Hair Treatment Recovery

Hair loss can happen for a number of different reasons. Environment, emotional state, eating habits, and illness can all contribute to hair loss in men and women. Genetic pattern baldness is also a common reason for hair loss in both sexes. It is normal to lose a certain amount of hair (as much as 100 strands a day), but that loss should be replaced by healthy, new growth. In cases where hair loss is not replaced, patients may seek hair transplants or pursue other regrowth solutions. The most important thing to realize is that hair loss isn’t your fault. The factors driving your hair loss may be beyond your control, but you do have options for treating it. Ann Arbor Plastic Surgery in Michigan has helped countless men and women to restore a full head of hair.

While hair loss in women may be less common than it is in men, it is still more widespread than many people realize. Women make up 40 percent of hair loss sufferers in the United States. The reason for female hair loss may be environmental, emotional, dietary, physical, or genetic. Some women also experience hair loss during pregnancy. Female hair loss is different from male hair loss because it usually doesn’t result in total baldness, but it can still cause significant distress. Female hair loss is often treatable, and hair transplantation is just as effective in women as it is in men.

It can be difficult to definitively determine whether you’re suffering from hair loss. Some patients realize that they are starting to lose their hair when they notice extra strands in the sink drain, on their pillows, or in the shower. Other people start to notice hair loss visually, for example when they realize that their part is wider than it used to be. Women may notice that their ponytail is thinner and seek hair loss treatment. Extremely rapid hair loss usually has a specific cause and should be addressed immediately. Slower hair loss is harder to track, but it also has a cause and needs to be addressed. Many of our patients don’t realize they are experiencing hair loss until they have lost a significant amount of hair. It is easier to treat hair loss in its early stages.

FUT (Follicular Unit Transplant) is a technique that excises a strip of hair from the posterior scalp. Hair from the strip is then transplanted into the area where hair is missing or patchy. FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction) is a technique that harvests individual hair follicles from the donor area and implants them individually into the area with missing hair, avoiding a scar on the patients’ scalp.

The transplant time varies for each person, since everyone needs a different amount of follicles transplanted. The majority of hair transplants will run six hours or less. For very large or complicated transplants, the surgery may take longer, however patients often pass time by watching movies or television.

While the scarring is typically very minor, the FUE method of hair follicle transplant can leave tiny, almost invisible scars. With the FUT hair transplantation technique, there will be a long linear scar in the area where the donor hair is taken. However, this scar is very thin and is typically easily concealed quickly by short hair growth. Many hair transplant patients, whether using the FUE or the FUT method, have scars that are nearly impossible to see except by hairdressers.

In most cases, hair transplants grow over a period of around eight months, at which point the majority of the new hair growth will be evident. Hair growth often starts at four months.

The donor zone is the area from which healthy hair follicles are taken to be used in the areas that lack hair. This is usually at the back and sides of the head. Hair there is genetically programmed to not fall out, leading to the “horseshoe” of remaining hair that many balding men still have.