Hair Replacement Information: an open and honest resource about all things hair replacement

Hair Systems

Hair Transplant Overview

A hair transplant is a surgical procedure in which your growing hair is transplanted to your balding areas. It is a relatively pain free and simple process done under local anesthesia in your doctor's office. You are awake and conscious during the procedure. Patients read or watch tv, some even nap during the surgery or just converse with the doctor.

Hair transplant surgery is an up-front, fairly expensive procedure to have done, although the results can last a lifetime. There are a few things to be considered before thinking about a hair transplant: first and foremost the cost, finding a doctor, your amount of baldness and your donor area. Transplants are not recommended for younger people, due to the fact that you most likely will continue to lose hair as you age.

The Norwood Scale & Determining Baldness

The Norwood Scale is a scale of measurement used in "labeling" the amount of baldness you currently have. Male Pattern Baldness generally works the temple area and the crown first on a male. Your hair will begin to thin or recede in either of the areas (or both) in the early stages of hair loss. As hair loss continues you will begin to lose more hair in those sections until the only hair left is your hair that is genetically resistant to balding.

The hair that is genetically resistant to balding varies from person to person and is dependent on your individual genes. For instance; certain people will stop losing hair at a Norwood 4 and other people will continue onto a Norwood 7. When calculating where you fall, take into consideration that you may still be continuing to bald and may be for many more years. Reference parents and other relatives as well to see how other people in your gene pool end up after a lifetime of pattern baldness.

Innovation, Doctors and Results – oh my!

The first modern hair transplant, on the top of a head, was completed in the late 1950s by New York dermatologist, Dr. Norman Orentreich. Prior to that, Japanese surgeons had transplanted eyelashes and eyebrows as early as the 1930s. The transplants that took place in the 1950s were experimental and most thought they would not work. Dr. Orentreich believed that male pattern baldness was dependent on the hair and not the area of the scalp. After a few successful transplants the idea caught on and the modern age of hair transplants had begun.

Once Dr. Orentreich's idea had caught on, surgeons for the next twenty-something years begin to try to perfect the trade. They invented the plugs that got placed into your head, but made you look very "doll-like" and were not widely popularized due to their final fake-looking appearance.

Brazilian surgeons then perfected the concept and invented the technique that is now known as Follicular Unit Transplantation. Hair is taken from donor areas of the scalp and sectioned off into follicular units, then it is surgically placed into the balding sections of the head. Upwards of 50 grafts can be placed into a square centimeter, each containing 1-3 hairs depending on the target density.