Surgical Treatment For Hair Loss

Hair loss occurs in ten percent of women and sixty percent of men. Because so many men are concerned about balding, the surgical treatment for hair loss known as hair transplantation has become the number one cosmetic surgery for men today.



The market for hair transplantation is small compared to the huge market for products that claim to treat hair loss without surgery. These included hair-care cosmetics, scalp massagers, shampoos, laser combs as well as many more. However, these products have no proven effectiveness excluding their ability to increase the volume of the existing hair temporarily, which results in a head of hair that looks fuller than it did before.



The medication that is taken as a treatment for hair loss known as minoxidil is an exception, however. It and one other drug, finasteride, have been approved by the FDA and they show a definite benefit, although limited.



The surgical treatment for hair loss was pioneered in the 1950's. Although it produced results, the transplants were characterized by the obvious appearance of plugs. These early experiences did manage to pave the way for more modern hair transplant procedures.



The plug-like doll's hair appearance was the result of using grafts that were four mm in diameter. Each plug contained fifteen to twenty hairs and was normally harvested with a circular punch. It would then be transplanted into a site in the bald scalp. After transplantation, the hair would go dormant for about four months and then return to the normal cycle of hair growth.



Until the 1990' the plug-graft transplantation was the most common surgical treatment for hair loss. Recently, smaller grafts created by quartering the standard four mm graft have become popular. This evolution has continued and smaller and smaller grafts are being used to more closely mimic the way hair grows naturally.



Today mini-grafts and micro-grafts are often used. A micro-graft contains one to two hairs and a mini-graft contains three to six hairs. These two techniques are used in combination to make the transplants look as natural as possible to the point that is almost indistinguishable from an authentic hair-line.