Men's Health

How to decide when to get a hair transplant

Why do people lose hair?

There are two known causes for the hair loss condition: the DHT and because of decreasing blood flow. First the DHT (Di-hydrotestosterone) is one of the major cause of male pattern baldness. This major problem has led to the establishment of several hair replacement techniques better known as hair transplants. The second cause is the decreased blood flow to the area of thinning or baldness (although this is often disputed by medical experts). This second cause has to do with lack of nutrients getting to the hair follicles.

Hair loss is genetic

Male and female pattern baldness is genetic and affects more than 50 million men and women in US. You are genetically predisposed to when and to what extent you will lose your hair.

Can wearing a hat or helmet cause hair loss?

How often you wash your hair or the type of shampoo you use, whether or not you use helmets or wear a hat has no scientific link with hair loss. The same is true with rubbing or going through your hair with the hands.

Hair transplants

The hair transplant is a minor surgery of the skin where grafts or hair of different sizes are removed from a horseshoe shaped donor area from the back and sides area of the head and are surgically implanted in the area of the head where hair replacement is needed. Since this hair is immune to de-hydro testosterone, it will not fall out. Most hair transplant patients tend to be in their thirties to fifties. One of the reasons why a hair transplant isn't recommended for people in their twenties or even younger is because it is difficult to estimate how quickly and how much further hair loss there will be. There is little point in getting a transplant if hair loss in surrounding areas does not stop or really slow. This will give an immediate impression that the person has had a transplant

Does the new hair fall out?

The hair transplants have been taken from the scalp area around the back and sides of the head where the hair is genetically made NEVER to fall out. The fact that the hair transplants are moved from an area of the scalp to another has no effect for it's genetics predisposition to grow and making hair loss transplants an efficient technique especially supplemented by treatments that stop or reduce Di-hydrotestosterone (DHT) from binding on the hair follicles where the remaining natural hair remains.

Hair treatments first

It is better to take treatments such as propecia (finesteride) and regrowth stimulants such as minoxidil to see if hair loss can be stopped and maintained, and if possible, regrowth without resorting to a hair transplant. If there is substantial hair loss, which has subsided, but the loss is still very noticeable then a transplant should be considered

Noticeable hair

No. Usually the hairs are only a few millimetres in length immediately following hair replacement surgery. After the transplant, the hair may appear to be growing, but in reality they are being thrust out. Within three or four weeks of the hair transplant, nearly all the new hair transplants must be shed. Approximately, after three months following the initial shedding of hairs, the replacement hair will be noticeable.