Hair Transplant

Basic Principles of Hair Transplant

Graft hair transplant is the most common type of hair repair in patients seen for hair restoration surgery. It is particularly useful in both male pattern baldness and female pattern hair loss. Hair transplant is usually done with a single follicular unit (FU) grafts in male pattern baldness.

Hair transplant is based on the idea that hairs emerge from the scalp as single hairs or, far more often, in small groupings of two, three, and less commonly four or five closely associated hairs. The basic building blocks of most modern hair transplantation are built around the concept of these follicular groups or FUs.

Follicle unit transplant is done by removing the follicle unit from the permanently hair-bearing rim hair (the donor area) and inserted into small incisions made in the areas of hair loss (the recipient areas). The major advantage of this method is that this surgery can be performed in an area that is alopecic or destined to become alopecic and it will look essentially natural.

Hair transplant surgery often requires more than one session to provide adequate coverage. The transplanted hair has a lower hair density than normal hair; hence it provides a natural albeit thinning appearance. For female pattern hair loss, this type of hair transplant is often less effective due to the limitations of hair density.

Male pattern baldness and female pattern hair loss both occur slowly but progressively, even the transplanted hair may become less dense throughout the person's life. It is therefore important to have a long term plan to help prepare for progression of these conditions. There are prescription medications such as minoxidil or finasteride which can stop or reverse hair loss in some patients, therefore it is encouraged to trial these products before or after a hair transplant surgery is performed.