by Tatya H.P.
There was a time when no one would even think of doing hair transplant surgery on young men. It was agonizing for this group of young people because thinning, balding, and receding hairlines often started before they got out of their teens. Now the procedure is being opened to young men - but with restrictions.
Because losing hair at such a young age is very traumatic, hair transplant doctors do not like to go along with the patients' snap decisions. After an in-depth consultation, the doctor will do everything in his power to put off the surgery. He will ask the patient to come back for a final consultation in six months or so. Many doctors will refuse to do immediate hair transplants if they are put to the test.
There are advantages to getting hair transplant surgery under the age of 25. Most of these patients are healthy. They do not usually take medications. They are often optimistic and have the motivation required to make the commitment needed for what may end up being lifelong treatment.
When a young man gets a hair transplant procedure, it can avert many problems with low self esteem and lack of self confidence. With older men, these attitudes are already ingrained so that it takes some doing to change them. If the hair restoration is started early enough, the young patient need never feel the stigma of being bald for very long at all.
A doctor who is skilled in doing hair transplant procedures on young people will do some investigation before tackling such a project. He will ask to see members of the family to assess their hair loss and how the young person might inherit hair loss traits from the family. If family members cannot be present, the doctor might ask for photos.
One trick of doctors, who work to give young people hair transplant surgeries, is to guide them in setting the hairline. A young person will usually want a fairly low hairline. He remembers the way it was just a few short years ago and wants to duplicate the image.
A good hair transplant surgeon will discourage a low hairline. Instead, he will campaign for a higher hairline. There are several advantages to this. One is that, with less top hair to cover, more donor hair will be saved. Since the young patient will be dealing with this problem for a long time, this is a necessary consideration.
When the hair transplant surgeon achieves a higher hairline, he will be able to get more fullness on the top of the head because he has less to cover. This is not to say the young person will have a receding hairline when the procedure is complete; just that the hairline will not be too low.
There is no reason for young people to enter adulthood without a full head of hair if they can get a hair transplant. This option is now open to them. It is bound to make many young men very happy.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Hair Cloning Research for Hair Transplant Procedures
by Tatya H.P.
The future of hair transplant procedures is in the laboratories at this very time. Scientists are working together to find a way to make the surgery work for more people. They also want to see it work better for the types of people who have hair transplants today. One area of research is hair cloning.
Hair cloning promises to be a revolutionary procedure that would give people with little hair a chance to have hair transplant surgeries. It would do this by multiplying the hair a patient already has rather than using up the good hair that still exists on the patient's head.
Hair cloning is done by taking stem cells, or dermal papilla cell, and cloning them in a laboratory setting. They are then multiplied and combined. The end result is an increase in the number of hairs available for hair transplant.
Not only is hair cloning possible, it has been proven in many scientific studies. Recently one group of researchers did a culture whereby they multiplied the number of dermal papilla cells. With this being possible, hair cloning is a single step away.
Hair transplant procedures that use cloned hair are farther off, though. The research cannot be done as to whether these hairs can safely and effectively be transplanted onto a person's scalp yet. First, they cloning process will have to be completely perfected. Only then can the hair transplant trials begin.
More research needs to be done to find out which hair cells can be used for hair cloning and then hair transplant procedures. Some of the available cells go through several stages before ending in cell death in a very short time. These cells would not be adequate for use with hair transplant surgery. There seem to be other cells which last longer and would work for this application.
A scientist named Dr. Gho has done some work and acquired a Dutch patent on his work with hair multiplication. It is unclear whether this is much like hair cloning or not. That is because Dr. Gho neglects to submit his findings to be published in medical journals. Without review by other doctors, Gho's theories cannot be tried and evaluated.
Certain types of auto-immune diseases, such as alopecia areata can now be treated by means of hair transplant techniques by using the donor strip method. Yet, in the future, hair cloning will make hair transplant easier for these people who often have very little hair to use for grafts.
Some people believe that hair transplant grafts using cloned hair would be about the same cost as the usual hair transplants that are available today. Other experts believe that the price will be much higher - perhaps three or four times per graft higher - because of the specialized methods required to do the work.
Hair cloning is probably not as far away as one might think. It might be ready for use with hair transplant procedures as soon as five years from now, or even sooner. If you are considering getting a hair transplant but you want to wait awhile, hair cloning is something to think about.
The future of hair transplant procedures is in the laboratories at this very time. Scientists are working together to find a way to make the surgery work for more people. They also want to see it work better for the types of people who have hair transplants today. One area of research is hair cloning.
Hair cloning promises to be a revolutionary procedure that would give people with little hair a chance to have hair transplant surgeries. It would do this by multiplying the hair a patient already has rather than using up the good hair that still exists on the patient's head.
Hair cloning is done by taking stem cells, or dermal papilla cell, and cloning them in a laboratory setting. They are then multiplied and combined. The end result is an increase in the number of hairs available for hair transplant.
Not only is hair cloning possible, it has been proven in many scientific studies. Recently one group of researchers did a culture whereby they multiplied the number of dermal papilla cells. With this being possible, hair cloning is a single step away.
Hair transplant procedures that use cloned hair are farther off, though. The research cannot be done as to whether these hairs can safely and effectively be transplanted onto a person's scalp yet. First, they cloning process will have to be completely perfected. Only then can the hair transplant trials begin.
More research needs to be done to find out which hair cells can be used for hair cloning and then hair transplant procedures. Some of the available cells go through several stages before ending in cell death in a very short time. These cells would not be adequate for use with hair transplant surgery. There seem to be other cells which last longer and would work for this application.
A scientist named Dr. Gho has done some work and acquired a Dutch patent on his work with hair multiplication. It is unclear whether this is much like hair cloning or not. That is because Dr. Gho neglects to submit his findings to be published in medical journals. Without review by other doctors, Gho's theories cannot be tried and evaluated.
Certain types of auto-immune diseases, such as alopecia areata can now be treated by means of hair transplant techniques by using the donor strip method. Yet, in the future, hair cloning will make hair transplant easier for these people who often have very little hair to use for grafts.
Some people believe that hair transplant grafts using cloned hair would be about the same cost as the usual hair transplants that are available today. Other experts believe that the price will be much higher - perhaps three or four times per graft higher - because of the specialized methods required to do the work.
Hair cloning is probably not as far away as one might think. It might be ready for use with hair transplant procedures as soon as five years from now, or even sooner. If you are considering getting a hair transplant but you want to wait awhile, hair cloning is something to think about.
Facts about How Your Hair Will Look After Hair Transplant Surgery
by Tatya H.P.
Before you have hair transplant surgery, you might want to know how it will turn out. The truth is that every head of hair is different from all others and you cannot know exactly how it will turn out. However, with a few facts at your disposal, you can get an advance idea of how your hair will look.
1. The more hairs per graft that are used in your hair transplant, the less natural your hair will look. Many doctors still use grafts that contain up to eight hairs. These do not look as conspicuous as the hair plugs of earlier decades, but they do not look as natural as they can, either. Try to find a doctor that uses grafts that contain one to four hair follicles.
These smaller grafts, also called follicular unit grafts, are ideal in restoring a receding hairline. If your doctor uses the follicular unit grafts for your hairline, it will look much more natural than with the larger plug-like grafts. This is important because your hair transplant will be noticeable if the hairline is not done well.
2. Your hair transplant site will be fuller if you have higher density in your donor sites. The density is based upon the number of hair follicles you have in each section of your scalp. If you have a high number of hair follicles per square centimeter than most people, more grafts can be done, so your hair will look fuller.
3. Your scalp laxity will also affect the fullness of your resulting hair transplant site. This refers to the flexibility of your scalp. How loose your scalp is helps to decide how many grafts can be done just as hair density does.
4. Coarse hair will cover more area. When your hair transplant is done, the surgeon will be able to use fewer hair follicles per graft if your hair is coarse. That is because coarse hair provides more coverage. However, finer hair will tend to look more natural, if thinner.
5. Straight hair does not cover scalp like curly hair does. If you have straight hair, you can be sure that your hair transplant surgery will be a challenge to your doctor. Curly hair appears to provide even more coverage than it actually does because it stands up from the head.
6. The way your hair color compares to your skin color will have an effect on the look of your hair transplant. If you have a hair color that is similar to the color of your skin, you are in luck. Your scalp will not betray any lack of coverage that happens to be present.
If, on the other hand, your hair and skin color contrast distinctly hair follicles show up more. If there is even the slightest lack of coverage, it will be evident. Just imagine a very light-skinned person with jet-black hair. This person's hair follicles will stand out in a very obvious way.
No one ever knows how hair transplant surgery will turn out until they see the results. All of the basic problems can be dealt with if a skilled surgeon is involved. However, knowing the possibilities will make it easier for you to know what questions to ask.
Before you have hair transplant surgery, you might want to know how it will turn out. The truth is that every head of hair is different from all others and you cannot know exactly how it will turn out. However, with a few facts at your disposal, you can get an advance idea of how your hair will look.
1. The more hairs per graft that are used in your hair transplant, the less natural your hair will look. Many doctors still use grafts that contain up to eight hairs. These do not look as conspicuous as the hair plugs of earlier decades, but they do not look as natural as they can, either. Try to find a doctor that uses grafts that contain one to four hair follicles.
These smaller grafts, also called follicular unit grafts, are ideal in restoring a receding hairline. If your doctor uses the follicular unit grafts for your hairline, it will look much more natural than with the larger plug-like grafts. This is important because your hair transplant will be noticeable if the hairline is not done well.
2. Your hair transplant site will be fuller if you have higher density in your donor sites. The density is based upon the number of hair follicles you have in each section of your scalp. If you have a high number of hair follicles per square centimeter than most people, more grafts can be done, so your hair will look fuller.
3. Your scalp laxity will also affect the fullness of your resulting hair transplant site. This refers to the flexibility of your scalp. How loose your scalp is helps to decide how many grafts can be done just as hair density does.
4. Coarse hair will cover more area. When your hair transplant is done, the surgeon will be able to use fewer hair follicles per graft if your hair is coarse. That is because coarse hair provides more coverage. However, finer hair will tend to look more natural, if thinner.
5. Straight hair does not cover scalp like curly hair does. If you have straight hair, you can be sure that your hair transplant surgery will be a challenge to your doctor. Curly hair appears to provide even more coverage than it actually does because it stands up from the head.
6. The way your hair color compares to your skin color will have an effect on the look of your hair transplant. If you have a hair color that is similar to the color of your skin, you are in luck. Your scalp will not betray any lack of coverage that happens to be present.
If, on the other hand, your hair and skin color contrast distinctly hair follicles show up more. If there is even the slightest lack of coverage, it will be evident. Just imagine a very light-skinned person with jet-black hair. This person's hair follicles will stand out in a very obvious way.
No one ever knows how hair transplant surgery will turn out until they see the results. All of the basic problems can be dealt with if a skilled surgeon is involved. However, knowing the possibilities will make it easier for you to know what questions to ask.
Facts about Hair Transplant Procedures
by Tatya H.P.
It is getting more common for people to get hair transplant procedures as the methods keep improving. It is just less obvious than in earlier times when everyone could spot a person with bad hair plugs. Yet, there are still a few facts about hair transplant surgery that are not widely known.
1. A large percentage of men have balding issues. In fact, 50% of American men that are 50 years old or older are dealing with some amount of hair loss. Hair problems in today's society beg to be conquered. Some do it by shaving their heads completely. Others take the exact opposite route and have hair transplant surgery. Those who accept their baldness may have a healthy psyche, but they are slightly out of step with the rest of the world.
2. The procedure is permanent. If you decide you do not like the results, it is not as simple as taking off a wig to change your hair. You would have to go through many surgeries and your head may never look the same. This is why you should never accept any doctor's offer to do a few hair grafts and see how you like it before doing a full hair transplant surgery. Once you start, you are committed.
3. You need several days of rest afterward hair transplant surgery. Since the operation is so easy to endure, you might think that you can jump up and go right back to your regular activities. It is just your scalp after all, not muscle or bone. The truth is that you have many small wounds and you need to protect them.
4. Hair transplant can be a time-consuming commitment. Treatment can often last one to two years. Mega-sessions where thousands of grafts are done in one sitting help to shorten the overall time. However, the length of these sessions is often grueling.
5. Hair transplant surgery may be combined with other procedures. If you do not have enough hair, you cannot have a normal hair transplant surgery. However, there are other surgeries that can be used in conjunction with hair transplant to achieve similar results. The difference is that these procedures are generally more painful.
6. The grafts may not survive. Few surgeons will divulge to you the fact that hair grafts do not always survive after hair transplant surgery. The hope is that only a few will be lost and the overall result will not suffer. The reality is that is what usually happens.
7. Hair transplant treatments do not cost as much as you think. For example, you might reasonably spend $12,000 on a hair transplant. If you got it done at age 30 and died at age 70, you would have the transplant 40 years.
That would average out to $300 per year, or $25 per month. Many of the supposedly low cost treatments for hair loss cost much more than $25 per month. You would actually save by getting the hair transplant surgery done in the first place.
It is getting more common for people to get hair transplant procedures as the methods keep improving. It is just less obvious than in earlier times when everyone could spot a person with bad hair plugs. Yet, there are still a few facts about hair transplant surgery that are not widely known.
1. A large percentage of men have balding issues. In fact, 50% of American men that are 50 years old or older are dealing with some amount of hair loss. Hair problems in today's society beg to be conquered. Some do it by shaving their heads completely. Others take the exact opposite route and have hair transplant surgery. Those who accept their baldness may have a healthy psyche, but they are slightly out of step with the rest of the world.
2. The procedure is permanent. If you decide you do not like the results, it is not as simple as taking off a wig to change your hair. You would have to go through many surgeries and your head may never look the same. This is why you should never accept any doctor's offer to do a few hair grafts and see how you like it before doing a full hair transplant surgery. Once you start, you are committed.
3. You need several days of rest afterward hair transplant surgery. Since the operation is so easy to endure, you might think that you can jump up and go right back to your regular activities. It is just your scalp after all, not muscle or bone. The truth is that you have many small wounds and you need to protect them.
4. Hair transplant can be a time-consuming commitment. Treatment can often last one to two years. Mega-sessions where thousands of grafts are done in one sitting help to shorten the overall time. However, the length of these sessions is often grueling.
5. Hair transplant surgery may be combined with other procedures. If you do not have enough hair, you cannot have a normal hair transplant surgery. However, there are other surgeries that can be used in conjunction with hair transplant to achieve similar results. The difference is that these procedures are generally more painful.
6. The grafts may not survive. Few surgeons will divulge to you the fact that hair grafts do not always survive after hair transplant surgery. The hope is that only a few will be lost and the overall result will not suffer. The reality is that is what usually happens.
7. Hair transplant treatments do not cost as much as you think. For example, you might reasonably spend $12,000 on a hair transplant. If you got it done at age 30 and died at age 70, you would have the transplant 40 years.
That would average out to $300 per year, or $25 per month. Many of the supposedly low cost treatments for hair loss cost much more than $25 per month. You would actually save by getting the hair transplant surgery done in the first place.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Are Women Good Candidates for Hair Transplant Surgery?
by Tatya H.P.
Balding is not just a men's problem; women often lose hair as they get older as well. You might wonder, if that is the case, why more women do not have hair transplant surgery. You may be surprised to know that many women are not good candidates.
Women usually have a different type of hair loss than men. Male pattern baldness uncovers parts of the top of the head. However, the sides and back of the head are usually covered with healthy balding-resistant hair follicles.
Men with this pattern of balding will have donor hair that survives the hair transplant process and flourishes long afterward. That is because a naturally-occurring enzyme in the body combines with testosterone to create a chemical called DHT. This chemical is responsible for the hair loss on the tops of men's heads when they have male pattern baldness.
However, it does not affect the back and sides of their hair in most cases. These areas have healthy hair follicles and make excellent donor sites for hair transplant surgery. These are called stable sites because they remain unchanged over time rather than shrinking like the hair follicles affected by DHT do.
Female pattern baldness is different. In most cases, they do not have large areas of stable balding-resistant hair follicles. The sides and back of their hair tends to thin just as the front and top of the head do. The DHT affects all the areas of their hair.
Any hair follicles that are affected by DHT will simply fall out if they are moved by hair transplant procedures. Moving them from one place to another does not affect the basic nature of the hair follicle.
Also, women do not have the problem of receding hairlines in most cases. Their hair is lost in a more diffuse manner, thinning uniformly all over the head. It is not so much where their hair is that is the problem, but how much they have. Hair transplant surgery will not correct this problem. It is best used to move hair from one place to another.
There is a very small percentage - about 5% of all women with baldness problems - who are good candidates for hair transplant surgery. The thing that all these women have in common is that they all have healthy areas of hair follicles that can be used as donor sites.
For example, women with mechanical or traction Alopecia have lost their hair because they have scratched their head for a long period of time, they have used tight rollers or their hair has been pulled or stretched in any manner. These women almost always have an area of their hair that is unaffected. If they do, they can have hair transplant procedures.
Some women have cosmetic surgery and suffer hair loss around the incision sites. In these cases, hair transplant surgery can help. Other women actually have a pattern of hair loss that is similar to male pattern baldness. These women are able to have the surgery, too.
Finally, women who have suffered trauma from accidents or burns are good candidates for hair transplant procedures. If you are a woman with balding problems, is worth the time to consult with a doctor to find out if you are one of the women who can benefit from hair transplant surgery.
Balding is not just a men's problem; women often lose hair as they get older as well. You might wonder, if that is the case, why more women do not have hair transplant surgery. You may be surprised to know that many women are not good candidates.
Women usually have a different type of hair loss than men. Male pattern baldness uncovers parts of the top of the head. However, the sides and back of the head are usually covered with healthy balding-resistant hair follicles.
Men with this pattern of balding will have donor hair that survives the hair transplant process and flourishes long afterward. That is because a naturally-occurring enzyme in the body combines with testosterone to create a chemical called DHT. This chemical is responsible for the hair loss on the tops of men's heads when they have male pattern baldness.
However, it does not affect the back and sides of their hair in most cases. These areas have healthy hair follicles and make excellent donor sites for hair transplant surgery. These are called stable sites because they remain unchanged over time rather than shrinking like the hair follicles affected by DHT do.
Female pattern baldness is different. In most cases, they do not have large areas of stable balding-resistant hair follicles. The sides and back of their hair tends to thin just as the front and top of the head do. The DHT affects all the areas of their hair.
Any hair follicles that are affected by DHT will simply fall out if they are moved by hair transplant procedures. Moving them from one place to another does not affect the basic nature of the hair follicle.
Also, women do not have the problem of receding hairlines in most cases. Their hair is lost in a more diffuse manner, thinning uniformly all over the head. It is not so much where their hair is that is the problem, but how much they have. Hair transplant surgery will not correct this problem. It is best used to move hair from one place to another.
There is a very small percentage - about 5% of all women with baldness problems - who are good candidates for hair transplant surgery. The thing that all these women have in common is that they all have healthy areas of hair follicles that can be used as donor sites.
For example, women with mechanical or traction Alopecia have lost their hair because they have scratched their head for a long period of time, they have used tight rollers or their hair has been pulled or stretched in any manner. These women almost always have an area of their hair that is unaffected. If they do, they can have hair transplant procedures.
Some women have cosmetic surgery and suffer hair loss around the incision sites. In these cases, hair transplant surgery can help. Other women actually have a pattern of hair loss that is similar to male pattern baldness. These women are able to have the surgery, too.
Finally, women who have suffered trauma from accidents or burns are good candidates for hair transplant procedures. If you are a woman with balding problems, is worth the time to consult with a doctor to find out if you are one of the women who can benefit from hair transplant surgery.
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