Strip Method of Hair Transplant
Hair Transplant is a minor but refined surgery used to replace the lost hair on scalp, eyebrows, beard or on any other part of the body where the hair are permanently lost, in men and women.
Since genetic hair loss or 'Male Pattern Baldness' - also known as "Alopecia Androgenetica" - pronounced as "Alo-pee-shia An-dro-gene-ti-ca" is the most common form of baldness in men, with no medical remedy to completely reverse it at a later stage - hair transplant stays the treatment of choice.
In many cases, however, medical treatment with topical and oral medications can be implemented if the baldness is in its early stages.
For example in a young boy in his 20's with early genetic baldness and a very strong history of genetic baldness in parents, a medication known as finesteride can be an effective therapy.
Also, another medication known as Minoxidil when used topically in a concentration of 2% -5% twice daily on the balding area of scalp can significantly reduce the hair loss.
When none of these medications work and the patient is already having a significant hair loss in which the reversal is deemed to be impossible with medications alone, hair transplant is the best option.
Simply described, hair transplant is a surgery in which hair are taken out from the normal scalp on the back of the head - the area which never grows completely bald in most men as the hair in this particular area are resistant to the damaging effects of the testosterone hormone responsible for the genetic hair loss.
This is known for quite some time after years of research that the hairs in this area stay healthy and do not fall even if they are transferred to another area of scalp which is susceptible to baldness in genetic hair loss.
So the healthy non-falling hair do not care about their location and stay in place as their genetic material makes them resistant to hair fall.
In hair transplant surgery, these resilient hairs are taken out and are planted in the bald or balding area on the front of the head (scalp) where genetic baldness typically damages hair.
The question arises as to how should the hair be take out from the back of the head called as 'donor area' as this area donates the hair to be transplant onto the bald area.
One of the best known, evaluated and practiced methods of taking the hair out from donor area is called as "strip method".
In this method a strip of about 1-2 cm width and 20-25 cm length is incised and taken out from the donor area from the back of the head.
Obviously the whole skin along with its hair is surgically incised taking care of the roots of the hair not to get damaged.
Since the strip is taken out in a surgical suite with all the surgical facilities like surgical lighting, well positioned and visible surgical field with magnification glasses to help aid the surgeon to avoid trauma to the hair root (hair follicles in general), the likelihood of cutting across and destroying the hair follicles is extremely small.
And this is the beauty and the major advantage of the strip method over any other technique like 'follicular unit extraction' (FUE).
In FUE method of taking the hair out from the donor area, a cookie-cutter looking circular knife known as a 'punch' with a diameter of 1mm or so is inserted around one hair or a group of hair known as 'follicular unit' - blindly, as the surgeon can not see the root of the hair while inserting this very tiny instrument into the scalp (skin of the head).
The surgeon assumes the direction of the punch knife and the hair shaft is the same and the knife will not cut the hair across.
But this is just the assumption as hair are very soft structures and are not always straight like an iron rod.
Their roots may change direction slightly as they are buried in the skin and thus the chances of cutting them across while taking them out with a tiny knife is much greater.
Fortunately, most of the hair can be taken out without damage using FUE technique but compared to the traditional more established and more practiced technique of strip method of donor harvesting where the damage to the hair is extremely low, FUE stays the second option on the list of most experienced hair transplant surgeons in most cases across the globe.
Since genetic hair loss or 'Male Pattern Baldness' - also known as "Alopecia Androgenetica" - pronounced as "Alo-pee-shia An-dro-gene-ti-ca" is the most common form of baldness in men, with no medical remedy to completely reverse it at a later stage - hair transplant stays the treatment of choice.
In many cases, however, medical treatment with topical and oral medications can be implemented if the baldness is in its early stages.
For example in a young boy in his 20's with early genetic baldness and a very strong history of genetic baldness in parents, a medication known as finesteride can be an effective therapy.
Also, another medication known as Minoxidil when used topically in a concentration of 2% -5% twice daily on the balding area of scalp can significantly reduce the hair loss.
When none of these medications work and the patient is already having a significant hair loss in which the reversal is deemed to be impossible with medications alone, hair transplant is the best option.
Simply described, hair transplant is a surgery in which hair are taken out from the normal scalp on the back of the head - the area which never grows completely bald in most men as the hair in this particular area are resistant to the damaging effects of the testosterone hormone responsible for the genetic hair loss.
This is known for quite some time after years of research that the hairs in this area stay healthy and do not fall even if they are transferred to another area of scalp which is susceptible to baldness in genetic hair loss.
So the healthy non-falling hair do not care about their location and stay in place as their genetic material makes them resistant to hair fall.
In hair transplant surgery, these resilient hairs are taken out and are planted in the bald or balding area on the front of the head (scalp) where genetic baldness typically damages hair.
The question arises as to how should the hair be take out from the back of the head called as 'donor area' as this area donates the hair to be transplant onto the bald area.
One of the best known, evaluated and practiced methods of taking the hair out from donor area is called as "strip method".
In this method a strip of about 1-2 cm width and 20-25 cm length is incised and taken out from the donor area from the back of the head.
Obviously the whole skin along with its hair is surgically incised taking care of the roots of the hair not to get damaged.
Since the strip is taken out in a surgical suite with all the surgical facilities like surgical lighting, well positioned and visible surgical field with magnification glasses to help aid the surgeon to avoid trauma to the hair root (hair follicles in general), the likelihood of cutting across and destroying the hair follicles is extremely small.
And this is the beauty and the major advantage of the strip method over any other technique like 'follicular unit extraction' (FUE).
In FUE method of taking the hair out from the donor area, a cookie-cutter looking circular knife known as a 'punch' with a diameter of 1mm or so is inserted around one hair or a group of hair known as 'follicular unit' - blindly, as the surgeon can not see the root of the hair while inserting this very tiny instrument into the scalp (skin of the head).
The surgeon assumes the direction of the punch knife and the hair shaft is the same and the knife will not cut the hair across.
But this is just the assumption as hair are very soft structures and are not always straight like an iron rod.
Their roots may change direction slightly as they are buried in the skin and thus the chances of cutting them across while taking them out with a tiny knife is much greater.
Fortunately, most of the hair can be taken out without damage using FUE technique but compared to the traditional more established and more practiced technique of strip method of donor harvesting where the damage to the hair is extremely low, FUE stays the second option on the list of most experienced hair transplant surgeons in most cases across the globe.
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