Medical hair restoration is a surgical procedure that transplants healthy hair follicles to areas affected by dihydrotestosterone, or DHT. DHT is a male hormone that also attacks healthy hair follicles causing balding for both men and women. The balding patterns vary greatly from man to man and cause a completely different type of balding for women. Men generally have obvious places of balding, such as the crown and top of the head, whereas women experience an all-over hair loss.
What to Expect from Medical Hair Restoration
Medical hair restoration, otherwise known as MHR, utilizes healthy places on a patients head to provide the donor follicles. The donor follicles are taken from the sides and back of the head and implanted in the bald areas of the patient. Each medical hair restoration surgery requires different amount of grafts depending on the individual patient’s pattern of balding, age, and hair style.
Women are generally not good candidates for medical hair restoration surgery due to the fact that they do not normally have distinctive areas of baldness. Many women choose to use medicated topical treatments or oral treatments. A small percentage of women who have baldness due to traumatic head injury, burns, or cosmetic scarring are candidates for medical hair restoration.
Medical Hair Restoration Side Effects
Medical hair restoration is a hair loss treatment with minimal side effects. The side effects that are generally felt by patients are normally very mild and are able to be treated with a simple over the counter pain medication. Side effects generally include mild headache, tenderness, and numbness. Occasionally patients may also experience mild swelling around the front of the head and eyes due to the tugging on the scalp during the surgery. The most common side effect after medical hair restoration surgery is the newly implanted hair usually falls out due to shock. The hair loss due to surgery shock is temporary and new hair will grow back.
Medical hair restoration also has a slight chance of infection after the surgery. It is very rare, however, for patients to develop infections after the hair transplant surgery and is easily treated with antibiotics.
