Purpose

Hair restoration techniques have evolved through the ages. Scalp flaps and expansion techniques are still used but increasingly suitable instances of baldness are treated with hair transplantation.

Details

Different causes can result in baldness and the exact aetiology must first be identified. A most common cause for the procedure is the male pattern baldness which is an inherited condition. Only individuals with a favourable donor scalp with sufficient density relative to the bald area are suitable candidates.

Surgery is provided concurrently with the administration of medications known to be effective in reducing the progression of hair loss.

Unusually a strip of hair bearing scalp is removed from the occipital area. Medical personnel then work on a bench to harvest follicullar units of hair grafts from this strip whilst the donor wound is repaired.

The grafts are prepared and aligned on a piece of wet towel and chilled with cold saline.

Tiny stabs are then made in the bald scalp and grafts are inserted.

The surgeon usually aims at establishing a full anterior hairline and enough grafts behind that to restore a good look.

As the number of grafts transferred may be up to the thousands, surgery is usually up to many hours.

Caution

The result depends on the proportion of surviving grafts. Sometimes a second session of surgery may be required to add up density to the transplanted scalp.