Hair Transplantation-A solution for Baldness

 Definition:Hair Transplantation is a cosmetic surgical procedure through which surgeons having expertise knowledge for it, transplants hair follicles in the required recipient area( front to vertex) after extraction of hair follicles from  donor area( back side of scalp) under all the precautions like minimal bleeding, less chances of infection etc. 

Description:Hair Transplantation is an artistic procedure and its done by an expert surgeon only like plastic surgeon who is able to give you the best results. Its a great achievement of medical science for the baldness because a person really knows better what kind of efforts are tried for a long time.

Like good health, good & healthy hair is also a desire for everyone especially the youths and they do everything for the sake of healthy hair. Approximately 60% male & 40% females are suffering from baldness and they take their solution with over the counter(OTC) medicines.

If you have crossed certain stages of Male Pattern Baldness and you feel that you are losing your confidence, Hair Transplantation may be a solution for you. 

History: It was the year 1897 in which Menahem Hodara who first time implanted the hairs in case of flavus caused by scar. But Japan was the first country where hair transplantation was done with modern technique. Surgeons did this by using the grafts of follicles to recover the eyebrows not the baldness. 

In the year 1950, it was the Norman who took the chance do the experiment with hair transplant to treat the baldness and he was the dermatologist. 

Hair Transplant Really a Solution for Baldness:  Baldness is a sign of Male Pattern Baldness  which is classified into 7 stages as per Hamilton but the big question arises in front of the every person who is suffering from this baldness that Hair Transplantation is really a solution for it or not???

The simple answer for this question is yes. Yes, Hair Transplantation could be a solution for baldness. But before taking the decision for Hair Transplantation you should be very clear about Male Pattern Baldness & Diffuse Hair Loss because in my day to day practice I have seen many patients' case just about the DHL but they directly came and asked me about the Hair Transplantation. So, this is really a confusion among the patients and it should be made clear to them that Hair Transplantation is not for DHL and this is not the patient to confirm it. Its only a Trichologist's duty.

Now come to our answer, here we need to understand at what and after which stage of MPT we can consider the solution of Hair Transplantation. If we see the solution of baldness, its divided into three(3) major categories :- 

 A) Preventive One:- This one is for the early stages of baldness like from MPT-I to MPT-III. There is no any question of Hair Transplantation but yes, some of the patients even at MPT-III stage have crossed a greater percentage of hair receding line so for them only we can consider it otherwise not. By preventive line of solution we can make it slow for a longer period. 

B) Therapeutic One:- This one is for the intermediate stages of baldness like from MPT-III(Vertex) to MPT-VI. Here we can clearly advise the patients to go for Hair Transplantation because you would not get any other except this if you want to cover the bald area. 

C) Restorative One:- This one is for the last stage of baldness like MPT-VI to MPT-VII. Here we could not consider the Hair Transplantation for the patients because we would not be able to give the perfect solution. We have added stage VI both in therapeutic & restorative because of two(2) reasons. First, some of the patients even at stage VI have a very good donor area because of that we can give them this solution on condition only. 2nd is generally we will not suggest the patients of VI stage for this solution. So, what would be the solution for them ?? Its Hair Replacement System or Hair Patch or Hair System. This is the best one for them. But still some of the patients do not get understand and insist for Hair Transplantation. And if such patients go for Hair Transplantation, they never satisfied with their results and they are the only responsible for negative reviews in the market.  

So, before going for Hair Transplantation following things you should check:- 

1)Donor Area: Hair Transplantation needs hairs that you have in your donor area. So your donor area has to be strong enough to do the Hair Transplantation. Basically 4000-5000 hair follicles need to be extracted from the donor area to a needful Hair Transplantation because if excess hair follicles are taken out from the donor area, thinning may be there too. And this has been seen in number of patients. 

2) Scar in Donor Area: Regarding the scar in the donor area we have come across a long way. In the FUT Technique there will be a scar mark in donor area and that is visible when shave off the head. But in compare to FUT Technique there will not be any scar mark in FUE Technique. Most of patients do not know that there will be scar mark too in FUE Technique but those scars are very tiny and not visible because they are covered by hairs. After healing they become white and in some cases of patients it also visible. 

3) Unnatural Look:  There are numbers of brands who claim for the natural look which they will give with their unique technique of Hair Transplantation but practically it does not happen like the same. Even if the surgeon transplants more number of hair follicles it does not mean that it will give the natural hair line and all because still occur before like that. 

4) Expensive or Not: Cost always matter for us wether its Hair Transplantation or anything else. Frankly speaking, its a costly treatment for Male Pattern Baldness. Mostly people think they will do the Hair Transplants and whole area will be covered but its not a matter of coverage area. If area of  coverage is larger, cost will be higher.

When should a person go for Hair Transplantation: Earlier it was believed that a person does become bald with age. It means that hair loss occurred with advancement of age. But practically its not like that because we have seen a young person is becoming bald while an older one still has full of hairs. This is not with everyone but still a great percentage of people. So, followings conditions are the indicators to go for Hair Transplantation:-

1) When you have tried almost everything but you could get your hair back. 

2) Even at the young age you have lost so much hairs that you look older than your normal age. 

3) When Male Pattern Baldness is now becoming a chalenge in your life.

4) This hair loss now affecting your self confidence even in your personal & professional life too.

Hair Transplant is not a solution for: 

1) A person suffering from a keloid or scar

2) A person got hair loss due to cancer treatments like radiotherapy. 

3) A female suffering from pattern hair loss all over the scalp.

Type: There has been a basic method that had been practising since its invention but now technique has been changed. There are three(3) basic methods for Hair Transplantation:-

 1)Harvesting grafts from donor area 

2)Creating holes in recipient area 

3)Implanting grafts into those holes

And these methods are performed by two techniques:-

1)Hair Transplantation with FUT:- FUT is Follicular Unit Traction or Follicular Unit Strip Surgery(FUSS). This is one of the earliest method and this is called called Shave Technique in local language because donor area has to be shaved & cut for the procedure. But this method has been discarded now and hardly practised by any surgeons.

2)Hair Transplantation with FUE:-FUE is Follicular Unit Extraction and that is a newly founded technique which has been practised now a days by most of the surgeons. 

3) Body Hair Transplantation-BHT:- Body Hair Transplant can also be done in case there is poor donor area. But here patient has to be clearly made understand about difference of hair texture, hair growth rate, thickness of hair etc because those hairs would not be the similar like scalp hairs. Here doctor has to choose the right candidate for the BHT, who has full of hairs in their chest or body from where hair follicles can be extracted. 

Procedure:This is a cosmetic surgery not a big one so its done in the surgeon's clinic under his/her guidance. First of all doctor make your back side of scalp(Donor area) numb by giving anaesthetic  injection. 

Then in the case of FUT surgeon removes an stripe of skin like 4-6 inches from the donor area of scalp and then that area of scalp is sewed closely and that stripe is preserved. Then after surgeon has to divide the stripe into multiple grafts like 500 to 1500 or 2000 etc. Each graft either may have one hair or two hairs or may be few hairs. So, whatever the results you will get because of the colour, quality, quantity of hairs you have in your recipient area. 

But in the case of FUE your whole head has to be shaved and follicles are extracted one by one & then transplanted in required recipient  area. And after that same procedure is done by the doctor in both the methods. 

Check list before the procedure:

1) Diabetic Patient:If patient is diabetic, patient should continue his medications and his sugar level should be in normal range. Because if it was not control enough it may produce some serious complications. And same in case of HTN. 

2) Shampoo:Use Betadine surgical scrub as shampoo for a week prior the procedure. Its use to avoid the chances of infection.

3)Minoxidil: Stop using of minoxidil 15 days before the procedure date. 

4)Exercise:Stop your work out 3-4 weeks prior the procedure.

5) Alcohol: Stop the consumption of alcohol & smoking 1-2 weeks prior the procedure.

Benefits of FUE over FUT:

1) Advanced & newly discovered technique FUE is mostly acceptable than FUT as of now. 

2) There is less chances of infection during FUE in comparison to FUT. 

3) There would not be any scar mark in donor are with FUE except small dots in compare to FUT because there is an scar mark in donor with FUT and that becomes visible after head shaving and people do easily understand you have done the Hair Transplantation & all. 

4) There is less bleeding during the FUE procedure over the FUT. 

Complications of Hair Transplantation: There are certain complications that we have observed & seen in the patients but it does not mean that its frequent to each & every patient. 

1)Bleeding 

2)Infection 

3)Swelling of face

4)Numbness in recipient area

5)Folliculitis

6)Shock loss

Adverse Effects:We always heard very commonly that Hair Transplant has done this & that but practically there is no any major adverse effects of Hair Transplantation. But there is some minor adverse effects that I have to mention here. "Shock loss" will be there after the Hair Transplantation. Shock loss is nothing just more thinning is observed after HT. Hiccough is also there in some percentage of patients after HT. 

Success Rate:Hair Transplant is very effective one for the hair loss caused by different reasons in the different individuals. Its success rate depends on many factors like donor area of concern person as well as quality of hairs in donor area,  experience of the surgeon because Hair Transplantation gives a modest change in thickness of hairs. 

Some studies show that 8 out of 10 patients are satisfied with the results of Hair Transplantation. And also success is enhanced with the Platelete rich plamsa therapy if done after Hair Transplantation. 

Conclusion:As I always say, there are many modes of treatment available in our great country India for any kind of diseases. But people mostly prefer to take it from Old School of Medicine(Allopathy) as their first choice and when some percentage of them do not get any satisfied results , they would take a move to other options available in medical field.

Yes, here we are talking about the world's 2nd largest practising system of medicine called Homoeopathy.But it does not mean that you should not take Old School of Medicine in your first choice because here I am just expressing the people's thought that I have been seeing in my day to day practice.

Homoeopathy has a great scope for treating the every kind of disease for last 200 years. And had been giving the wonderful satisfied results so hair loss can be also treated & managed very well in Homoeopathy.And yes, it does not mean that hair loss should not be treated by allopathy. We advise to take homoeopathy because there would not be any adverse effects. 

Treatment depends upon the severity of hair loss because we can only make it slow either allopathy or homoeopathy.If its a advance stage then hair transplantation will not be the solution.

                    *HaveGoodHair & LiveGoodLife*