Hair Replacement Surgery
Hair
Replacement Surgery is used to correct the hair loss in either men or women.
Aging, change in hormones, and a family history of baldness are the most
common causes of hair loss. Certain medications, burns and trauma can also
cause hair loss.
All techniques for hair replacement are based on finding the most efficient
use of your existing hair. Grafts or flaps are taken from the healthy hair
growth at the back and sides of the head. There are several techniques for
hair replacement.
Hair transplant techniques using grafts are the most common and can take
a long time to complete, up to two years. Flaps, tissue-expansion and scalp-reduction
procedures are more extensive procedures but they produce dramatic change
in a shorter time. In hair transplantation, small pieces of hair-bearing
scalp grafts are taken from a donor site and relocated into a bald or thinning
area. There are different kinds of grafts depending on the size and shape.
Punch grafts (about 10-12 hairs.); mini-graft (about two to four hairs);
the micro-graft (one to two hairs.); slit grafts; (4 to10 hairs ); and strip
grafts (30-40 hairs.) The smaller the number of hairs in the graft the more
natural look it will produce.
In tissue expansion technique, a balloon-like device is inserted beneath
hair-bearing scalp and the device is gradually inflated with salt water
over a period of 1-2 month. This allows the gradual expansion of the skin
and the growth of new skin cells. The expanded skin is used in another procedure
to cover the bald area.
Flap surgery is used to quickly cover large areas of baldness. After cutting
out a section of the bald scalp, a flap of the hair bearing part of the
scalp is lifted of the surface while still attached at one end and brought
into the new position and sewn into place. The attached end of the flap
supply the blood supply to the new area. Scalp reduction technique is used
to cover the bald areas at the top and back of the head. In this procedure
a segment of bald scalp is removed. The hair bearing skin surrounding the
cut-out area is then loosened and pulled together to close the defect. Combining
scalp reduction with tissue expansion and flap surgery can sometimes be
used to achieve the best results.
Although hair replacement surgery is normally safe, as with any surgical
procedure, there are certain inherent risks which should be discussed with
your surgeon. The procedure is usually performed using local anesthesia.
Cases involving tissue expansion, scalp reduction or flaps may need treatment
under general anesthesia.
