Considering a Hair Transplant?

Should you have a hair transplant?
Assuming you have consulted with your family doctor or dermatologist in reference to your hair loss and assuming that proven hair loss medications have yet to yield the results you were anticipating in reference to new hair growth, a hair transplant procedure should be on your list of possible corrective treatments.
Hair transplant procedures have definitely evolved to the degree that they have become undetectable, comfortable and furnish incredibly natural results.
While deciding, ask yourself why you are considering surgery and further, how the results of the surgery will change your life.
A few other questions to consider:
Is my hair loss affecting my life from a social perspective?
Is my hair loss affecting my confidence at work? (Assuming you interact with new people/clients or deal with the general public)
Do I spend too much time in front of a mirror strategically combing my hair to cover my thinning areas?
Is hair loss constantly on my mind?
Am I less confident around the opposite sex?
How will having more hair change my perspective on life?
The effects of hair loss obviously impact individuals in a variety of different ways. Only you know the true effects that hair loss has on your daily activities and your attitude towards life. The only conclusion being, if hair loss is affecting you in any negative manner, then you should seek a solution. Why? Solutions are available.
Once again, check with your family physician or dermatologist first to ensure that your hair loss isn't related to potential medical conditions.

Hair Transplant History

A Japanese dermatologist by the name of Dr. Okuda has been credited with first describing the hair transplant technique known as the "punch" technique as early is 1939. He transplanted round skin grafts with hair follicles from permanent hair-bearing areas of the scalp to round openings in scarred areas of the scalps of burn patients' eyebrows and eyelashes. He found that after a while, the grafts would continue to grow hair. Another Japanese dermatologist, Dr. Tamura, used a similar method in 1943 wherein he would gather grafts containing only 1-3 hairs from an elliptical incision taken from the donor area. Dr. Tamura's method is more similar to today's methods.The bold new steps in hair transplantation taken by Okuda and Tamura were outlined in medical journals in Japan, but went unrecognized until 1958 when the work of a New York doctor, Dr. Norman Orentreich, became the basis of today's restoration methods. Orentreich, who, in 1952, performed the first hair transplant for what is today called "male pattern baldness" or "male pattern alopecia" came up with the concept of "donor dominance." Thes concept indicates that the inherent characteristics of individual hair follicles remain with the hair after transplantation. Thus, the permanent hair remains permanent regardless of its location.The methods used by both Okuda and Orentreich continued to be the world's standard for hair restoration for roughly 30 years. In the 1980's improvements emerged in the way of micrografting to increase the more natural look of the frontal hairline. From micrografts came minigrafts (quartered micrografts), from minigrafts came slit minigrafts and with the advent of the multibladed knife (introduced by a man named Vallis), tranplants started to look more and more natural.Professor Dr. Carlos Uebel then came up with the most successful method of micro/minigrafting, which entailed removing a sufficiently large, connected area of skin with hair growing from it from the back of the head. It is then broken down surgically into mini and micrografts and then transplanted. Later, in 1988, Dr. Bob Limmer developed the Follicular Unit method. Limmer noted that regular hair growth occurs in groupings of 1-4 follicles, which he referred to as follicular units. This method has been adopted and popularized by many of today's surgeons and is the most reliable method for natural looking hair restorations.

Hair Transplant Intro

Hair transplants have truly reached an entirely new level and today's hair transplant procedures can provide amazingly natural results. As more and more men and women are quickly realizing that the new approaches to hair transplant surgery provide incredible and undetectable results, the thought of having a hair transplant procedure is becoming more accepted.
The days of the 'corn row' or 'doll hair' look that used to be the result of a hair transplant surgery, is long gone. Today's surgeons can place a single hair where a single hair belongs and a cluster of 2-3 hairs where that cluster belongs. In the old days, outdated techniques involved the transfer of clusters of 20 hairs or more that were transplanted into a single follicle. Hence, an unnatural look was the result.
As a former hair transplant patient, I created this Blog to assist others considering surgery. I decided to create this Blog a few years after my surgery, so photos of the process are not available but I can definitely share my experience and assist you with what to anticipate through the process. My hair transplant was a complete success and people are still amazed when I tell them I had surgery.
I have organized my Blog so that you can read what my thought process was before I had my hair transplant, how I conducted my research, what to ask during consultation, how to locate a hair transplant surgeon and what to anticipate during and after a hair transplant procedure.
Please feel comfortable posting any comments or questions that you may have and I will do my best to respond promptly.

Good luck!