What Are The Alternative Ways To Treat Hair Loss In Men?

A rise in the number of people seeking a permanent solution to hair fall and ultimate hair loss has lead several medical, cosmetic and surgical procedures.

Although these treatments do not permanently stop hair fall and hair loss, they slow the progression or reduce the amount of hair fall. They also stimulate partial hair regrowth and some even replace damaged hair. These treatments suit certain people while they fail on others. Let us have a look at these alternate treatments for male hair loss.

Hair Replacement

This treatment is usually recommended for those who have male pattern baldness i.e. androgenic alopecia or those who have lost their hair partially due burns or other injuries. This procedure cannot be performed on people who do not show the presence of donor sites i.e. hair- bearing portions of the head from which hair-bearing skin can be taken. A hair transplant is performed during hair replacements. Let us understand a little more about that:

Hair Transplant

Hair transplant is also referred to as hair grafting. This procedure is performed under local anaesthesia. A small graft of hair about 1 cm wide and 30-35 cm wide is removed from that area of the head where there is plenty of hair or hair donors. This piece of scalp is then divided into small pieces containing single hair units or tiny groups of hair and then grafted onto areas on the scalp that do not have hair. The donor sites are then closed with stitches and enclosed with surrounding hairs. These stitched come out after approximately 10 days. During every session, about 50 hair-bearing segments are transplanted. After the session, the scalp is cleaned, covered with gauze and bandaged. It is recommended that there be a gap of nine- twelve months’ time gap between consecutive sessions and procedures.

Scalp Reduction

When there is hair fall and permanent baldness in some areas of the scalp, there are two distinct regions on the scalp- hair-bearing and non-hair-bearing. In scalp reduction, there is permanent removal of the non-hair-bearing region of the scalp in order to preserve only the hair-bearing region and stretching it to fill in the bald area of the scalp. The sections of hair-bearing scalp are brought together and closed with stitches. The typical areas that can benefit from scalp reduction are the top and back of the head. The frontal hairline does not benefit from this procedure. This procedure is often performed during hair transplant. It is also done under local anaesthesia. The patient often experiences a little more pain after scalp reduction than that experienced during hair transplant.

Cosmetologists perform all these procedures. Other cosmetic option are available but are not practised as much as these three are. A proper medical opinion should be sought before embarking on the cosmetic journey. It is important to understand that what is genetic or age-related is very difficult to reverse or undo. Hence, it is best to prevent hair fall in the first place and try to use natural remedies as far as possible.