About Hair Transplant

The hair transplant procedure used in hair replacement is mainly done in males rather than females. Hair transplants are the most popular way for restoring men’s hair.

Before knowing about the men hair transplant procedure one should know about the basics of hair transplant procedure that has been invented by the dermatologists. The procedure, by which the healthy hair are dissected from the donor site, and replaced in the recipient site on any part of the scalp, is called the hair transplant or the hair restoration surgery.

The donor area is also called as the “horseshoe fringe” in scientific terms. The donor region is mainly the side or the back of the head. This is because, it has been found scientifically that these regions are not affected by pattern baldness in the male. The hair that has been extracted from the donor area is implanted in the tiny pores made either by punching or using laser on the balding areas.

The process of hair extractions under microscope is called grafting and the hair thus dissected is known as the grafts. Each graft will contain one or more hairs that are dissected from the donor region. The grafts are implanted on the top of the head which will be balder and it makes the scalp look fuller and thicker. The grafts are placed in the crown only at the end of the procedure.

The extent of the hair loss, will decide the time for the men hair transplant. Generally, a hair transplant will take a few hours to complete the surgery. It also depends on the factors like the rate of hair loss, the amount of donor hair, and other medical considerations. Men will need only a few session while compared to that a female. Generally a session lasts for around five to ten hours.

The various hair transplant techniques are the strip incision, follicular unit extraction and micro or mini grafting techniques. The strip incision is the most traditional way of hair transplant surgery. This method involves the cutting of a tissue from the donor region that are rich in hair follicles. This tissue is planted in the bald region of the patient which then re grows.

The process of strip incision is bit complicated but after the invention of grafting technique has made the incision easier. Follicular unit extraction is the most followed technique of hair transplant surgery. This is done by the administration of local anesthesia to the patient. In this procedure the follicles from the donor region are taken and placed along the hair line in the recipient region.

The benefit of this method is that many follicular units can be extracted and implanted at any time. Mini or micro grafting is also similar to that of follicular unit extraction. The graft size in this method is always decided by the doctor. Men hair transplant should be performed carefully to avoid side effects like scarring, infection, swelling, pigment changes in the skin and scalp numbing.

Filed under: Health And Fitness on February 26th, 2010 | No Comments »

Different clinics have varying instructions on how to care for your hair transplant after you have had your procedure but the basics are pretty simple.

First, when you have your procedure most clinics will give you medications to take for the first few days. These usually include, but are not limited to, anti-biotics, pain killers and sleeping pills. Anti-biotics are usually only given as a precaution against infection as infections are relatively rare with today’s methods. The anti-biotic is usually a variant of penicillin. The first four or five days are when a patient is most susceptible to recipient site infection so this time period.

Pain killers are usually in the form of Tylenol 3 or some other prescription strength medication. Patients that visit better known clinics with solid reputations usually do not need to take pain killers but they are there just in case. The amount of pain killers will vary from enough for two or three days to enough for one week.

Sleeping pills are also not always needed but they can help the patient to relax and sleep soundly. This can be especially helpful when patients are particularly worried that they will damage their new hair grafts from too much tossing and turning in bed. Sleeping pills generally will put the patient into a deep enough sleep that they will wake up in the same position they fell asleep in thus reducing the chance that they will damage their new hair transplant grafts while sleeping.

Some clinics will recommend saline water spray to keep the grafted area moist as some hair transplant doctors believe that a moist recipient area will heal better while other clinics recommend dry healing. Other treatments can include vitamin E oil to help lift recipient scabbing and reduce recipient area redness.

One of the biggest discrepancies between clinics is how soon one should wash their new hair transplant grafts. Some clinics recommend that the patient carefully wash their hair two or three days after their hair transplant while some other clinics recommend not touching the transplanted area at all for up to three weeks or more. These clinics believe that the scabbing will come off on it’s own in this time frame and that this natural approach is best.

With regards to physical activities, again, most clinics have similar requirements. Two or three weeks is needed to wait for any cardio activities such as running or biking. This is to prevent too much sweating in the recipient area which could cause any minor infection to spread to other areas of the scalp. Heavy lifting is almost always recommended at one month. This will include bench pressing, leg squats and other heavy activities that could potentially cause undue stress for the hair transplanted grafts or the donor are. Some clinics are so cautious about this that they recommend no strenuous physical activity for up to six months post-op.

Ultimately, in the end, if you do decide to undergo a hair transplant always follow your particular clinic’s advice. If you don’t and something goes wrong then you want to be able to say you followed their instructions to the letter so that they cannot use that as an excuse to not back up their work.

A great source for hair transplant information- http://www.hairtransplantinsider.com

Filed under: Health And Fitness on February 21st, 2010 | No Comments »

Let me take a minute to share some of my history with you. As of this writing I am 39 years old and I live in Los Angeles. My hair loss started at the age of 22 and slowly progressed. All of the younger guys reading this, trust me, I know how you feel and believe me when I tell you that there is hope for a good set of hair on most of you. Anyways, I always was self conscious about my receding hair line and in the early 90′s started to interview doctors within the general Los Angeles Area. You name them, I can tell you I had interviewed them, I have been to Bosley, Dr. Wolf, Dr. Meshkin, Dr. Rassman, Medical Restoration Center, and many others which I do not recall. Looking back, I was so lucky not to have a surgery done at that time because If I had I most probably would have doll hair plugs sticking out my head.

So at the age of 35 I got married and settled down with my beautiful wife. I started to truly notice I was loosing my hair at the age of 36. It was pointed out to me by someone at my work since he was my upstairs neighbor looking down at my crown area.

I decided then and there to stop my hair loss and change my appearance forever, to the better. So, again I started my research online for months. I read articles, visited websites and talked to patients. In my research one name came up over and over again, “Hasson and Wong” based out of Vancouver Canada. . In almost every forum they had positive reviews over and over again from patients who had transplant procedures done by either Dr. Wong or Dr. Hasson. After 4 months of research I decided that Hasson and Wong was the one for me. Why did I decide on Surgeons out of the United States? Simple, they were one of the best, if not the best in the entire world and a Hair transplant is a life changing surgery. You cannot hide a hair transplant, once it is done thats it, your stuck with it for life. So, traveling 3.5 hours from where I lived to their office to have transplant work done by the best was a no brainer for me. I would travel to China if the best doctors were located there.

But which physician, Dr. Wong or Dr. Hasson? Everywhere I read they both had equally good reviews, one did not stand over the other in their skills or practices as a surgeon. One day, I read Jatronics blog, who is a past patient of Dr. Wong’s and who also works for Hasson and Wong presently. On his site he described in detail his own hair loss experiences and why he chose Dr. Wong and his entire transplant procedure with Dr. Wong. After reading that post, I decided Dr. Wong was the one for me. I made my first contact to Hasson and Wong by email, actually my entire hair transplant consultation was done online. I sent in a couple of photographs of my current hair loss status and Dr. Wong made an educated guess as to how many grafts I would need and how much the total cost of the surgery would be. I told him I wanted the maximum possible, which we agreed on to be approx 3800 grafts the cost at that time was approx $11,000., which to me was o.k., since most surgeons here in Los Angeles where double that amount, Also, the airfare and hotel where also included. Hasson and Wong pay for 2 full days of room and airfare. We were given a great room and at the great Granville Hotel on Granville Island in Vancouver. My wife and I decided to make it a short holiday for ourselves.

When we arrived at Vancouver in mid 2004 we went directly to our hotel at the Granville. We unpacked and had brunch, and since I insisted to meet Dr. Wong in person for a face to face consultation before the surgery, we then left for Hasson and Wong a day before the surgery. My wife and I met with Joe Tillman and Dr. Wong that afternoon which turned out to be more that what I expected. We talked about how the surgery will take place, the donor scar, my donor density and so on. It was a great meeting which helped me to prepare for the upcoming surgery the next day at 6:00am. My wife and I went back to our hotel and had a great dinner and relaxed.

On the day of the surgery, I really was nervous and reality settled in. Believe me when I tell you right before going in to have my donor area taken, I was having a panic attack, my heart was beating and I was telling my self , if this goes wrong I will be scared for life. Nobody knew this was happening, except my wife and she calmed me down by telling me that she had absolutely no doubts that the procedure would be done correctly. So I laid down in the chair and Dr Wong walked in gave me some anesthesia and started to cut my donor area out. Now let me tell all, I have a low tolerance of pain and I can honestly say that going to the dentist is more painful, I personally did not feel any pain whatsoever when Wong was cutting my donor area. After the donor area was taken, I was stapled up and taken to another room for harvesting. They had some 6-8 nurses, not including Dr. Wong harvesting the implants which took 10-12 hours. We started at 6:30am and were done by 4:00pm. I watched 2 dvd movies, “The Lord of The Rings” ,talked to Dr. Wong, talked to the nurses, my wife and had sushi for lunch. I did all that as the implants were being harvested. There was absolutely no pain. After the surgery was complete I was given some pain killers, given a hat, paid, thanked everyone for their precision and professionalism and went back to the hotel. We left for Los Angeles the following morning. The next day my face swelled up due to Anesthesia medication which was inserted in my head to numb the transplant area.

This swelling lasted 1 day after which the transplanted area was red for about 2-4 weeks. This redness of the transplanted area depends on individuals skin completion. If one is white and pale skinned like myself, the redness lasts longer, if one is tanned and dark skinned the redness may not even be noticeable. All donor transplanted hair fell off within 10 days. The next phase which lasts approx 3-6 months is the resting phase. I started seeing hairs pop out in around the 4-5 month mark which was amazing for a guy who before this was going bold every year. By the 8-10 month I noticed a whole new me with a whole new set of hair, absolutely amazing. For the first time in 10 years I can use a brush not a comb to brush my hair. Visit my website for before and after pics.

Filed under: Health And Fitness on February 17th, 2010 | No Comments »

The average cost in the United States is from $8.00 down to a more manageable $3.00 per implant. That price may vary with the volume and amount of treatments that may be required to complete the treatment procedure. There are also some precautionary procedures that are taken to avoid the many complications during the surgery process itself. Like steering away from alcoholic beverages and other compounds in food and drinks that may cause bleeding and infections. Pre-operative processes can have a topical or local anesthetic administered after which the scalp is shampooed and washed with an anti-bacterial solution.

After the operation, it must be ensured that the graft area is kept clean but in case of bleeding and itching, a visit to the doctor should immediately be conducted to prevent complications such as infection that can result in failure of the transplant.

Filed under: Body Hair, General, Hair Care, Hair Treatments on February 13th, 2010 | No Comments »

What Is A Hair Transplant?

A hair transplant is a surgical procedure where hair on one part of your head that is not prone to balding (like the sides and back) is taken and transplanted into a balding area.

Generally, most of this transplanted hair will continue to grow for the lifetime of the patient. Hair transplants are thus a popular way to address the problem of premature balding and hair loss.

Patients like the fact that they don’t have to mess with questionable hair loss treatments or products for the rest of their lives.

Hair Transplants are becoming much more popular in the image-obsessed culture we live in today. People are realizing that image makes a difference in everything from personal confidence and happiness to the type of salary you earn and even to what kind of mate you can attract.

What Does A Hair Transplant Look Like?

New advances in hair transplants are made every year. Hair transplants today don’t need to have the ‘pluggy’ look they did 10 or 20 years ago. Today they can look so completely natural, no one will be able to tell you had one.

Depending on which doctor you choose you can address the thinning areas on your crown or front hairline. You doctor may also be able to steer you towards proven hair loss products that can cut down on hair loss after your surgery. This will help you so you stave off the natural progression of age-related hair loss.

Is A Hair Transplant Right For You?

Everyone is unique and a hair transplant may not be for everyone as each person’s situation is unique. If you’re considering a hair transplant, you must choose your surgeon or clinic carefully as there are a wide variety of options for those wanting a hair transplant.

If you are considering a hair transplant, talk to your doctor. You’ll also want to educate yourself on hair transplants, methods, costs and options before making a final decision.

Filed under: Health And Fitness on January 9th, 2010 | No Comments »

The first hair loss treatments involved mere spray able materials that you sprayed on your top to cover up the ever widening gap in between your hair follicles. They were hailed as miracles for balding men got to go out on the town as if they were years younger. Then came scalp transplant where surgeons cut a swatch of scalp along with the live hair follicles and transplanted them onto where they were needed most. That lost appeal due to the scarring that occurred as the would heals. Then came individual hair follicle transplants where the scalp along with the live hair were individually taken out in what’s called a plug and transplanted onto the area in need of repair. All these treatments along with some internal drugs that were discovered that stimulated the hair follicles to grow faster are now on the market for you to choose from. Some even discovered that the shampoo used on horses, stimulated good hair growth and developed into a fad that many did try. HORSES??????? The lengths people would go for that healthy hair!

Filed under: Hair Treatments, Information, Trends on January 9th, 2010 | No Comments »

by: Christine Zafra

Psoriasis is a skin disease characterized by itchy red blotches that appear on the skin. This disease is not only limited to the skin on your body but, it can also appear on your scalp. So, what do you do with itchy skin? You normally scratch it. If you have psoriasis on the scalp, chances are, you’re going to scratch your head most of the time; and if you do, hair loss will most likely happen. If you have flakes on your scalp, make sure you don’t pick on it as this will only worsen the case. A dermatologist (not any doctor) will most likely cure your disease, so go see one before it is too late.

Photo taken from http://www.skintreat.net

Filed under: Information on December 8th, 2009 | No Comments »

by: Christine Zafra

If you think only men are the victims of this dreaded hair loss, you are definitely wrong. The world is in fact fair because even women too experience this (although only a number of them). Almost 20 million American women admitted that they experienced such hair loss and this is in fact horror to them since women are vain about their physical appearance.

Hair loss in women normally occurs after the menopausal stage. This is normal since your body does not anymore produce the same hormones like before. A study shows that women who have curly hair tend to lose more hair than those with straight hair since the former is much drier than the latter.

Photo taken from http://www.farjo.net

Filed under: Information on November 29th, 2009 | No Comments »

There is growing evidence that drug manufacturers are jumping into the lifestyle drugs due to increasing interest and spending in the said products. May they be in terms of sexual enhancement, receding hairlines, ever widening bellies and more, drug companies are into high gear to find the next breakthroughs at breakneck speeds. This might be too dangerous for us consumers for though these drugs have the approval of the FDA, they still have a lot to prove themselves for. Clinical trials under real-life conditions is one and like the ever worsening rap being garnered by Fluoride which was hailed as a miracle for the promotion of healthy teeth, studies in the future may find them to have adverse effects. The fast paced development and trials of drugs is due to the billions of dollars the beauty industry is worth and these firms know it. Getting a miracle drug that offers miracle fixes is not the answer for the holistic approach is still the cure. Having an obese person takes Alli while maintaining current eating and lifestyle would be counterproductive, even compounding medical problems. There should be ample time and pressure on the FDA to release drugs for approval should not be entertained for the lives of people are at stake and there is no compromising that.

Filed under: General, Hair Treatments, Trends on October 29th, 2009 | No Comments »

Many of the known drugs used for treating hair loss are in their early stages and have been breakthroughs that were released onto the market without proper long term studies of their effects. When trying to choose the best medication to take, first of all, be sure to talk thoroughly with your hair doctor to allow you to get the most information about a treatment before you do get it. Better yet, you can go online and get the latest news and other information regarding medication which is usually released by the US FDA. These drugs have to be approved and tested by the said branch of government to be sure they are safe for use on humans. If one aims to treat some form of hair loss that is attributed to genetics, then the battle may be lost from the beginning for this type is hard-coded into your genes and there might be no other alternative for you but to accept the utter truth that you will be loosing your hair (or parts of it) in due time.

Filed under: General, Hair Care, Hair Treatments on September 29th, 2009 | No Comments »