What is Hair Transplant Surgery?

Hair transplant surgery is performed to restore hair to areas of the scalp that are bald or thinning. There are multiple types of hair replacement surgery. Most commonly, these involve hair transplantation, but flap surgery, tissue expansion of the scalp, and scalp reduction surgery are also methods used for hair replacement. Each method can be used alone or in combination to provide the best possible outcome.

Hair transplantation involves removing small pieces of hair-bearing scalp from a donor site and using them as grafts to be relocated to a bald or thinning area of the scalp.

Types of Hair Restoration

There are two main types of hair restoration procedures:

• Follicular Unit Transplant (FUT): A strip of skin with hair follicles is removed from the back of the scalp. The hair follicles are then extracted from the strip and transplanted to the recipient site.
• Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE): Individual hair follicles are removed directly from the donor site without removing a strip of skin. The follicles are then inserted into the recipient site.

Other Surgical Options

Tissue expansion allows the hair-bearing scalp to be expanded to cover bald areas.

Scalp reduction surgery involves surgically removing bald areas of the scalp and advancing the hair-bearing areas to cover the gaps.

The Truth About Hair Loss

Baldness is often blamed on poor circulation, vitamin deficiencies, dandruff, or hat wearing—these theories have been disproved. Hair loss is primarily caused by:

• Aging
• Hormonal changes
• Family history of baldness

As a rule, the earlier hair loss begins, the more severe it becomes.