restoration-info.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=569...601075613#3601075613

 

I also recommend reading the following threads:

 

Am I Too Young For a Hair Transplant?

 

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/showthread.php?t=152790

 

What should I consider when researching hair transplantation?

 

http://hair-restoration-info.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=569...071019713#5071019713

 

Cheers,

 

Bill

[pushing 40]

I know, I know. I guess its my years as a drill sgt. I would brief the entire flight on some process, procedure, rule, etc. Clearly, thoroughly, and yet concisely brief them in formation when I was supposed to have their undivided attention. The next day when one of them would ask a dumb ass question or do something as if they had NEVER heard me in the first place, I would make them wish they'd paid attention the first time. I did not brief them in mass just so I could reiterate it individually because they didn't listen the first time, you know? Just annoys the piss out of me.

[jojojo1]

Hi All,

 

thanking you all for the great help. Your are all a great bunch of people.

 

My hair loss is not a great concern to me right now at 23 thats why i do not really want to go into getting a hair transplant done. It has probably receeded by about 2 inches (i know some may think it is not much, but at 23, it seems a lot to me).

 

My hairline only receedes when i style and brush my hair too much. As i have minimized styling my hair, the receeded areas looks like it is growing back slowly, but the hair is still really short but looks very thick. I was hoping if i kept this up i could get it back, with the help of some medication.

 

I was hoping there would be some sort of medication out there that could help it grow back faster and making it thicker.

 

I heard that some people use both propecia and rogaine together and has great results?

Is this true?

[TheHairLossCure]

"I was hoping there would be some sort of medication out there that could help it grow back faster and making it thicker."

 

There is no miracle cure (yet), but propecia and rogaine are time-tested therapies. Talk to your doctor about a Propecia script. Minox is over-the-counter. Some patients, perhaps 5-10%, are all-star responders to these meds and regrow some hair. But most likely you will at least stop your progression for a good while. That was my experience. No regrowth, but no additional hair loss either (for several years in fact!)

 

"I heard that some people use both propecia and rogaine together and has great results? Is this true?"

 

I have heard that too, but there is no real hard data to my knowledge. It is reasonable to suggest that these therapies may have a synergistic effect. In other words, 1 and 1 = 3. But, even if 1 and 1 = 2, you are in a better situation than if you made no attempt to treat your loss

[Bill - Seemiller]

I heard that some people use both propecia and rogaine together and has great results? Is this true?

 

Theoretically it's true. It's the best line of defense that you have to be honest.

 

Propecia will help block DHT while minoxodil will stimulate circulation to the scalp, overall producing the best line of defense against hair loss.

 

But as TheHairLossCure has suggested, there is no miracle cure. Now if we can only convince TheHairLossCure to change his name since there is no such thing, that would be terrific .

 

Bill

[calvinmd]

JoJoJo1:

 

Here's what you're really trying to figure out about HTs:

 

Unfortunately, you cannot just pluck a hair from the back of your head, stick it into the front, and get new hairs growing from both places when you're done. (If this was the case, you'd never see a bald guy on earth again!)

 

All "hair" transplants are essentially just "skin" transplants. You're starting with no hair on the front/top but still having dense hair in the back/sides. Doing HTs is a way to trade that situaiton for somewhat less-dense hair all over your head.

 

 

 

Whether it's "strip" method, or the "punch-graft" method (not good), or the newest "FUE" methods . . . they're all basically taking a bit of skin from the back/sides of your head that still has hair-growing follicles on it, and then re-implanting it into the front/top.

 

So whatever is added to the front/top is still being subtracted from the sides/back some way or another. The various methods of doing the HT process are mostly about hiding the fact that hair has been taken out in back, as well as maximizing how much hair can be subtracted before anything begins to show.

 

 

The hair transplant process would be extremely good & effective (hell, it woulld functionally cure baldness for everyone) except for the fact that everyone has a limited amount of hairs that can be subtracted from the "donor" areas. The transplantation process "works" fine and the transplanted hair eventually regrows in the front looking identical to how it grew in the back. But nobody has enough donor hair to duplicate how their head was before they began to lose natural hairs, so the whole thing is a effort to disguise the MPB issue.

 

 

------------------------------------------------

[TheHairLossCure]

But as TheHairLossCure has suggested, there is no miracle cure. Now if we can only convince TheHairLossCure to change his name since there is no such thing, that would be terrific .

 

Ha ha. I don't know why I found this so funny, but I neary choked on a baby carrot when I read it

 

Having said "there is no hair loss cure" in 2 of my last 5 or 6 posts, it would seem that I am having an identity crisis.

[Bill - Seemiller]

[jojojo1]

Hi everyone,

 

thank you all for the quick replies.

 

Sorry i didn't make it clear before, but i just found out what i was asking before. I have read more discussion topics and found out that it was the FUE method i was talking about (where they simply pluck the hair from the back).

 

I know the hair taken out wont grow back, sorry i didnt make it clear before.

 

I definitely dont want a strip cause i just dont want to have a big scar running across the back of my head.

But does the FUE method leave any visible scars on your head?

 

Also how many grafts do do you think i will need in an area of roughly the size of a circle in 3 inches in diameter (not very dense)on the front head (receeding hairline).

I estimated myself to be no more than 500 due to the photos i have seen of others.

 

I didnt want to take up propecia cause some users and some doctors say it can be a bit dangerous to your health.

 

What is the best solution at this stage cause i really want to do something about it as it is still receeding????

 

Thanks for the help guys

[jojojo1]

Here is a pic i just took

[jojojo1]

As you can see from my picture i just took, my receeding hairline is quite bad for a 23 year old. However one good thing is that the other side of my head has only receeded about half as much as this side (Thank god). So i can still style my hair and still look half decent.

 

But i only want to restore the hairline to about 3/4 way down to match the receeding hairline on the other side of my head.

 

How many grafts do you think i need under FUE. Or if you dont recommend a HT for a 23 year old, then whats the best solution???

 

Thank you in advance for the help

[Guest]

jojo1,

 

With FUE, a round punch is used to extract the follicular unit from the scalp.

It does leave a round scar & the hair where the graft was taken from does not grow back.

 

With the strip method the incision is pulled together so you dont have missing hair but less scalp.

If done by a competent surgeon, the scar is virtually undetectable.

 

With that said, Considering your age & after viewing your pic it is my opinion that you are not a candidate for either method of Hairtransplant surgery.

 

While FUE might sound like the easy answer to your small problem it is not as non invasive as you may have read.

 

I would advise you to wait as long as possible before considering taking the plunge.

 

Meanwhile do some more research & get creative with your hair styling.

 

Good luck pal!

[TheHairLossCure]

Hi JoJoJo

 

"But does the FUE method leave any visible scars on your head?"

 

FUE does scar, but in the right hands it can be very hard to detect the donor area.

 

For a small number of grafts, FUE can be an idea tool. Still, at 23 years old, I suspect medical therapy will provide the best balance of risk and reward given your relatively limited hair loss. It will not hurt to do some photo consults with the docs you are currently looking at. I imagine this will give you some better insights into your treatment options.

[Bill - Seemiller]

I first want to say that at 23 and only at early stages of loss, you would not be a candidate for an HT.

 

That being said...

 

I wanted to add my thoughts on the below:

 

"But does the FUE method leave any visible scars on your head?"

 

FUE does scar, but in the right hands it can be very hard to detect the donor area.

 

We have to be careful of the above...

 

Though it's true, one can also say the same thing about STRIP. A lot of course, depends on the desired length of hair to be worn later on the sides and back.

 

The bottom line is, I've seen both impressive strip scars and FUE scars. I would agree that there is most likely less risk factor of bad scarring using FUE than Strip. But this is why clinic choice is vital. Look for consistency no matter which method you choose!

 

But again...at this point, try medicine and hold off on surgery for awhile.

 

Bill

[TheHairLossCure]

Gosh Bill! First you ask me to change my name then you question my unquestionable HT authority

 

Seriously, I would add that my comments were made under the premise that we were discussing a limited number of grafts. FUE's impact on the donor seems proportional to the number of extractions. When you can spread a limited amount of extractions through the donor zone, the result can be quite nice indeed.

 

Of course, in your early 20's it is better to consider the MEDs vs the FUEs.

[jojojo1]

Hi All,

 

 

once again thank you all for the comments and the help and advice.

 

I am taking all your advice very seriously and are trying to hold off a HT as long as possible.

 

But if it keeps on receding over the next year or so then i will seriously consider a small session of HT.

 

I have sent my photos to a HT surgeon and claims that i need about 800 grafts (does that mean 800 strands of hair?) to fix both sides of my hairline. But i believe it is too much thats why i asked for you opinion.

 

However i am from Australia and the surgeons name is Dr Martineck, who claims to have come from America, but i was wondering if anyone has heard of her??

[Hairfree]

Jojo -

 

I read something about her in a post recently. It wasn't a positive thread about her work. Can anyone help me here?