Mention hair transplants to someone and it will immediately conjure up images of obvious, unsightly plugs of hair dotting someone’s scalp like bad patches of grass on a lawn. Hair transplants from a decade ago did use strips of hair, grafts of scalp, and the results appeared like rows of planted hairs growing from a black plug on the scalp. Or you imagine little plugs dotted over the head appearing like sprouts of chives growing over the head. Fortunately, those days are over, and new techniques in hair transplants create a completely natural look. Today’s techniques implant only one to four hairs, with no detectable base in sight. This state-of-the-art procedure is called the follicular-unit grafting technique, a process that relies on microscopic dissection at the back of the head to produce the hair grafts. It is an expensive, complicated procedure, but the results are remarkable and the hair does grow with minimal to no risk of further hair loss or thinning.
(Sources: Facial and Plastic Surgery Clinics of North America, August 2008, pages 289-297; Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Aesthetic Surgery, November 2006, pages 1162-1169; Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, September-October 2003, pages 439-444; Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, January 2003, pages 414-424; Dermatologic Surgery, September 2002, pages 783-794; International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery, www. ishrs. org; and Hair Transplant Medical, www. hairtransplantmedical. com.)
Before you decide to consult a physician for a hair-transplant procedure of any kind, keep in mind that any licensed physician in the United States and Canada can perform hair surgery. That means a doctor who was previously a gynecologist, without taking one course, could hang out a shingle tomorrow declaring him – or herself a hair-transplant specialist. It is that easy, and it happens all the time. This lack of licensing or coursework requirements means that it’s easy for the consumer to end up with disappointing and inferior results, such as visible scarring, patching, fuzzy hair, or even more hair loss. Before you book an appointment, find out if the doctor you are considering is in good standing with the International Society for Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS); contact them through their Web site at www. ishrs. org, or contact the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at (800) 332-3223 or www. plasticsurgery. org.