Surgical Hair Restoration

Hair Transplant Overview

Hair trasnplantation is performed by taking hair from the back of one's scalp in the form of grafts. Lifelong hair follicles are found in good supply in virtually all men, even men with advanced baldness. Hair on the back of the scalp is DHT resistant, so don't worry about this hair beginning to thin after surgery. This area is sometimes referred to as the "donor area". During the hair transplant procedure, physicians take excess hairs - follicles and all - from this plentiful area and relocate them to areas of thinning and balding on the top or front of the head.

Types of Hair

You are your own donor in hair transplantation. If you were to receive hair from another donor, it would be rejected without immune suppressing drug therapy, unless you were to receive hair from an identical twin.

Hair density refers to the number of hair follicles per square centimeter of scalp. Laxity is the looseness and flexibility of your scalp. More grafts may be used when density is high and laxity is high.

Coarse hair is denser so it is able to cover more scalp area. This will result in less grafts being taken for coverage of your scalp. Curly hair covers more scalp area than straight hair, so less grafts are also needed. People with light skin and a dark hair color pose the biggest task for scalp coverage, because of the contrast between their skin tone and hair color.

Side Effects

One side effect to a hair transplant is called 'shock loss'. When donor hair is implanted back into the recipient wounds on top of your scalp, this is actually quite a shock to them. If the shock is large enough, the new hairs will fall out 2 weeks after having had the surgery.

Not only does your transplanted hair fall out, but it is possible that the surrounding non transplanted hair will fall out as well. This is quite common, but it is only temporary as your new hair will grow back soon.

Sometimes the wounds on the top of your head will itch. They will start to form scabs over the following week. It is important not to pick at them for you might damage your new hairs.