Hair Transplant Facts and Figures

Hair transplant facts and figures are information that must be disseminated to those patients who opt for this procedure.

However, the obligation of spreading these pieces of knowledge does not only lie at the hands of the surgeon, as each hair transplant patient must also do his/her part in recognizing these bald truths.

Hair Transplant Facts – Getting into the Bottom Line

Considering the jumbled information about hair transplants available on the web, patients may become confused of what is true or not. Verifying Internet data first is often necessary, but unfortunately, searching for substantial and authentic information is lengthy. To save one’s time and effort, here are five reliable, concrete, and authentic facts about hair transplants.

1. Not all individuals are suitable for a hair transplant.

There are certain considerations that have to be taken first before a person can be subjected to a hair transplantation. Factors such as the age of the patient, the degree or stage of the hair loss, the associated risks, the potential survival rate of the grafts, the capacity of the donor and the desires of the patient must be evaluated by the surgeon first before deciding through the course of the procedure. If the patient does not meet the criteria, which comprises a successful hair transplant surgery; then other non-surgical options would have to be considered.

2. Male pattern baldness occurs in 50% of the older population.

Generally, males are more predominantly inclined to have hair loss problems than females. A total of 50% of the American male population above 50 years old suffers from male pattern baldness. Some men opt to mask their problem by using wigs; while others use hats and head wear to camouflage their balding head. On the other hand, those who are more confident with surgery go for hair transplantation.

3. Hair transplants are permanent.

Once a patient commits to go for a hair transplant surgery, there is no turning back. If the head has undergone the procedure, the surgeon can no longer undo all the accompanying changes that would occur to the patient’s head, may it be with the texture of his/her head (if scars appear) or to its over-all appearance. If the patient doesn’t like the results of the hair transplant, there is nothing that the surgeon can do to revert back the scalp to its pre-surgery state. This is an important warning for patients: before accepting a surgery, discuss it with the surgeon first.

4. Various factors are considered in choosing the best hair transplant technique.

There are two recognized hair transplant techniques (scalp-to-scalp): Follicular Unit Extraction or FUE and Strip Surgery or FUT. Before deciding on what technique among the two is to be utilized for a patient, the surgeon must first take into account the patient or the donor’s hair characteristic, density, caliber, age, expectations, and determined goals. Each hair transplant technique may yield different results for a single patient and that is why, surgeons must do a thorough “cross-matching” first before initiating the best technique.

5. The grafts may not grow new hair.

In contrast to the idea that hair transplantation is a flawless procedure, it may not be the case all the time – and this is one of the proven hair transplant facts. There are instances that the hair transplant becomes a failure, and this happens when the grafts fail to grow new hair. The harvested grafts, or the hair follicles may die if it were damaged during handling. More often, the culprit for the grafts’ demise may not be identified solely – as there are several factors, which may cause damage to the grafts such as: the surgeon’s inadequacy, the patient’s uncooperativeness, and the negativity of the over-all circumstances during and after the surgery. For this event, a repeat procedure is often necessary.

Hair Transplant Figures

Did you know that hair transplantation could be summarized in digits? What most people aren’t aware of is that hair transplants are proliferating in number, year after year; and that these figures are not merely jumbled numbers – but that they also reflect the over-all status of not only the peoples’ hair loss issues, but also how many percentage of the society suffers from this condition.

The most recent census of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS) was last 2008. Figures included herein were highlighted as relevant:

About 98, 727 hair restoration procedures took place in the United States in 2008, followed by 78, 822 in Asia. Europeans have had 32,320, followed by the Middle East with 20,647. Mexico has 13,102 and Canada has a rather meager 5,268 hair restorations in a year. Australia comes last with only 3,116.

Speaking of gender, worldwide, around 84.9% of all hair restorations were conducted to male patients; yet this number went down from 86.2% in 2006. Men in their 30s is the largest group to subject themselves to a hair transplant with 31.2%. On the other hand, only 15.1% of females had a hair restoration last 2008, but in contrast to the male’s figures, this percentage has gone up from 13.8% in 2006.

ISHRS has stated that these figures are not a hundred percent accurate; these numbers were collated through a research survey in cooperation with hair transplant surgeons worldwide. Nevertheless, these hair transplant facts and figures speak for themselves – hair transplantation is the choice of thousands of hair loss patients worldwide.