An In-Depth Look at a Hair Transplant
Did you realize that an adult human has an average of five million hairs on the entire body? One would naturally assume that most of these hairs are on the head, when in fact, the scalp only has a total of 150,000 hairs. This means that every single hair on our head, so to speak, is priceless.
If you have noticed that your hair is thinning, discolored, or falling out, you should seek medical attention. In fact, with treatments like Propecia, the sooner you act, the better your head will retain and re-grow your hair. Hair loss is a huge problem that affects a large portion of the population. There are several treatments that are effective at treating different types of hair loss. There may not be a cure yet, but there are solutions.
The Downsides of Surgical Hair Restoration
A person that does not respond to any of the recommended treatments may be a candidate for surgical hair restoration, such as a hair transplant. However, there are several major downsides to having hair restoration surgery. This type of surgery is often very expensive, time consuming, and can be extremely painful.
A hair transplant may be a permanent solution to hair loss, but it involves a complicated series of costly operations that actually extract plugs from the scalp, located at the back of the head or the sides - these are the areas where hair most often grows densely. The extracted plugs are then implanted in the area that you are balding. Surgical hair restoration requires a major commitment of time and financial resources.
Usually surgical hair restoration is not covered by one’s medical insurance. Sometimes these procedures cost $15,000. In addition, this type of procedure can take up to two years to fully complete. Despite all of these pitfalls, over 200,000 men decide to have hair restoration surgery each year.
Information on a Hair Transplant
One of the most common surgical hair restoration procedures is a hair transplant. A hair transplant involves the implanting of hair grafts. There are different types of hair grafts that can be used, the most common being a Macrograft. A Macrograft is a cylindrical plug that operates much like a hole puncher. The surgeon will remove a graft that contains up to twenty holes and place the graft into a cylindrical hole located in the balding region of the scalp.
The cost and length of time that the procedure takes depends on the individual’s degree of baldness. Most often, it takes one to four sessions in order for the hair transplant to be complete. Each session will involve the placement of up to sixty plugs. Hair transplantation sessions are usually scheduled three months apart. The cost for one session or fifty grafts is around $12,000.
Men who suffer from hair loss primarily in the frontal area are the best candidates for a procedure like hair transplantation. A patient’s potential for further baldness and age is also taken into consideration.
Before deciding to get a hair transplant, you may want to try other hair loss treatments that have been proven effective, such as Propecia. Propecia has been clinically shown to stop hair loss and re-grow hair in a vast majority of men who take the treatment. As a DHT inhibitor, Propecia treats the hair loss problem at the roots.
If you are interested in hair transplantation, you should talk with your healthcare provider to see if you qualify for the procedure – and whether you should first begin with Propecia as a safer, less painful, and more affordable alternative.