By the time you begin to notice your hair loss, there’s a good chance that you’ll have already lost a significant amount of hair. In fact, half of a man’s head of hair will typically be gone before it becomes cosmetically visible. On the bright side, this means that it will be a while before you start to notice the issues that come with balding. On the downside, a lot of people will need to take more drastic measures to treat their hair loss if they only start getting proactive once it becomes noticeable. Of course, when we say drastic, we don’t mean that all hair loss treatments are invasive. As you’ll discover below, some are certainly less invasive than others. In fact, some hair loss treatment procedures, like scalp micropigmentation, don’t even involve hair transplants. Who should consider hair loss treatments? Well, anyone who is feeling self-conscious about their hair loss and ready to make a change. Most men will lose their hair at some point in their lives — but some begin to lose it earlier, and at a faster rate, than they would like. While women lose their hair less noticeably, some do start to see their hair thinning to a degree that makes them uncomfortable. If your hair loss is interfering with your confidence and happiness, you may want to consider one of the procedures below.
1. Scalp Micropigmentation
We’ll start with the procedure that isn’t a hair transplant — scalp micropigmentation. This procedure is typically better for men than women, and is perhaps less invasive than the others listed, precisely because it doesn’t actually involve giving you new hair or moving your hair to another place on your head. In a sense, scalp micropigmentation is a lot like tattooing, if to a less pigmented degree. It involves using a tattoo-like process to create the illusion of a better hairline. This is why it’s a better procedure for men than women. Lots of men keep their hair rather short — but a receding hairline will always be noticeable. A micropigmentation procedure essentially makes it look like their hairline is better than it actually is, and does so with minimal risk of scarring or complications. At times, scalp micropigmentation prices can be compared to the cost of a hair transplant — but, depending on your specific case, it could be cheaper.
2. FUE
FUE, or Follicular Unit Extraction, is a type of hair transplant that is recommended by many hair loss specialists in this day and age. It’s known for its simplicity and quick recovery period, as well as its low risk of complications. Essentially, what this procedure involves is the specialist harvesting small grafts from your head — these will typically be hair groupings of one to four hairs. They’ll be harvested in a tiny punch that is just .7 to one millimeter in size, and transplanted to a balding area. Typically, the procedure takes about eight hours, and the grafts are known to settle within four to five days. The great thing about this type of transplant is that, due to its relatively natural manner, you’ll be able to shave your hair or keep it short in the future. Other transplant procedures are more delicate, and therefore require the patient to keep their hair long.
3. FUSS
FUSS stands for Follicular Unit Strip Surgery. If that sounds more invasive than FUE or scalp micropigmentation, that’s because it is. Essentially, it involves removing a strip of non-balding scalp from the patient’s head, and transplanting it into incisions in the balding area. This is obviously much more involved, and thus has a higher complication rate. It also carries the risk of leaving scars in the areas in which scalp was harvested. For that matter, FUSS is a procedure that requires the patient to keep their hair a certain length.
Clearly, hair loss sufferers have options — it’s just a matter of you choosing which option is right for you. Talk to a specialist for further information!
