Hair Transplants: Planning for Future Hair Loss
Just wondering; if balding is a progressive condition, why would patients opt for surgery (be it strip/extraction)? Won’t we have to deal with it once the hair falls out?
You are correct. Androgenic alopecia is a progressive condition and there is no hair loss cure. This is the very reason why hair transplants are not recommended for very young balding men and also why most hair restoration surgeons highly recommend medically stabilizing hair loss with Propecia (finasteride) and Rogaine (minoxidil).
The older we become, the easier it is to more accurately judge just how far on the Norwood Scale our hair loss will progress. This helps doctors and patients agree on a long-term plan that will make the best use of grafts in order provide for adequate donor hair to address future balding. Medical treatments can prolong the life of existing hair and, in some cases, even regrow hair. The right patient with the right plan can achieve a natural and aesthetically pleasing result that will last a lifetime.
It’s important to remember that not everyone is a candidate for surgical hair restoration. Patients have to find a skilled and ethical hair transplant surgeon that they trust to give them the best advice.
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David (TakingThePlunge)
Editorial Assistant and Forum Co-Moderator for the Hair Transplant Network, the Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center, and the Hair Loss Q & A Blog.
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Technorati Tags: balding, Androgenic alopecia, hair loss cure, hair transplants, hair restoration, hair loss, Propecia, finasteride, Rogaine, minoxidil, Norwood Scale, regrow hair
November 4, 2013 @ 11:47 pm
Nero,
I’m not sure if you’re using the term “mini grafts” correctly but this refers to an outdated hair transplant technique. Today’s state-of-the-art surgical hair restoration almost exclusively uses naturally occurring follicular units consisting of between 1 and 4 hair follicles. Using these naturally occurring clusters of hair follicles enables surgeon to produce highly refined and undetectable results.
In follicular unit strip surgery (FUSS), a strip of hair-bearing scalp is removed from the permanent zone and then dissected under stereoscopic microscopes in order to carefully separate the delicate grafts without damaging them. In follicular unit extraction (FUE), the grafts are harvested individually with a punch. These punches vary in size and may be sharp or blunt, manual or motorized. Skilled hair transplant surgeons will use a variety of punch sizes depending upon the characteristics of the hairs they are trying to harvest. There is really no ideal punch size however they tend to range in size between 0.8 and 1mm.
I suggest that rather than concerning yourself with the tools that each surgeon uses, instead concentrate on the results they produce with their tools of choice. The most important aspect of hair transplant surgery is the appearance of the final result and not how you get there.
You may find the following articles of interest.
Using Different Sized Punch Tools in Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) Hair Transplant Surgery?
The Evolution of Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE), Physicians, and its Tools
What’s the Best Tool for Performing Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) Hair Transplants?
David
November 3, 2013 @ 3:39 pm
When researching doctors what questions should be asked about mini grafts vs 4hair follicles and tool size?? What is the state of the art tool size that dr are using??