Hair Loss

Overview

With the micrograft technique, a few hairs are transplanted at a time to give a more natural hairline.

Mayo Clinic Dermatology specialists treat all causes of alopecia, the medical term for hair loss.

Treatment Options

Medications

The appropriate treatment depends on the initial cause of alopecia. If hair breakage is the problem, altering hair care practices often helps. Other forms of hair loss may require treatment with medications applied topically to the scalp, local injections of a corticosteroid or systemic medications.

Surgery

Surgery can correct some types of alopecia. The most common surgical treatment is hair transplantation, which transfers grafts of skin and hair from the back of the scalp, where hair growth is full, to areas of baldness or thinning.

Micrografts and minigrafts are a new modification. As few as one or two hairs are transplanted with each graft (the total number of transplanted grafts depends on the size of the bald area, but can total up to 1,000). This technique provides a more natural hairline but requires more grafts.

Scalp reduction involves removing areas of bald scalp to bring existing areas of hair growth closer together. Sometimes the skin of the scalp is too tight for this. In these cases, tissue expansion is necessary.

Some advertised procedures, including fiber implants and tunnel grafts, are not safe and have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Planning Surgery
Hair transplantation and scalp-reduction procedures are performed on an outpatient basis. Medications are given to help you relax. Hospitalization is not necessary.

The number of hair transplant sessions or scalp reductions required depends on the amount of hair loss. It will take six to eight months before the quality of the new hair can be properly evaluated to see if additional procedures are needed.

• Treatment in Arizona
• Treatment in Minnesota

About Hair Loss

Androgenetic alopecia, a heredity condition, is the most common cause of hair loss in both men and women. The trait can be inherited from either the mother's or father's side of the family. Men with this condition may progress to baldness. In contrast, women with this inherited tendency develop thinning of the hair but usually do not become bald. This form of hereditary hair loss usually starts in the late teens, 20s or 30s but is often not noticed until midlife.

Telogen effluvium, a shedding form of hair loss can be a side effect of many medical conditions, including high fever, severe infection, iron deficiency and thyroid disease. Women commonly shed hair after childbirth. Rapid weight loss, major surgery and certain medications can also cause telogen effluvium.

Other types of hair loss may result from:

• Fungal infection (ringworm of the scalp)
• Severe dandruff
• Alopecia areata (a patchy, reversible loss of hair caused by inflammation)
• Chemotherapy or radiation treatment for cancer

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