Follicular Hair Transplant

Hair transplant surgery is an exciting and relatively new way to fight male pattern baldness. The general idea behind the procedure has been around for some time, but the way it is performed today varies greatly from hair transplants in the past. Surgeons no longer work with large "skin plugs" that they remove from one area of the scalp and transplant to another--these days, "micrografts," or tiny areas of scalp containing only a few hairs, are the favored method.

Follicular Hair Transplants

To understand how micrograft hair transplants work, it's important to understand a bit about how the human scalp actually works. Contrary to what you might think, hairs actually grow in tiny clusters. One hair follicle may contain as many as three or four hairs, all growing out of the same place.

Hair follicles go through phases of growth and rest. One follicle will usually produce hair for several years, and will then go into a rest phase that last for a few months. When you have follicles transplanted during hair transplant surgery, the follicles will typically shift into rest mode once they've been transplanted. This means that after a few weeks, the newly transplanted hairs will fall out.

Most patients are alarmed by this fact, but it's actually quite natural. The newly transplanted follicles go through their rest stage and then begin growing hair a few months later. This means that you have to wait a bit for the permanent effects of your hair transplant surgery.