Surgical Options for Hair Loss

Before committing to any kind of surgical procedure, you should ask yourself some questions about what you realistically expect out of such a procedure. Many men are under the false impression that they will be able to regain their entire head of hair with transplanting procedures, but the reality is that there is only so much donor area available to be used, so depending on the extent of your hair loss before undergoing hair loss surgery, the results may not be entirely satisfactory. Voluntarily undergoing any kind of cosmetic surgical procedure should be done with the utmost care, diligence, and knowledge about the possible ramifications of such actions. Having said that, surgical hair loss procedures have come a long way from the ‘picket-fence’ look of earlier transplant efforts. Here we have a look at four of the more recent surgical procedures to combat hair loss, Hair Grafting, Scalp Flaps, Scalp Reductions, and Scalp Expansion. These are brief outlines only, as any surgical procedure is complicated and is beyond the scope of this website.

Hair Grafting (punch grafting, hair transplantation, plug grafting)

Hair grafting is probably the most well known of surgical hair loss treatments, and involves the removal from the back and side areas of the scalp of small areas of hair bearing scalp and ‘transplanting’ them into the affected balding areas of the scalp. You’ve no doubt seen photographs of earlier attempts at hair grafting, where you can visibly see a ‘picket-fence’ look as the new hair is clumped together in isolated patches. Well, things have moved on from there and many establishments can now offer single-hair transplants that greatly enhance the look of the transplanted hair. If you look closely at a hairline, you’ll notice that it is not uniform, it is not straight, and the hair itself is even transitional from fine hair to thick hair. With hair grafting now able to take single hair follicles at a time, surgeons are able to mimic a natural hairline much more so than previously. The basic premise of hair grafting is that each hair follicle has it’s own pre-determined genetic disposition to hair loss. If a hair is transplanted from the back or the sides of the scalp, the hair follicle itself will retain its genetic qualities and as such shouldn’t be affected by DHT and subsequent hair loss.