Hair implants, also known as hair transplantation, is the actual transplanting of hair follicles from one area of the scalp to another area that is experiencing baldness. There are only a few treatments for balding that have been proved to work and this is one of them. There have been two drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of hair loss, mostly male pattern baldness which is the form of hair loss most men experience. Women also experience hair loss but they usually show thinning over the entire head instead of only spots.
The two drugs the FDA accepts are Minoxidil which is marketed as Rogaine and Finasteride which is marketed as Propecia. Rogaine is a topical solution that is applied to the scalp on a daily basis and studies show has about a 50% success rate in helping men regrow some hair. Propecia is an oral drug which means you take it in tablet form. This treatment has been shown to be effective about 70-80% of the time in helping to regrow some hair. Propecia is not prescribed to women generally because of the concern for birth defects if it is taken during pregnancy.
Besides hair implants and the two drugs mentioned above there have been no other treatments the FDA has shown to have effect on hair growth. These treatments range from low level laser therapy, or LLLT, to honey and egg concoctions applied to the scalp after showering.
If you are thinking of hair implantation as a way to counteract your baldness or thinning hair the biggest concern is the cost. The costs in the US range from $3 to $6 per hair follicle transplanted. The procedure usually involves a few thousand follicular unit transplants so you can see the total cost can easily range from ten to twenty thousand dollars. If cost is a concern you can also check out hair clinics in foreign countries. Brazil, for example, has thriving hair restoratin industry with costs much less than the US.
The results are very good with hair implants because the person’s actual hair is being transplanted. Thus there is no problem with the new hair looking different in tecture than the hair reamining aroung the transplant site. Better surgeons can also insert the hair follicals is way that matches the growth directions of the existing hair.
For almost 10o% success hair implants are the only way to go.