Female Hair Transplant

Although most people think of men with male pattern baldness when thinking about hair restoration and hair transplantation, the truth is that many women also suffer from hair loss and seek hair restoration services.  This is especially true because women in general find thinning hair to be much more distressing than their male counterparts.  Additionally, while nearly all men suffering from hair loss suffer from male pattern hair loss specifically, women suffer from hair loss for many different reasons, including female pattern hair loss.  For this reason, when women seek hair restoration services, the best practice is typically to do a work up to look into the cause of hair loss as many medical causes of hair loss will improve with treatment of the underlying cause.  For other women, such as those with female pattern hair loss or with disorders that cause scarring of the hair follicles that have been adequately treated, a hair transplant may be appropriate.

About Female Hair Transplants

Female hair transplants are performed in much the same way as hair transplants in men with special care taken to approach the transplant in a way that minimizes shaving of the hair.  Traditionally, this has been done using the FUT technique and involves shaving a strip of hair in the donor area on the back of the head followed by surgically removing that strip of shaved scalp and closing the scalp back together.  This leaves only a minimal area on the back of the head that has been shaved which is easily covered by hair from above.  For the creation of the surgical sites and transplantation of the grafts, a combination of wetting and combing the hair is used to expose small areas at a time to allow both site creation and graft placement without the need to trim or cut the hair.  Once the procedure has been completed and after an initial healing period of one to two weeks, the recent transplant will be minimally noticeable.  Once fully healed the hair will grow just like the rest of your hair and can be cut and styled as you please.

Benefits

The benefits of hair restoration in female patients are myriad, as many women feel very self conscious about their thinning hair.  Thicker hair provided by a hair transplant, or by medical hair restoration, can resolve the self consciousness associated with having thinning hair, leading affected women to feel more confident and more attractive after having had a hair transplant.

Candidates 

Not all women with thinning hair are candidates for hair transplants because different causes of hair loss have different appropriate treatments.  Many cases of hair loss in women can be treated medically by treating the underlying cause of hair loss, such as iron deficiency, vitamin D deficiency, hypothyroidism, or other causes.  In these instances, by treating a separate medical issue that is causing hair loss, the hair loss itself can be treated.  Other patients suffer from medical conditions that can cause the hair follicles to scar over.  In these patients, medical treatment alone will not cause the hair to grow back but adequate medical treatment is required before performing a hair transplant to ensure that further hair, including transplanted hair, is not lost.  Once the underlying condition that is causing hair follicles to scar over is treated, a hair transplant can be successfully performed.  Additionally, patients with female pattern hair loss are great candidates for hair transplantation.

Personal Consultation

If you are suffering from hair loss, please contact Premier Hair Restoration for a complimentary consultation regarding both medical and surgical treatment of your hair loss.

Preparation

Once any underlying medical conditions that may be causing hair loss are properly evaluated and treated and it is determined that you are a good candidate for a hair transplant, preparation for the transplant itself is fairly minimal, involving only picking up prescriptions prior to the procedure and beginning some of the medications the day before the procedure.  If there you have other medical problems or take other medications that do not affect hair loss but that may affect the ability to have surgery performed safely, other pre-surgical work up, treatment, and adjustment of your medications may be required.

Procedure

FUT is the standard surgical approach for women undergoing hair transplantation as this does not require shaving a large portion of the back and sides of your head.  Only a small shaved strip will remain where the strip of scalp was harvested, and this is easily covered by the hair above.  More recent developments include FUE devices and punches that allow for the harvesting of long hair without the need to shave the back and sides of the head, although this harvest technique is very new and considerably more difficult and time consuming than the FUT technique traditionally used in women.

Recovery

Recovery after a hair transplant involves spending two to three days resting in a reclined position to avoid accidentally pulling out the grafts before they’ve healed in place.  After around three days the grafts will have healed in place to the extent that they are much more difficult to pull out and you will no longer need to take the same precautions to avoid dislodging the grafts that you have taken up to that point.  The transplanted grafts will form a small crust around four to five days after transplantation which will subsequently fall off around seven to ten days after surgery.  Once the crusts have fallen off of the grafts, you can resume full normal activity.

Results

Once the grafts have healed and the hair begins to grow, you will have a fuller and more natural appearing head of hair.  This is your very own hair and you can cut it and style it as you see fit.

Cost of a Hair Transplant

The cost of a hair transplant for women is similar to the cost of an FUT hair transplant in men, averaging around $5.00 to $5.50 per graft depending on certain variables.  Long-hair FUE transplants, which involve no shaving, no linear scar, and no sutures may be available in the near future with the cost of a long-hair FUE transplant to be determined, as it is more difficult and more time consuming than FUT.

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