Is this even possible?
I am not talking about your typical male receding hairline or even male pattern baldness, but near complete baldness wherein almost no hair grows on the head at all. From what I have seen, hair implants work by taking grafts from haired areas of the hair and then implanting the follicles. But what if there isn't hair to take the follicles from? Are you then doomed to being bald forever or are there still options out there for people with completely baldness?
If you have any constructive comments to offer that don't involve "accept your baldness" I'd be real happy about that.
Yeah like the previous poster mentioned, these hair implants don't come out of nowhere... they use your own hair, almost always from the back of your head. They cut out a strip there and then sew the skin back up. Then they start to meticulously extract all the individual follicles. One by one, they carefully insert them under the skin where your new hair is supposed to grow. So... obviously if you don't have hair they could use, well, then you are not a candidate for hair implants for baldness. For instance, there's people with very thin eyebrows (me for instance LOL) either 'cause they were born that way or because of plucking etc. Of course eyebrows are a much smaller area of skin and there's no donor hair to work with so what they do is take hair from your head. This works fine but unlike your brow hairs, these implanted hairs will keep on growing and growing so ongoing grooming is required. Same story with scalp baldness... it's not like they can take donor hair from your legs and have it be satisfying on your head, you know?
Unfortunately, I have to agree with the other two posters: if you have no donor hair to offer, then hair transplants are not going to be a very good option for you.
However, though hair transplants for baldness are increasingly advanced and popular, they are not the only option for treating baldness. I have to say that I do not know all that much about this, but I have heard of the drug Minoxidil. This is applied to the scalp, I think twice daily, and has been shown to offer increased hair growth in around 2/3 of people who try it. It is certainly something worth considering in your case.
I second those who suggested trying medication first — hair restoration surgeons will generally recommend anyone who is considering hair transplant does this, in any case, since hair transplants are a very invasive process. The medications that are considered to be most effective are minoxidil and finasteride. When you have SEVERE male pattern baldness, you will generally not be a good candidate for hair transplants anyway. I am sorry to say this. Many surgeons will tell you that the best candidates are those who have more hair remaining than they lost. But that does not mean that minoxidil or finasteride will not be able to help you, so discuss that with your doctor please.
Rosie
- Propecia: Works by blocking dihydrotestosterone, which is the hormone that causes your follicles to close down. Research shows that it does not work on men who have been bald for over 15 years. Whether trying it is a good idea depends on how long you have been bald for.
- Minoxidil: We don't know how it works! But it does, and there is evidence to suggest that it may even work on men who have been bald for quite some time. This is a very cool thing to look into.
- Hair Transplant: Sorry, not an option for you if you are completely bald.