How Do Transplants Work?
Hair follicles are taken from the permanent areas at the sides and back and placed into micro incisions in the areas of loss. These grafted follicles heal into place and then produce the same hair that you have at the sides and back. The hair is real, it is your own and it grows and looks like your other hair (because it really is your hair!).
How Do I Know if I Am a Candidate?
The most important factors are your goals. If they are realistic, transplants are an option for you. Since this is only superficial skin surgery, there are very few medical conditions that would make this procedure inadvisable. Dr. Elliott will review these with you.
Do I Have to Take Medications to Avoid Graft Rejection?
No, there is never rejection because the follicles are your body’s own tissue. They have just been moved to a new location on your scalp.
Hair Transplants Are Permanent, Right?
They are genetically programmed to last as long as they would at the back and sides. In typical AGA, this is life-long. Your surgeon must have the experience to judge where the permanent hair lies.
Will the Hair Be the Same as My Other Hair?
Feel the hair at the back of your head. All of the characteristics of the hair, such as growth rate, texture, curl when it will grey, etc., stay the same in its new location.
What if Someone Pulls Out One of My Transplanted Hairs?
The follicle is still there and it will grow new hair.
What Can I Do About My Receding Hairline?
Treatment with medication alone will not regrow your hairline. Hair transplantation is necessary. Transplants can restore a natural, more youthful hairline and put a stop to the appearance change that ongoing recession gives your face.
What Can I Do About a Thin or Bald Spot at the Back?
Hair transplantation is the most reliable route to restore the hair. Medications are important to stop further loss and may re-grow some hair or shrink the diameter of the bald spot in some patients.
Will the Grafts Grow Anywhere You Put Them?
Yes, they will. Hair transplants may be used to treat the entire top area in AGA, and even into scars from injury or past surgery. It is also possible to graft hair to any other part of the body, such as the chest, beard, eyebrows, and eyelashes.