Hair transplant in Houston

What is hair transplant in Houston?

Baldness, also known as alopecia, is a very abundant problem seen in both men an women, even if the first are much more prone to suffer any kind of this disease. This means a gradual loss in hair be it complete or partially. For those that have any type of baldness, there are several methods they can go to, one of them being the most efective, which is the hair graft in Houston or hair transplant. Hair graft supposes a surgery in which the area affected by baldness is replaced with a donor area from the same patient, in which the hair follicles are exchanged do the growth in places where it didn’t occur anymore is now stimulated.

There are many factor to consider when practicing hair graft surgery in Houston, as is the patient’s age, the state and the density of their hair in both the donor area and the area to be treated, and some other important points. Firstly, the reasons that cause alopecia in both genders must be known:

• Age: One of the signs of aging is the appearance of white hairs, shown because of the loss of melanin in the hair. Likewise, the protein fibers that constitute the hair diminish in size as they also loose pigment, so the once thick and dark hair may gradually become in a thin white one.
• Stress: It can cause up to three typed of alopecia, be it by emotional of physical stress. It usually does not cause a permanent hair loss, but it can turn into a cronic problem if not treated, so the best way to prevent it is to control big amounts of stress.
• Bad nutrition: Know as alopecia by nutritional deficit, it is caused by the lack of vitamins and proteins in a diet, so that the hair cannot is unable of producing new hairs the same way.  Because of this, to have healthy hair,  the consumption of proteins, fruits, and specific foods like fish and black chocolate is recommended.
• Weight loss: If a person loses a large amount of weight really fast, which usually goes hand in hand with the alreat mentioned not adequate diet, this can generate baldness, as it is added intense, constant exercise, specially those that invilce strenght, which consume the protein from the body and cause sweating that increases the grease in the hair and, with that, the falling of it.
• Carelessness in hair trearment: This can appear if a person mistreats the hair for too long, with habits such as tying the hair with too much tension too often, causing alopecia by traction. It also occurs due to the use of hair dyes which weaken hair fibers.
• Diseases: Besides alopecia being an individual disorder, it can also be a symptom or consequence of other. People with diabetes can experiment baldness due to the high levels of glucose, interrupting the blood’s adequate flow. It can also appear in people that suffer from lupus, ailment in which the hair turns thinner and is lost in strands. Besides, the medicines and treatments of this diseases can cause alopecia, naming some like antidepressants, contraceptives, beta blockers, anti-inflammatories, and others; and also treatments like chemotherapy, which is known for causing even total hair loss, and radiotherapies in the head, where the quantity of the hair lost depends on the intensity of the administered radiation.

In women, alopecia can appear due to a couple of reasons:

• Pregnancy: Even when, during pregnancy, hormones that promote hair growth are abundant, once the woman reaches the post-partum phase, this hormones significantly decrease, and the scalp is weakened. Alopecia after pregnancy is very common and is seen in a big part of women that have given birth.
• Menopause: During this stage, the hair’s life cycle becomes shorter, anf the organism starts releasing bigger quantities of masculine hormones, known as androgenic hormones, which greatly influence in the loss of hair.

In men, alopecia is much more common than in women, and is mainly generated by the genetic predisposition they may have. If a man has a direct relative that suffers from baldness, in most cases he will eventually develop it too when he reaches a certain age. Besides, they show large amounts of androgenic hormones which can increase or accelerate the loss.

Any of these reasons can start alopecia,  so the next step is determine the specific type of baldness that a person is suffering from. Among the types of alopecia we find:

• Androgenic alopecia: It is known as the most common type of alopecia and with the most cases existing, 90% of them in people younger than 21 and 50% in people older than 40 being androgenic alopecia. To distinguish the alopecia, we noted that it is characterized by a general loss of density, changing the thickness of the hairs. However, the hair does fall, forming a shape called “M” or “horseshoe” in men. In women, the most common cases stay in a loss of density. The cause of this type of alopecia lays in a high presence of masculine hormones, which can happen due to the mentioned genetic predisposition, giving it the name of hereditary alopecia as well.
• Alopecia areata: Differently than androgenic alopecia, this one is not hereditary, making it unlikely to find another family member with the same condition. The people who suffer from this affliction will notice an inflammed scalp with patches surrounding it that grow slowly. It usually appears in people younger than 20 years old.
• Telogen effluvium: Also known as difuse alopecia, it is characterized by thin hair that breaks easily, along with not having any type of pattern or patches to define it. The hair loses strenght, falling and not growing back afterwards, making it impossible to generate new hairs that replace the ones before.  Is mostly seen in quemotherapy patients and similar treatments, and also in people with bad nutrition.
• Scarring hair loss: It is the type of alopecia that carries the most consequences. The cause of it are usually other diseases, which damage and destroy the scalp and hair follicles by inmflammation, peeling, redness and pain, being impossible to regenerate te hairs, stopping the hair from growing.
• Fibrosin alopecia: This type of alopecia’s evolution is one of the slowest, as years can go by without showing visible signs. The hair becomes weaker in the frontal and side areas of the scalp. It is lostly seen in women during menopause.

Other types of baldness that deserve to be named are trichotillomania, a nervous disorder where the person removes the hair by strands; traumatic alopecia, which is caused by really tense hairstyles; baldness by fungus which cause inffections; and folliculitis, where the hair follicles get so swollen they are destroyed and the hair cannot grow back.

Just like some types of alopecia can be cured with treatments if they are diagnosed in time, or even preventing the causes shown before, many times the only solution lays in hair grafs in Houston, solution that guarantees betterment even in the most drastic cases. A person who decides to undergo this microsurgical operation will go to the surgeon with the correct diagnosis, so that he can begin the procedure.

What are the techniques used for hair grafts in Houston

Just like there are many existing types of alopecia, which distinguish themseves feom one another in their appareance and characteristics, there are more than one technique for hair grafts in Houston. In general, this operation requires a minimal intervention and minor scars, exchanging the hair follicles that do not show growth, with those in the donor zone that still allow the hair to grow naturally. The existing technique that can be offered are:

• FUT Technique: It carries the name of strand technoque, as it starts by making an incision in the donor zone, which, in most cases, is the nape of the neck or back part of the head. Through this incision, a strand is extracted from the scalp, which holds the follicular units to be used. Once taken out, the wound is stitched and the surgeon will proceed to divide each one into the unirs, these holding one or two hairs. Like this, the insertion in the receptor zone is easier, placing the hairs wherever necessary, resulting in more density and erasing of patches, leaving only an almost invisible and not uncomfortable scar.
• FUE Technique: FUE meaning Follicular Unit Extraction,, it can be distinguised from the FUT technique because the separation of the units does not pccue, as these are extracted from the beginning one by one, and not as a group as it happens in the strand technique. Likewise, as they are extracted with tiny incisions, they are inserted in the receptor zone. Another characteristic of the FUE technique is that the area must be shaved before starting the procedure, but it does not leave any visible scar.
• DHI technique: This technique involves, as it’s name indicates, a Direct Hair Implantation. This means that the follicles, just like in the FUE technique, are extracted one by one. It is characterized by the use of an Implanter, machine that resembles a pen, which makes a group of incisions for the hair grafts to be inserted. With this technique more control is guaranteed in the position of the follicular units, and also the direction and angle desired, mentioning also that the grafts are rapidly inserted and do not spend much time outside of the scalp, which allows them to hold more strenght and resistence from the beginning. Another difference between the DHI and the FUE techniques is that with this one it is not necessary to shave the zone.

It depends on the surgeon and their research on the person’s health and specific case to decide which technique is more beneficial, selecting the one that involves a better result at the end of he operation.

Who can participate in a hair graft in Houston

Knowing that alopecia is a common affliction in the country, the people that can benefit from hair grafts in Houston might be many. However, it is important that they meet the requirements to be able to participate in one, both men and women. This is known as an ideal profile for a patient, and can involve the next points:

1. Any possible patient must suffer from any type of alopecia or have hair loss in any bodypart they wish to treat.
2. The patient cannot have a different option from hair grafts, like creams or lorions, that can solve the problem without a transplant. To this we can also add the eliminarion of the cause, like stress or poor nutrition, before considering micro grafts, because if the origen of the alopecia is not solved, hair loss may continue even after tje transplant.
3. Even if it is not a mandatory requirement, it is recommended that the patient falls in the ideal age range, between 25 and 45 years old, in a way that the alopecia is defined enough, which usually does not occur in younger people, and is enough to reach the desired density, which might be difficult in older patients. In both, being too young or too old, the patient may end up needing another intervention later on in their lives.
4. The patient’s health must be optimal for the surgery and postoperative stage, this means that they cannot have heart diseases or diabeter or similar conditions, as the first one can cause complications with the anestesia, and the second can cause more bleeding that it should, even if the bleeding is already in a minor scale, the surgery still involves it. This is why the person must be healthy for them to not affect the hair grafts in Houston, during or after it.

Gathering these characteristics, the ideal profile for a patient is a man with an average age of 30 years old, with alopecia in any part of their body, whose best or only option is hair grafts, and that does not suffer from any disease that can harm the procedure. Like this, if the patient falls into the profile or close to it, they can continue with the procedure, arriving to the preoperative stage.

Before hair grafts in Houston

Once its determined that the patient can continue, the preoperative  stage starts, where the preparations for the surgery are just as important as The cares during and after it, as it will determine the person’s health when getting the hair grafts in Houston, and their capacity of dealing with the invervention. The preoperative process starts with a series of examinations and hair evaluations, of which we can name:

• Tricoscopy: An essential part for the diagnosis of alopecia, it is the analysis of the hair under a device that allows the surgeon to obtain the information they need about the state of the scalp. There is no previous preparation needed, and it is done with the hair dry and the device directly in the head, or using a gel or special liquid to aid the analysis.
• Trichogram: It represents another way to analyse the patient’s hair. This time, it will be necessary to take a sample, unlike the tricoscopy where there is no need to take a strand of hair. With this strand, the specialist will place it under a microscope, paying attention to the shape and integrity of it. Sometimes it is only required to cut the hair, and other times, the root of the hair have to be examined as well, the dtrand has to be removed carefully.

Besides these, the surgeon can also request a blood analysis to control the levels of glucose, sodium, potasium, hepatitis test, AIDS and, in general, the bleeding that can occur during the surgery; and the clinical history of the patient, because their family background is an important factor in the appearance of alopecia.

It is required that the patient adjusts their daily habits before hair grafts in Houston, like quit smoking if the patient is a smoker, stop consuming alcohol or drinks with cafein or nicotine, and consulting the consumption or suspension of medicine. They must also avoid applying hair products like gel or sprays, or topic solutions like Minoxidil, as they might cause severe bleeding. It is recommended that the patient does not get involve in exercises like cardio, but they should massage the area where the transplant will occur, with horizontal and vertical movements to stimulate the zone and make sure the scalp is in good condition without any kind of alteration, as this may cause the suspension of the surgery.

The day of the operation the patient must be in fasting, without consuming any type of food or drink, and their last meal must have been light and easy to digest.

After hair drafts in Houston

One the transplant is over, the area will be bandage and the patient usually will be able to go home that same day, starting the post-operatice stage, where the evolution of the hair grafts in Ottawa will be observed to make sure it bas a satisfactory result. On the second day the pacient will have to return for a revision, where the bandages will be removed and the hair washed in a way that stimulates the hair follicles and these adapt to their new positions. After that, the pacient still will not be able to participate in exercise, or take medicines like aspirines. Consuming alcoholic drinks is also prohibited. It is recomended that they keep their head elevated and do not touch the intervened area. Before reaching the two week mark it is important that the area does not come in contact with the sun, and before the first month after the hair transplant haircuts are not allowed.

Risks of hair grafts in Houston

This surgery is of low risk in comparison with other surgeries, but just like these it has a few possible complications, even though they are of low severity. Among these risks are:

• Bad scarring: Specially likely in patients that are smokers, the scar that is made by extracting the donor area may look more visible and inflamed than it should, having in mind that the scar from a hair transplant is almost invisible.
• Infections: Because of this incision in the scalp, there is a small chance that this might get infected and must get treated immediately, hindering the postoperative. The probability of this happening increases if the patient does not maintain a good hygiene.
• Loss of sensitivity: Due to the fact that in this procedure the nerves of the scarring zone are involved, it can lead to a total loss of sensitivity in this part of the head, although it is very uncommon, as te majority of times it is temporary and the sensitivity will return after a couple of weeks.
• Facial edema: The least common out of all the risks mentioned, it represents four or five percent of all cases, being a swollen face due to the leak of physiological serum used to diminish the bleeding. It is not permanent and would probably disappear after a couple of days.

Important points about hair graft in Houston

• Hair graft surgery is a simple operation with low risks and easy to recover from. However, some factors can occur that complicate it. Like this, we can name the fact that there are people that suffer from complete baldness, meaning the area is completely be, and it does not have a donor zone, which can be solved by taking follicular units from a different bodypart, be it the arms, chest and even the pubic area.
• Straight hair can be beneficial in some cases, like it is when using the DHI technique, where they can be inserted easier. Even with this, curly hair gives a better result, specially if besides curly it is dark and thick, which gives the impression of more density than light and thin hair.
• There is no possibility that the hair falls again after a successful hair graft in Houston, due to the hair follicles are replaced, and instead of them there are new ones that will grow permanently and will be more resistent to the hormones that promote it’s fall.