Ans.: The tendency towards male pattern balding is genetic and can be inherited from either the mother or father. While there are several causes of hair loss, nearly 95% of all hair loss is caused by a condition known as "androgenetic alopecia".

Ans.: Androgenetic Alopecia is the most common form of hair loss and is known more readily in men as "male pattern baldness". It is a progressive disease which, once begun, worsens with age. There are several factors which lead to the onset of this condition, including genetics, age, and the presence of the male hormone dihydrotestosterone (DHT).

Ans.: Hair transplantation involves the movement of hair from an area of greater density and fullness in the back of your scalp to an area of hair loss in the front, top or crown. Women who have generalized thinning (Diffuse Unpatterned Alopecia) have hair that is thin all over the head, and it may not be beneficial to transplant hair that has been weakened by the balding process. When hair is transplanted into a part of the scalp that is thin, but not completely bald, there is a risk that some of the hair that is weak will not regrow in its new location. There is also the possibility that the hair in the recipient area is more fragile and some or all of the original hair in this area may be lost. This process is called "telogen effluvium" and when it occurs, it is usually reversible in a 3-6 month time frame when the hair that has been lost has been weakened by balding. Also, when the donor area continues to thin, then the transplanted hair will also thin over time, since it came from the same area. In hair transplantation, as in all surgical procedures, it is important to balance the potential gain against the possible risks when making a decision to go forward with the treatment.

Ans.: While Finasteride ( to be taken orally)and Minoxidil (for topical application)have been proven to regrow hair, they will not grow all your hair back. Unfortunately, they tend to fall short of many patients' expectation with a higher grade of hair loss. Their greatest benefit seems to be in slowing down hair loss.It becomes repeatedly apparent that the best route for Finasteride and Minoxidil is as a complement to a hair transplant. They provide the ideal enhancement for the results of hair transplantation.

Ans.: Hair weaving is tying a wig on the head with silk thread knots. Hair bonding is holding the wig on the head with clips and hair fusion is sticking a light weight nylon wig with a double sided sticking tape. These are all temporary methods. Prolonged use causes bad hygiene, pull out and avulsion of the anchoring hair and excoriation of skin. These methods are not practised by any plastic surgeons or any doctors.

Ans.: Hair transplantation has actually been around for quite awhile. For over 40 years, balding men and women have been turning to variations of this procedure, and finding successful results. However, the procedure is now better than ever. Heightened understandings of growth patterns and advancements in follicular unit grafting techniques have helped to produce remarkably natural results.

Even in the most extreme balding patterns, a permanent 'wreath' of hair exists on the sides and back of the head (Donor Hair). This hair is unaffected by the balding process. Once transplanted, this hair behaves as it was programmed to behave in the original area it came from and will grow naturally for the rest of your life.

Ans.: Since hair loss does not place age restrictions on who it hits, there is no limit on when you can begin treating it. Patients actually range from 21-80 years old. If you are noticing hair loss at a young age, you are encouraged to address it sooner than later. Getting a head start, while you still have quite a bit of naturally growing hair, will help your surgeon more successfully cover the work while newly transplanted hair gradually grows in. What's more, there's really no reason to wait to treat your hair loss, since it's not a condition that just stops at any certain age. It's an ongoing process around which your surgical restoration can be customized. Hair loss surgery helps you stay ahead of your hairline.

Ans.: If you have been determined to be a candidate for restoration, and if you are uncomfortable with your hair loss, why not start now? With your restoration completed, you can get on with life without this distraction.

Ans.: We will suggest how many grafts may be available for your first procedure (and subsequent procedures if they will be needed). This number will be based on your present balding pattern, what it may become in the future, and how much donor hair is available. When an individual has high donor density, the follicular units usually contain multiple hairs, and when an individual has low donor density the follicular units often contain only one hair. If an individual has a very loose scalp, a larger donor strip can be removed, while an individual with a tight scalp will have a smaller donor strip. When an individual has a relatively small amount of hair that can be moved, we take great pains to distribute the available hair in ways that produce the best coverage.

Ans.: In a single procedure, we can perform as many as 3000 grafts, depending of course upon the quality of the donor hair. However, 2200 or so grafts is more common as most patients neither require nor desire more. However a 2000 - 2200 graft session (approx. 4500 hair) is more common as most patients neither require nor desire more.

Ans.: For men with advanced degrees of hair loss, the goal is typically to perform the maximum number of grafts that the donor site will permit. In general, this can range from 1,900 grafts to as many as 2,800. As soon as five months following the original procedure, patients will often undergo a second procedure to provide further coverage.

Ans.: Smoking causes constriction of blood vessels and decreased blood flow to the scalp, predominantly due to its nicotine content. The carbon monoxide in smoke decreases the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood. These factors may contribute to poor wound healing after a hair transplant and can increase the chance of a wound infection and scarring. Smoking may also contribute to poor hair growth.

The deleterious effects of smoking wear off slowly when one abstains, particularly in chronic smokers, so that smoking puts one at risk to poor healing even after smoking is stopped for weeks or even months. Although it is not known exactly how long one should avoid smoking before and after a hair transplant a common recommendation is to abstain from 1 week prior to surgery to 2 weeks after the procedure.

Ans.: Can a portrait painter create a better portrait with a house painter's equipment i.e. by using a roller rather than a brush? The use of an artist's brush is analogous to the use of very small grafts. High-quality hair transplants require fine instruments and delicate, small grafts. These grafts must be distributed in a way that balances the facial features, hair characteristics, and goals of the individual patient. Large grafts simply can't offer sufficient flexibility to allow this "customizing" and their unnaturally high density doesn't take into account the progressive nature of hair loss, placing the patient at great risk of having an unnatural appearance in the future.

Ans.: This is a statement commonly made by doctors who lack sufficient experience, or technique, in performing large sessions. The amount of hair needed for the average large session is well within the safe limits of what can be moved, provided that the procedure is done properly. It is the experience and judgment of the surgeon that will insure that the amount of hair that is harvested from the donor area is safe and appropriate.

Ans.: No! The elasticity of the scalp helps us ensure that it won't. After the donor strip is removed, the skin around it is easily pulled back together and sutured. Any minor scarring that results is naturally hidden underneath the hair on the back of the head. All signs of hair transplant surgery are camouflaged.

Ans.: No! The issue is one of oxygenation, not blood supply. By their very size, large grafts over 2 mm, will result in oxygen deprivation to the hair located in their center. This has been proven over and over again by observing the phenomenon called donuting (the loss of hair follicles in the center of larger grafts). In contrast, oxygen diffuses easily into grafts 1 mm or less in size. The blood supply of the scalp is among the richest in the entire body, enabling it to support the growth of large numbers of grafts, provided that they are kept very small (FUT).

Ans.: No! All hair transplantation procedures move hair around to make you look better, but none create more hair. However, if performed properly and on the right person, it can make an incredible improvement in your appearance.

Ans.: The medical term for the very onerous sounding "shock fall out" is "effluvium" which literally means shedding. It is usually the miniaturized hair i.e. the hair that is at the end of its lifespan due to genetic balding that is most likely to be shed. Less likely, some healthy hair will be shed, but this should regrow. Rarely, but sometimes, we notice some shedding of hair from a prior transplant when transplants are spaced less than one year apart. However, this hair grows back completely.

Ans.: For most patients, effluvium is not a major issue and should not be a cause for concern. In the typical case, a patient looks a little thinner during the several month period following the transplant, when the transplanted hair is in its latent phase. It ends when the transplanted hair begins to grow. The thinning is often more noticeable to the patient himself, than to others. Shedding is generally noted as a thinning, rather than of "masses of hair falling out", as the term "shock fall out" erroneously suggests.

Ans.: The first is using medication, the second is timing the transplant properly, and the third is performing a procedure using a sufficient number of grafts.

Finasteride 1mg reverses or halts the miniaturization process in many individuals and is thus the logical way to decrease the risk of shedding following a transplant. we recommend starting our medicine treatment protocol which contains Finasteride 10 days following the hair transplant surgery.

Timing and the size of the transplant are the most important issues. It is important to wait until a patient is ready to have a transplant, and then to perform one of sufficient size so that if there is some shedding, the procedure will more than compensate for it - and be worthwhile.

The better solution is to treat early hair loss with medication, but once you make a decision to begin surgery, and then have a procedure large enough to make a significant cosmetic improvement.

Effluvium is what hair naturally does when the scalp is stressed and it is stressed during a transplant from the anesthetic mixture and the recipient site creation. It cannot be totally prevented. In sum, the best way to deal with effluvium is to treat with Finasteride when hair loss is early, perform a transplant only when indicated and finally, to perform a procedure of Follicular Unit Transplantation with skill and with a sufficient number of grafts.

Ans.: We schedule a second surgery 8-12 months after the first for the following reasons:

At 8-12 months, hair length is adequate to see the effects of styling. With that in mind, the patient can work concomitantly with the surgeon to make many of the decisions regarding further distribution of grafts, and the process is more 'owned' by the patient.Occasionally, when hair first begins to grow, its texture may be slightly different from your original hair. After 8-12 months this generally returns to normal making decisions about the grooming easier, and grooming preferences may affect the way the next procedure is planned.Some patients have cyclical growth, which means that all of the growth may not be in and of adequate length at 4 or 5 months. Waiting the few extra months gives the person enough time to see hair growing and this can be a psychological advantage for the patient.Seeing the hair allows the surgeon to clearly see where to place the new grafts. For those patients with tighter scalps, the skin has a greater time to restore some of its previous laxity.

Ans.: Facial hair transplantation:

It is designed to restore hair to the beard and mustache region to thicken the existing hair or to provide hair growth where there is none. Some patients seek to have restored a full, thick beard and mustache, others desire a fuller goatee,,some have hair placed into a visible scar.

Eyebrow Hair Transplantation:

It restores growing hair to eyebrows that are overly thin, scarred, or completely missing. It typically involves the placement of 50 to as many as 325 hairs into each eyebrow, depending upon the existing amount of hair and the desired size and density.