As much as 85% of men experience hair loss in their lifetime. When there is a treatable reason for the hair loss, the condition becomes faint with proper treatment solving the underlying problem.

Androgenic alopecia  

Androgenic alopecia comes as a heritage through parental genes. The X chromosome is the carrier of the related gene. While women should own two responsible genes on both chromosomes, men having only one responsible gene suffer from this condition. It is the most common cause, up to 95%, of male pattern baldness.

Male pattern baldness has a distinct shape; a receding hairline which progresses around the crown of the head and leaves this area hairless and eventually the whole head when there is a narrow line of hair above ears circulating to the back of the head. In this pattern, hair follicles are exaggeratedly sensitive to a hormone called dihydrotestosterone (DHT) which makes them smaller, and, as a result, the growing hair tend to be finer, thinner, and shorter and eventually invisible. 

Alopecia areata

Alopecia areata is a post-trauma condition which manifests after a traumatic event or shock, or in relation with internal diseases. This problem is often solved spontaneously or by drug help. In rare cases, it permanently stays which should be treated with medical procedures such as hair transplant.

Cicatricial alopecia

Usually, accidental or infectious wounds result in cicatricial alopecia; an irreversible and permanent cause of hair loss.

Immunologic disorders such as discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE) and morphea can cause cicatricial alopecia as well.

Chronic deliberating diseases

Acute physical or emotional trauma

Certain medications such as:

• Blood thinners
  
• Drugs for arthritis
• Retinoids for acne treatment
• Anabolic steroids
• Antidepressants 

Hair transplant operations are performed on an outpatient basis with mild sedation and local anesthesia. Before harvesting the donor site, the scalp is shampooed and treated with an antibacterial agent. Today, there are two harvesting methods, Today, there are two main ways, each comes with its own advantages and disadvantages, by which donor grafts are extracted; follicular unit extraction and strip excision harvesting. However, regardless of the harvesting method, proper extraction of the hair follicle is paramount to ensure the viability of the transplanted hair and avoid transection (i.e., cutting of the hair shaft from the hair follicles). Hair follicles grow slightly angled and the transplanted tissue should be removed carefully at the corresponding angle. In FUT, the surgeon harvests a strip of the skin of 1-1.5 x 15-30 cm in size containing all-natural skin and hair cells. While the surgeon is closing the resulting wound, assistants begin to dissect individual follicular unit grafts from the collected strip. They work with binocular stereomicroscopes and remove the uncalled-for tissues without damaging the follicular cells. However, in FUE, only follicular units, containing a cluster of 1 to 4 follicles excluding all other cell types, are removed by the surgeon under local anesthesia. For the micron-sized procedure, tiny punches of 0.6 – 1 millimeter in diameter are used.

• Planting

After harvesting, the surgeon uses small microblades or very fine needles to puncture the sites designated for the follicular planting on the recipient scalp and placing the harvested follicles at a predetermined density and pattern. This time-consuming step can be performed in either single or multiple steps and it is mostly done by the technicians.

Expected outcomes

FUE gives very natural results and there is no linear incision or scar on the back of the head. Any post-operative pain or discomfort is unusual, and recovery takes less than 7 days.