Male hair loss is the most common type of hair loss. It is caused by increased sensitivity to male sex hormones (androgens) in certain parts of the scalp, and is passed on from generation to generation.

Some men have areas on the scalp that are very sensitive to the male sex hormones that circulate in men's blood. The hormones make the hair follicles - from which hair grows - shrink. Eventually, they become so small that they cannot replace lost hairs. The follicles are still alive, but are no longer able to perform their task.

The condition usually starts in men aged 20 to 30 and follows a typical pattern. First, a receding hairline develops, and gradually the hair on top of the head also begins to thin. Eventually, the two balding areas meet to form a typical U-shape around the back and sides of the head. The hair that remains is often finer, and does not grow as quickly as it used to.

THE HAIR TRANSPLANT PROCEDURE

Hair transplantation is simply the transferring of hair from a "permanent" area of the scalp to another area in which hair has fallen out due to heredity or some other more unusual cause. For most men and women who lose the hair on the top of their head, the hair on the back and sides of their head is relatively thick and destined to remain there for the rest of their lives. This "permanent" hair is harvested in the form of a narrow "strip" of hair, which is then meticulously cut up under microscopic magnification to produce hundreds of tiny follicular unit grafts of 1-3 hairs each.

In hair transplantation, these newly created tiny grafts of "permanent" hair are distributed artistically over the balding scalp according to a carefully planned pattern. They quickly take root and, after a short resting period of three to four months, grow – and keep on growing for the rest of your life.

To create great hair transplant results, a good amount of artistic ability is necessary on the part of the surgeon. He must have a "feel" for how to aesthetically create natural, feathered gradients of hair that are totally undetectable to those who will encounter that patient in the years to come.

After this new hair grows out, it can be washed, cut, or styled in whatever way you like. There is nothing fragile about transplanted hair. It can even be permed or colored. A person with a transplanted head of hair can sleep, swim, ski – in other words – do everything they ever did before, knowing that once again they have their own hair back again and no one will know.

State of the art Follicular Unit Transplantation is now the "gold standard" by which all hair transplant techniques are measured.

It is the newest technique of permanent surgical hair restoration in which hair is transplanted from the permanent zone in the back of the scalp into areas affected by genetic balding, using only one's own naturally occurring, individual follicular units.

This procedure is unique in that it provides what we all want - hair that looks natural throughout, no matter which way the wind blows!

Transplanted hair will continue to grow for the rest of the patient's life.

What Are Follicular Units?

Hair naturally grows in clusters of one, two, three, and some times four hairs. These naturally occurring groups of hair are called Follicular Units. The follicular unit is very small and can only be identified under magnification. Notice that they are scattered about in an irregular pattern. This is how hair grows ... in follicular units and in an irregular pattern.


Follicular units magnified

So given how hair naturally grows, an excellent hair transplant replicates nature by relocating these naturally occurring follicular units from the donor area to the recipient site (balding area) - one at a time.

How is Follicular Unit Transplantation Performed?

The real key to performing this procedure successfully is to transfer each follicular unit intact from the donor area to its destination. In order to remove Follicular Units from the back of the scalp without damaging them, the donor tissue must be removed in one piece. This technique is called "Single Strip Harvesting


After single strip harvesting, micro grafts are prepared for transplanting.

The individual Follicular Units are then separated from the donor strip and trimmed under a microscope to create the ultimate micro graft. These micro grafts are then placed in very close proximity and in an irregular pattern that mimics how they naturally grow in the scalp. The end result is a hair transplant that looks natural because it applied the way hair actually grows.
Complete stereo-microscopic dissection has been shown to produce an increased yield of both the absolute number of follicular units, as well as the total amount of hair, in upward of 25% when compared to other techniques.

Also, the ability to do this successfully, and in a session of 1500 or more grafts ("a mega session"), has only come about in the past few years. The very small insertion sites permit many follicular unit grafts to be safely transplanted in a single procedure allowing the entire hair restoration process to be completed as quickly as possible. At this time only a small group of experienced hair transplant physicians perform this procedure with excellent results.

When performed by a skilled surgical team, Follicular Unit Transplantation can provide a totally natural looking result in as few as one or two sessions.

Why Aren't All Transplant Physicians Using Follicular Units?

Basically the reason is that it takes time to change and adapt to these cutting edge advancements in technique. Follicular unit grafts require more time, skill, and expense to create compared to the mini/micro grafts.

Many hair transplant clinics, including the large commercial operations, find it more profitable to do the standard mini/micro graft procedure, because one doctor can do two or three patients a day using this older and less demanding hair transplant technique. This produces more revenue for the clinic but less than ideal results for the patient.

Follicular Unit Grafts

It is possible to achieve the appearance of naturalness and density on a consistent basis with natural follicular unit transplantation. This method requires greater numbers of grafts and technical skill in order to achieve the desired result. But once the technical skill to perform this technique is achieved the look is invariably natural. As stated earlier, Follicular Unit Transplantation is the "gold standard" by which all hair transplant techniques are measured unit intact from the donor area to its destination.