What is alopecia?

Throughout history, man has always sought to prevent the loss of hair. This has been well documented in all civilizations. Different potions, lotions and formulas have been tried, with no effective result. Hair is man's (and woman's) only natural adornment. It represents beauty and youth, strength and sensuality.

Currently, the state-of-the-art technique for hair restoration is called the follicular unit procedure, where individual follicles (the "root" of the hair) are transplanted, giving a natural result that was not possible with previous techniques.

Technical Informations

It is very important for the patient who is considering undergoing a hair restoration surgery to fully understand technical details of the procedure. Each case is different from any other, and this implies that the patient should be individually examined for a personalized surgical planning. These informations, therefore, do not substitute a medical consultation.

Indications for hair transplantation

The vast majority of patients are men who present with some degree of male-pattern baldness. This progressive loss of hair from the scalp is called androgenic alopecia. There is no known medical treatment that reverses this condition...medications such as minoxidil (Rogaine,Regaine) or finasteride (Propecia) may, at the most, slow the rate of hair loss. Two factors determine this hair loss: genetic predisposition and androgenic hormones. The hair follicle suffers a miniaturization process (ie. becomes thin and weak) and eventually the follicle disappears entirely.

Women lose hair in a similar fashion. However, it is now known that female hair loss is a more complicated condition, and female patients should be very carefully evaluated for hair transplantation. Of course, reconstruction of the hair line (the sideburn and behind the ear) following a face-lift is a very straightforward procedure and does not fall into female-pattern baldness.

A fundamental question that must be understood is frequently asked of me:

"Dr. Radwanski, how can you be so sure that transplanted hair will never fall?"/p>

This is the biological foundation for this surgery, and was established in 1957 by Dr. Orentreich (considered the “father of modern hair surgery”). He determined that hair follicles are donor-area dominant, meaning that hair removed from the permanent region of the scalp (the back and side of the head) will remain growing permanently to wherever it is transplanted, as long as the viability of the follicles is maintained (this implies a very careful and precise surgical technique).

The Norwood Scale is useful to classify and predict a patient's degree of current and future baldness.

Different situations exist where hair transplantation may be indicated

• - Male pattern baldness of all types
• - Some cases of female-type baldness
• - Correction of hair-line dislocation from a face-lift or a forehead lift
• - Loss of hair secondary to trauma (usually burns). This applies not only to the scalp but also the eyebrow. It is known that hair follicles will grow on scar tissues!

With the state-of-the-art technique performed at Pilos Center, it is also possible to enhance or even correct previous hair transplantations that have been done elsewhere.