Friday, February 8, 2008

Hair Transplantation

By: Cynthia Jones

Hair transplantation is one of the most popular baldness treatments. It is the surgical procedure meant for permanent hair loss correction.

Various Hair Transplantation Methods

You have various hair transplantation options offering baldness treatments. Two chief choices that you have are
a.) Scalp Flap Surgery and
b.) Scalp Reduction Surgery.

a.) Scalp Flap Surgery


In scalp flap surgery a skin flap and underlying tissues are moved from one scalp area to the other. The surgeon first cuts out a section of the scalp that lacks hair growth. Then he replaces it by a flap of hair-bearing scalp. The size and placement of the flap will be decided on the basis of your requirement. The operation scar will be covered by the relocated hair.

The objective of scalp flap surgery is to correct a non-traumatic cosmetic defect. Its other use is repairing a traumatic injury site and restoring its functionality and cosmetic appearance.

Repairing a skin defect resulting from congenital malformation is another is another use of this hair transplantation process.

Advantages of Scalp Flap Surgery –

The advantages of this scalp flap surgery include natural frontal hairline, proper hair placemen in temporal areas, hair pattern distortion avoidance, etc.

Side effects –

Apart from its advantages, the scalp flap surgery also has certain side effects. Hair transplantation through this process causes permanent hair loss at donor sites. The other outcomes include scarring at donor or recipient sites, blood supply failure to the flap, etc.


b.) Scalp Reduction Surgery


This hair transplantation technique is usually aimed at people with posterior baldness. It removes bald scalp and brings the half-bearing scalp closer to it, to fill in the bald area in the scalp. In this surgical technique, the surgeon will reduce your baldness by cutting out a segment of your bald scalp skin.

The hair transplantation process in scalp reduction surgery is divided into two parts. In the first part, the bald portion of the scalp is surgically removed. In the second part, the hair-bearing scalp is upwardly stretched to replace the removed bald scalp.

You might require the scalp reduction surgery to be conducted in combination with another surgical method - brow lifting. The latter’s objective is o remove the frown lines from the forehead and crow’s feet from around the eyes.

In your case the brow lifting can be carried out through scalp extension or scalp expansion device. This technique causes the hair-bearing scalp skin to be stretched causing better coverage to bald areas of the scalp.

The possible complications and side effects

The possible complications and side effects of scalp reduction surgery include scarring at the suture lines, scalp skin "œstretch back" at the excised bald area and central midline scar called slot deformity.


c.) Follicular hair transplants


Follicular hair transplants are known for their dependability and popularity. It is one of the baldness treatments with an increasing popularity.

In follicular hair transplants a graft is constituted of one follicular unit as it exists in nature.

What are follicular units?

Follicular units can be described as hair bundles growing together. Every unit is formed of about 1-4 terminal hair follicles. In case the problem arises from a genetic factor, healthy hair gets replaced by hair with smaller diameter and length.

A follicular unit contains 1-2 fine vellus hairs, oil glands, a small muscle and a collagen band surrounding the unit.

A follicular unit represents the skin's hair bearing structure. Its role is to ensure maximum growth of the hair.

The basic concept of follicular hair transplants says that a follicular unit is a physiological unit, and not a histological one.

The advantages of this technique

The advantages of this hair transplantation process include natural looking hair, more effective surgery thanks to stereoscopic microscopes for dissection, damage avoidance to the follicular unit, etc.

The disadvantage of the process

One disadvantage of the process is that it is a time consuming one.

Direct Hair Implant (DHI) – DHI is the minimally invasive hair transplantation technique for follicular hair transplants. The process is devoid from the use of scalpel, stitches and a donor strip.

DHI is based on the transportation process called Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE).

FUE is conducted through the use of custom-made, precise micro-surgical tools. It witnesses direct extraction of follicular units one by one, instead of dissection.

Advantage of FUE

A crucial advantage of FUR is the quality control possibility during the hair transplantation procedure. Moreover, the procedure is simple and painless.

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com

Thursday, February 7, 2008

How Hair Is Inserted In Hair Transplant Surgery

Hair transplant surgery begins, after anesthesia is applied, with removing donor tissue. Follicular units are then extracted from the tissue using a stereomicroscope. This is all done by skilled nurses and technicians. The insertion of the hair into the receptor sites comes later.

Once the follicular units for the hair transplant are dissected out of the donor tissue, technicians set them aside in a saline solution. The temperature must be ideal or the small grafts will not survive the procedure. This is done very carefully in order to ensure a good result.

The surgeon will make tiny incisions into the scalp where the hair transplant grafts are to go. These are called the receptor sites. They are made with a very thin surgical needle. The surgeon must have an eye for detail to properly set the receptor sites. He must also be very artistic to achieve a natural look, especially at the hairline.

The direction the hair grows, both on the front of the head and at the crown, are very important, too. The doctor must make the condition of the newly placed hair look like the patient's own natural scalp hair. The angle that the hair is put in determines how much it will stand up from the head.

Once the surgeon has made all the hair transplant incisions that lay out the design he has created, the specially trained surgical team steps in. They use his plan to accomplish his goals, and in turn the goals of the patient. The groundwork is done for them by the surgeon when he does his incisions.

The surgical team takes care to get every hair transplant graft into the receptor sites as they have been laid out. They waste no time, though, because the small grafts are vulnerable when their follicles are outside of the skin. The goal is to get the grafts in as quickly as possible while staying true to the design.

Next, the doctor looks over the hair transplant for quality control. He may take a good deal of time tweaking the placement of grafts before he is satisfied that they are all set properly into their receptor sites in a pleasing fashion. When he gives the ok, the surgical technicians again take over the patient's care.

The grafts will be more permanently set into place when the technicians dry them by blowing a cool blow dryer across them. This makes them adhere in their place so that no bandages are necessary. The patient will be asked to bring, or will be given, a baseball cap for the ride home from the hair transplant procedure.

The doctor will want to see how the grafts are doing the day following the hair transplant. The patient will go in for a check-up so that any problems can be corrected quickly. If that is not possible, at least plans can be made to correct them at a future time.

The doctor will have done his job with the hair transplant procedure at this point. All that remains is periodic checkups. If the hair loss is extensive, there may be more procedures, but all the hair transplant surgeries will be done with the same amount of care.

Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Hair Transplantation Surgery

By: Michelle Hudson

Proper hair transplant information is important before going for a hair transplantation surgery. Hair transplantation is the process of transplanting hair-bearing portion of the scalp onto the bald area. Recent technological advances have made the operation more convenient, affordable and effective.

Some basic hair transplant facts
Hair transplantation operation involves several steps like pre-surgery care, post-operation care.


Pre-surgery care - You are supposed to follow certain pre-operation precautionary measures. For example, you need to follow the list of dos and don’ts provided by the surgeon. These dos and don’ts include abstaining from alcohol and medicines not prescribed by the surgeon.


Post-operative care - You have to take certain precautions after the transplantation. For example, you must not expose the operated area to sunlight for some days. Shampoos and chemicals are also to be shunned.
You may experience falling of displaced hair from the recipient zone. It is a perfectly normal phenomenon.


Hair transplant cost - The hair transplant cost depends mainly on the clinic and the surgeon’s fees. The required number of grafts, that depends on the balding area size, also matters in this regard.

Hair transplantation is the most effective way to deal with pattern baldness. The process entails removal of the scalp’s hair-bearing portion and transplanting it onto the bald patch. Recent technological advances have enhanced the convenience and affordability of the surgery, making it most popular method of medical hair restoration.

Follicular unit transplantation

A discussion offering basic hair transplant information is incomplete without a special discussion on follicular unit transplantation. This process is considered the most effective among the various hair restoration methods. The surgery involves transplanting hair from the permanent zone in the back of the scalp onto the affected areas.

The donor tissue is removed in one piece to ensure that the follicular units being relocated from the scalp back are not damaged. An integral part of follicular unit transplantation is single-strip harvesting. It ensures that no damage is caused to the individual hair follicles.

Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Different Types of Hair Transplant Surgery Performed

By: Ian Koch

There has been a tremendous development in the profession of hair loss treatment the recent years. In older days the only option most people with hair loss problems had was wigs. Little by little various kinds of creams or lotions came in the market, promising people with hair loss to gain their hair back if they used these remedies as prescribed. Unfortunately most of these so called medical hair restoration products didn’t help at all; the poor hairless people had to accept their boldness or wear a wig. Until hair transplant surgery came around.

Going for a hair transplant surgery is an important decision that should be taken with care. Before you take that decision you have to consult with the doctor to get an overall idea about the treatment that you are going to take and the probable end results. Testimonials from the earlier patients can also be checked before you decide to select the doctor and the clinic in which you want to get the treatment done. Men are the most among the masses that go for hair replacement surgery. The time it takes for replacement in men and women differs based on the type of baldness that they have.

There are two types of hair replacement surgery that can be done for men and women. Hair replacement and fast delivery of the results are got if the patient cooperates with the surgeon and follows the instructions properly. Follicular transplant method is one of the surgical methods that are used for transplantation. In this method the scalp of donor is taken along with the hair and it is split into follicular units. These units are surgically attached to the bald area of the patient. This method takes even a year to complete the whole bald area to be covered with the transplanted hairs.

The other method is the follicular unit extraction method which extracts the follicle by placing holes near the follicles. This method has an advantage that scarring is minimal than the follicular transplant method in which the scars are visible. Whatever be the method used for the treatment of baldness, the doctor would decide on the type of the treatment based on the skin and the baldness type in the patient.

There are many clinics around the world that does these treatments. It takes more than 3 months to get the treatment done. Regular follow up is needed to check the progress of the treatment. A series of surgeries are needed to complete a treatment.

Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com

Monday, February 4, 2008

Advancement in Hair Transplantation

A standard hair transplantation procedure involves the removal of donor strip of hair from the back of the head from where the follicular unit grafts are dissected under a microscope. These grafts are then preserved in saline and are then transplanted on a bald patch on the crown area of the scalp.

Given the time consuming and tedious nature of this procedure, a hair transplant surgeon is often able to transplant only about 500 to 600 follicular unit grafts per day. However, thanks to the recent hair transplant advances, this technique is often replaced by the follicular unit extraction (FUE). The cost per graft of FUE is typically twice the cost of the standard follicular unit hair transplant procedure discussed above but it is comparatively faster and minimally invasive.

Some hair transplant advances
In a typical FUE procedure a small round punch is made in the donor area to directly extract 1, 2, 3 and 4 hair follicular unit grafts. The follicular units extracted using this process is typically referred to as "blunt dissection" where a punch is made to envelope the entire follicular unit separating it from the surrounding soft tissues.

Once the underlying follicular unit is separated from the surrounding tissues, it is easily extracted using a small forceps. The small holes left behind after the follicular unit extraction gradually heal over the next few days and are not detectable to the naked eye once the patient's hair grows out. The healing time is much less than the donor strip extraction procedure.

While the FUE procedure has been adopted by most hair transplant clinics, the standard strip excision method is still the most popular hair transplant procedure because it is more economical than the FUE.

Moreover, due to some recent hair transplant advances such as the use of trichophytic closure technique, the linear donor scar created by the strip excision procedure is now often rendered almost undetectable to the naked eye. This advancement in the hair transplantation technique has made FUE procedure relatively less appealing.


Hair transplantation research
Besides the hair transplant advances in the transplantation procedures, a lot of research is also underway to clone the hair. If the hair transplantation research is successful it will be possible to make several copies of donor hair in the laboratory. The application of this technique would be used in the form of hair transplantation. In the traditional procedures, the biggest limitation is often the donor which is not able to meet required density. However, hair cloning promises to overcome this problem by having the amount of hair required to be grown in a laboratory from a single donor hair and then implanting it into the scalp.

Hair transplantation research for cloning is very difficult and there are many hurdles that have to be overcome regarding the safety and cosmetic characteristics of the cloned hair. Some hair transplantation research has also provided breakthrough for some hair loss medication like Dutasteride.

Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com

Sunday, February 3, 2008

What Is Follicular Enhancement Technology?

If you suffer from hair loss, than you are fully aware of the emotional and mental stress that comes with this disease. The reason for all of this stress is because our hair allows us the ability to express our emotions in an outwardly manner. Yet, whenever you begin to loose your hair, you are loosing this opportunity to express yourself, which causes much anxiety and unwanted depression. Since hair loss is such a stressful situation it is no doubt that at the first sign of hair loss many individuals begin to search out a hair replacement therapy.

Throughout all of the research that individuals do regarding hair replacement procedures, the number one choice is follicular enhancement technology. Follicular enhancement technology is known for providing its patients the ability to grow their own, natural hair, which is something that very few hair replacement therapies claim. But how does follicular enhancement technology work? Basically how follicular enhancement technology works is by working directly with the hair follicle to begin the growing process again.

When you are loosing your hair, you want to fix the problem and restore your head of hair as quickly as possible. This is one of the main benefits of follicular enhancement technology; you are able to enjoy a new head of hair almost instantly after the procedure. But how exactly can this happen? In order to understand how this procedure affects your hair, you must first understand your hair.

Each strand of hair that you see on your head is attached to a follicle, which acts like the foundation of a skyscraper. If the foundation of a skyscraper malfunctions, than the entire building will crumble, and that’s the same with hair follicles, however, with follicular enhancement technology you are able to restore this foundation properly. Every person has hair follicle units, which are grouped together randomly. The reason why this treatment is so convincing is because the doctors are able to regroup your hair in these random units, thus giving you a natural appearance.

Like all hair replacement procedures, follicular enhancement technology has only grown over the past several years. However, this procedure is a surgery and there are some risks involved by doing so, yet, these risks are minor. Once you visit a doctor and begin asking about follicular enhancement procedures, they will explain to you there is a possibility of follicular shock. If your body goes through this shock, you will experience hair loss; however, it is not permanent. While some people never experience this type of follicular shock, others do and if this happens to you, don’t worry because the hair will grow again within a couple of months. This is because the follicles that the doctor transplanted are permanently embedded into your scalp, thus they will continue to grow hair.

When you notice your hair beginning to thin, it can lead to very stressful moments in the bathroom mirror. Yet, by the advancements in follicular enhancement technology your hair can return to the youthful appearance you want to hold onto. The reason why follicular enhancement technology has become the top hair replacement treatment is because it proactively treats hair loss. Instead of using creams or medications, you are allowing a doctor to reconstruct your hairline, which ends in a wonderful, natural looking head of hair.

Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Follicular Hair Transplants

By: Michelle Hudson

The process involving follicular hair transplants is considered to be the most effective among hair restoration methods. In follicular hair transplant, the surgeon transplants hair from the permanent zone in the back of the scalp onto the affected areas.

The donor tissue is removed in one piece. This is to ensure that the follicular units being relocated from the back of the scalp are not damaged. An integral part of hair follicle transplant is single-strip harvesting as it preserves the follicular units. It also ensures that no damage is caused to the individual hair follicles.

Follicular hair transplant technique follows a well laid out pattern. Follicular hair transplants allow the surgeon to use small recipient site. During the surgery the follicular units that are removed from the donor tissue are minutely studied by a microscope. This stereomicroscopic dissection raises the yield of the absolute number of follicular units, and that of the total amount of hair as well.

Follicular hair transplant procedure

During follicular hair transplant the surgeon scans – under a microscope - the follicular units to be removed from the donor tissue. This stereomicroscopic dissection helps in protecting the follicular units. It also ensures a rich yield of both the follicular units and the total amount of hair that is restored.

Donor strip - In follicular hair transplants the donor strip is the hair strip that is taken from one part of the body and transplanted to the bald region of the scalp. In this technique the donor tissue is removed in one piece. This ensures that the follicular units being removed from the back of the scalp do not suffer from any damage.

Donor strip extraction - The donor strip is first taken out from the permanent zone in the back of the scalp. Then it is transplanted onto the areas of the scalp where there is no growth of hair.

The single-strip harvesting in follicular hair transplants ensures preservation of the follicular units and protection of individual hair follicles from possible damage.

Follicular units - Follicular units are a bundle of hair growing together. A follicular unit is usually formed of one to four terminal hairs. Every follicular unit is surrounded by one to two fine vellus hair, oil glands, a small muscle and a fine band of collagen. The follicular unit is the skinâ's hair-bearing structure ensuring maximum growth. It looks like a well-formed structure under the microscope.

In genetic balding the transplanted hair is of smaller diameter and length than the hair replaced. It is highly advantageous to use individual follicular units. It facilitates the use of very small units. At the same time the amount of transplanted units is proportionately much large. Therefore a surgeon can place up to four hair strands in a tiny recipient site. It has tremendous implications for cosmetic surgery in general.

This gives follicular hair transplant a considerable edge over micrografting. Transplantation of individual follicular units also gives a natural look to the transplanted hair.


Follicular transplant removal

In hair follicle transplant, individual follicular units are directly removed from the donor area. It means that this method is independent of linear incision. The surgeon uses a 1mm punch to make a small circular incision in the skin around the upper part of the follicular unit. It is then directly extracted from the scalp.

Very often follicular unit extraction (FUE) and follicular unit transplantation (FUT) are treated as two different things. It's wrong. FUE is basically a type of FUT in which the follicular units are extracted directly from the scalp, instead of microscopically dissected from a strip that has already been removed. In follicular hair transplant the individual follicular units can be obtained either through single-strip harvesting and stereomicroscopic dissection or through FUE.

Follicular transplant preservation

In follicular hair transplants it is crucial to keep the individual follicular unit as it is. Neither the unit should be broken up into smaller units nor combined with larger ones.

This is a ground-breaking development in the history of cosmetic surgery. Often hair transplant surgeons combine several follicular units or split them up.


Follicular hair transplant and mini and micro grafting

There is similarity between follicular hair transplant techniques and those followed in minigrafting and micrografting. However, follicular hair transplantation is different from mini and micro grafting. Both of the latter procedures use a multi-bladed knife to split the follicular units. This results in unacceptable levels of transaction of hair follicles.

In follicular unit transplantation it is the nature that determines the graft sizes. In mini-micrografting the graft sizes are arbitrarily determined. The donor tissue is sliced to the size the surgeon considers fit.

There is another difference between follicular hair transplant and mini-micrografting. In the latter neither the hair follicles are kept intact nor the follicular units are preserved. In mini-micrografting, speed and economy of the procedure are more important. The process entails using a multi-bladed knife to quickly generate thin strips of tissue.

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com

Friday, February 1, 2008

How Are Follicular Units Used In Hair Transplant Surgery?

Certain doctors have been aware of follicular units for a long time now, but the knowledge only recently made its way into hair transplant methods. Now these ideas are being used in hair restoration every day.

To understand how follicular units have affected hair transplant surgery practices, it is necessary to first understand what a follicular unit is. A follicular unit is a single entity that is made up of several parts. All these parts are necessary to the whole.

The first part, and the one most people getting hair transplant surgery are interested in, is the hairs. There should be one to four full hair follicles in the unit and one or two fine hairs as well. There are sebaceous glands in the follicular unit which produce oil.

The follicular unit is a living unit with muscle, nerves and blood vessels that are all tiny enough to fit into this small package. The unit is set off by a band of collagen that holds it together. If you look under a microscope at a scalp, you can see follicular units growing in just this way.

The idea of bringing this information into hair transplant procedures led to innovative surgical methods. Rather than just moving around individual hair follicles, surgeons actually moved a unit which contained everything the hair needed to keep growing. The results were ground-breaking.

One way surgeons used to move the donor follicular units to the balding areas was by single strip harvesting. This is done by moving small strips of tissue containing follicular units. This method keeps the units intact and ready to transplant. Earlier methods such as mini-grafting and micro-grafting broke up the follicular units.

As a part of the hair transplant process with Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT), a new microscope technique was used. It is called stereomicroscopic dissection. This means that the follicular units are carefully taken out of the donor tissue and kept individually intact.

When doctors use hair transplant procedures with FUT, they do not have to use quite as large of a donor site. The follicular units are small and they can be separated from tissue that has no hair, under the microscope. That way, only the tissue that grows hair is transplanted. It is a much more efficient procedure in that way.

Follicular units placed during hair transplant procedures are put into tiny holes the size of needles. The insertion sites heal quickly, and they leave no marks. This makes for a much more comfortable recovery and better results.

FUT hair transplant procedures can make a big difference in the number of times a patient will have to go back for more treatments. More grafts can be done at one session, so that the patient has to go back fewer times. This is more convenient to patients.

Hair transplant done using follicular unit procedures is becoming more and more the norm. Possibly this is because it puts hair into the scalp in the same arrangement as it grows there naturally. This represents a leap forward in hair transplant technology.

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com