Hair Transplants 101: What Are the Types of Hair Transplants?

Over the past few years, advanced hair transplant technologies and techniques have embarked upon people looking for permanent and effective hair loss solutions. While 85 percent of men experience hair loss at some degree after the age of 50, nearly half of the women worldwide also suffer from noticeable hair loss at a certain stage in their lives. These surprising statistics have created various types of hair transplants performed worldwide with a wide range of treatment options and costs. If you, too, are looking for ways to make up for the hair you have lost over the years, here are some of the types of hair replacement systems that are carried out by majorities.

What Are the Different Types of Hair Transplants?

First things first: before diving into the details of the types of hair transplants, it is important to know that no amount of special shampoos, hair loss supplements, and leave-in hair products will offer you dramatic improvement when it comes to battling hair loss. Once you’ve begun bolding in certain spots, this means that the follicles of those individual hair strays have stopped producing hair completely, making it impossible for any kind of hair loss product to retrieve its viability.Nonetheless, numerous medical products and medications can help achieve noticeable results, especially when given a start in the early stages of hair loss. While some drugs may reverse or slow down mild hair loss, there are also different types of hair transplants for follicles that have gone totally dormant.

Hair Loss Medication for Mild Hair Loss Problems

When it comes to choosing from FDA-approved treatment plans for baldness, androgen-dependent and androgen-independent are the two most common types of medication for hair loss. Androgen-dependent hair loss medication stops the conversion of testosterone into dihydrotestosterone, increasing hair growth at around three months of regular use.Androgen-independent hair loss drugs, on the other hand, work in a way that dilates small blood vessels in the body, causing hair regrowth in the amount of almost up to 40 percent. The hair buds continue to grow during the entire period this type of medication is used. While androgen-dependent medication can be used only by men, women can use androgen-independent medication during hair loss treatment.The FUE procedure is usually preferred by people who choose to wear their hair short. Before the procedure, however, it is required that the patient shaves the recipient site entirely, which is why people who want to avoid a short haircut lean towards FUT.

Surgical Hair Restoration in Severe Hair Loss Cases

Surgical hair transplantation is usually the only way to restore natural hair growth for people with significant hair loss. It is essential to note that the recent advancements in medicine have made surgical types of hair transplants one of the safest and most effective ways in treating baldness, with even patients hesitant towards surgery considering these methods. FUT and FUE are the most common types of hair transplant methods performed surgically.Follicular Unit Transplant (FUT) is one of the types of hair transplants that involves taking a strip of skin with live hair follicles from the back of the patient’s head, separating small groups of hair follicle tissues, and preparing them for transplantation. (The back of the head is where the hair is less prone to balding and is generally naturally fuller.) While this preparation is underway, individual, tiny holes are made on the thinning or balding area before the prepared grafts are placed one by one on the recipient site. A revolutionary technique in restoring a natural hairline, the FUT method takes a couple of hours to be completed, and the healing process requires meticulous care and attention.The Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) method, on the other hand, is basically an advanced version of the FUT method, addressing its various setbacks and primitive challenges. Hair follicles are harvested from a donor site at the back of the head, similar to the FUT method.However, the FUE method does not involve removing a strip of tissue altogether; rather, it consists of collecting the individual follicles from the scalp directly, inserting them into the same tiny incisions made on the recipient area just like with FUT. Although the FUE technique requires a lot more time in surgery compared to the FUT method, it is safe to say that this method is much more aesthetic, especially because it eliminated linear scarring and advanced would care.

Which Type of Hair Transplant is Best?

Needless to say that receiving a hair transplant can benefit both your appearance and self-confidence. Men with male pattern baldness, women with thinning hair, and patients who have lost hair from a scalp injury or a burn can opt for different types of hair transplants.Once the best option for a hair transplant has been selected and carried out, the patient will continue to grow hair in the transplanted area for the rest of their life. As with any surgery, hair transplants also carry some risks, most of them being minor such as bleeding and infection. In order to avoid unwanted side effects such as unnatural-looking new hair growth and slow-healing scarring, it is highly recommended to work with a qualified physician or clinic and achieve life-long satisfying results.Regardless of the type of hair transplant you choose, it is important to work with a qualified physician and an experienced hair transplant team to achieve successful and long-term results. When choosing which type of hair transplant is best for you, try to get as many second opinions as possible before making your final decision. If you are experiencing concerns about hair loss, it is important to seek help before the condition gets worse or even irreversible. There is no need to mention that using questionable hair loss products may cause more harm than good, wasting your time and money that could be spent on a medically proven alternative.When choosing a hair restoration option, it is crucial to work with an expert who has sufficient experience in the area. Numerous world-renowned hair transplant clinics abroad help you stop your hair loss and permanently enhance your hair growth. To reach out to these hair transplantation clinics and doctors, click here and receive the full list of hair restoration physicians and centers.