Hair Loss - Causes & Treatment
So you are thinking about a hair transplant and you want more information? You are in the right place! I have extensive experience working with hair transplant patients and will tell you about the process from start to finish in this blog post.
Hair transplants in the old days got a bad rap! The final result often looked very obvious - like doll's hair and people could tell that the new hairs had been placed there. They were considered obvious and cheesy! Today this just isn’t the case. Hair transplants are highly effective and look incredible with long lasting, natural results for most types of hair loss. Not only that, but the new transplanted hairs will not fall out! Yet another reason why it is worth the time and money to try hair transplants if you are not happy with your current hairline or hair loss.
So let me tell you about the latest and greatest and a little bit about the process and procedure itself.
CONSULTATION & DIAGNOSIS
First and foremost – your hair loss has to be analyzed for its cause. The doctor will ask you questions about your overall health and hair loss pattern and time course as well as about any testing or interventions. In some cases blood tests and even scalp biopsies are warranted, and in most cases a simple history and physical are all that is needed.
The doctor will also ask you about any medications topical and oral that you have tried as well as supplements and dietary interventions and their effect.
COMMON CAUSES OF HAIR LOSS
The most common cause of hair loss in androgenic alopecia - family history (heredity) that happens with aging. This condition is called androgenic alopecia, male-pattern baldness and female-pattern baldness.
Other causes of hair loss include hormonal changes and medical conditions. A variety of conditions can cause permanent or temporary hair loss, including hormonal changes due to pregnancy, childbirth, menopause and thyroid problems.
Medical conditions include alopecia areata, which is immune system related and causes patchy hair loss, scalp infections such as ringworm, and a hair-pulling disorder called trichotillomania.
Medications and supplements:
Hair loss can be a side effect of certain drugs, such as those used for cancer, arthritis, depression, heart problems, gout and high blood pressure.
Radiation therapy to the head:
The hair may not grow back the same as it was before.
A very stressful event:
Many people experience a general thinning of hair several months after a physical or emotional shock. This type of hair loss is temporary.
Hairstyles and treatments:
Excessive hairstyling or hairstyles that pull your hair tight, such as pigtails or cornrows, can cause a type of hair loss called traction alopecia. Hot-oil hair treatments and permanents also can cause hair to fall out. If scarring occurs,
hair loss could be permanent.
Who is a candidate for FUE and FUT and what is FUE AND FUT??
Follicular Unit Extraction and Follicular Unit Transfer. At Hazen Hair we use this state of the art scarless form of hair extraction and transfer. It involves removing hair follicles which are like the bulb that is below the skin and contain 1, 2 or 3 hairs and removing them follicle by follicle from the back of the head where most people have plenty of hair and plenty to spare and transferring them to the front or the crown where the hair is either missing or thinning. We use a machine to assist in this procedure called NEOGRAFT for the extraction and the placement and transfer of the follicles is done manually.
Most types of hair loss can be candidate’s for this method, there are a few conditions that we like to rule out but it can start with a conversation with our providers.
THE HAIR TRANSPLANT PROCEDURE
We take great pride in making the procedure as easy and comfortable as possible. The procedure is performed in the office by our team of highly qualified hair technicians, supervised by me. We first design and plan the procedure together with you, using your input and desires as our guidepost and then plan with your approval. We shave the back of the head, a small area from which we will extract the follicles for the transfer. We provide some pain medication and medication that will help you relax and then we do a local injection to numb the posterior scalp. We have a comfortable reclining medical chair to lie on while the first part of the procedure is done. After the extraction we take a break so you can stretch your legs and eat something and then we begin the placement of the grafts. Again we numb the front of the scalp and crown with a local injection and then make tiny holes for graft placement with careful attention to depth and angle of the hole to yield the most natural results and then meticulously manually place the grafts.
The entire procedure is in the office. We start in the morning and are generally done by 4pm!
We have a special protocal for after care which involves gentle hair washing and massage for approximately 10 days.
Usually about 5 days following the procedure the patient is totally presentable to the outside world.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
About 3 weeks after the procedure all the tiny hairs that were transplanted will fall out. The back of the head will form scabs and heal by 10 -14 days and the hair where shaved will start to grow back quickly,
The transplanted hair will not start to grow until about 3 months following the transfer and at that time only 1/3 of the hair will grow. At around 6 months 2/3 of the new hair will be growing and at 9 months it should all be growing in. Therefore you really won’t see your full results for a year!!
So please be patient - it will be so worth it in the end, I promise!
Comment below if you have any other questions that I missed.
Until next time,
Dr. Alexes Hazen