How to Maximize Graft Survival in a Hair Transplant Procedure, and Stop Further Loss

A gentleman has thinning hair and a progressively higher hairline which may be have been caused by telogen effluvium from irritable bowel syndrome. He wants to have a natural look after a hair transplant how many grafts he would need to achieve it. When a patient comes to Dr. Amiya Prasad’s practice, he first measures the desired area to be filled in square centimeters. After, he looks at the limitations of the area where the hair will come from called the donor area. The donor area is the band of hair at the back of the scalp which are genetically resistant to hair loss and do not go away. They serve as the bank where the hairs are harvested to fill the bald areas of the scalp. To achieve the right amount of density, Dr. Prasad estimates the amount of hairs to be grafted based on the measurement of the length and width of the bald areas. He takes the hairs by doing either a traditional strip method of follicular unit transplant (FUT), whereby other practices do a follicular unit extraction (FUE). Dr. Prasad explains that hair transplant is very tricky and is intrinsically flawed in its ability to make someone happy long-term because it doesn't prevent hair from thinning. Some patients don’t take medical therapy like finasteride after hair transplants so their hairs continue to thin leaving them a “pluggy” appearance. There are also claims that a hundred hairs can be placed per square centimeter. However, hair grafts are based on the intrinsic anatomy of a particular person’s hair follicle. Patients with finer and thinner hairs won’t be able to cover an area compared to someone who has thicker, or wavier hair. In addition, each hair needs a surrounding amount of tissue that will allow for it to grow and survive. In Dr. Prasad’s practice, he maximizes the survivability of the hair grafts. He manages blood pressure to prevent bleeding after surgery and he also provides IV intravenous sedation during sessions. He will also use a material called extracellular matrix to maximize the graft survivability. He has had patients who had mega sessions done elsewhere and they had 90% loss of grafts because their surgeons didn’t consider the survivability of the hairs. In addition, if he sees patients who have miniaturization of their hairs and they continue to thin, he offers them medical therapy such as finasteride and minoxidil. Unfortunately, a lot of people are hesitant to take finasteride because of the potential long-term sexual side effects. A majority of patients who come to Dr. Prasad actually choose an option he developed called Hair Regeneration. Hair Regeneration is the use of extracellular matrix that was originally used for wound healing. He developed a formulation, a method of delivery and a technique to reverse the hair thinning process. Hair Regeneration is using the patient’s adult stem cells to repair the flawed mechanisms and the cells and signals needed for hair growth. Unfortunately, the questions of what causes hair loss have not been fully answered and the mechanism of hair growth still remains with missing pieces to the puzzle. Dr. Prasad’s advice is that patients should know the density and the amount of hair that they would need. In his practice, he defers hair transplantation on someone who’s actively thinning. He treats them first with Hair Regeneration and sees how much density and volume they get back. He is confident that they won’t continue to thin for at least 5 years based on what he has experienced with Hair Regeneration which can deliver a realistic and natural-looking appearance. Unfortunately, a hair transplant is one of those areas where a person can look good for a while, but if their hair keeps thinning then they can look like they had plugs or they end up being committed and forced to do more transplantation. Dr. Prasad hopes that patients have full understanding of what to expect from a transplant before they make decisions. They should keep in mind that the donor area has limited amount of hairs and eventually, it will tap out, so they should be extra careful about how they strategize their hair loss treatment plan. For more information about hair transplants with Hair Regeneration, please go to our website: http://nyhairloss.com/hair-restoratio... http://nyhairloss.com/hair-regenerati...