Fill Up Hair Grafting (Hair Loss in Woman)

Overview

If your hair part is widening, you have bald areas, or you're shedding more than 125 hairs each day, you may be having hair loss and should consult a dermatologist. There are various forms of hair loss and several reasons. Although there is nothing you can do to avoid hair loss, you may respond to therapy if you see a dermatologist as soon as possible or you may need hair grafting.

Fill Up Hair Grafting is a form of surgery that uses existing hair to fill up areas where there is weak or no hair. Doctors have been doing these transplants in the United States since the 1950s, although procedures have evolved significantly in recent years.

The operation is normally performed in the doctor's office. First, the surgeon cleans your scalp and injects medication into your back of your skull to numb it. Your doctor will select one of two transplant methods: follicular unit strip surgery (FUSS) or follicular unit extraction (FUE).

The surgeon uses FUSS to remove a 6- to 10-inch piece of skin from the back of your skull. They put it away and stitch the scalp together. This place is quickly concealed by the hair that surrounds it.

 

What’s Hair Loss in Women?

Hair loss in women is simply when a woman has sudden, excessive hair loss. Humans lose between 50 and 100 single hairs every day on average. Hair shedding is a normal process in which some hairs fall out while others grow in. Hair loss occurs when the balance is disrupted – when hair falls out and less hair grows in. Hair loss is different than hair shedding. Alopecia is the medical word for hair loss.

Hair grows on almost all of your skin surfaces — not the palms of your hands, soles of your feet, lips or eyelids. Light, fine, short hair is called vellus hair. Terminal/androgenic hair is thicker, darker and longer.

 

What are the Cycles of Hair Growth?

Hair goes through three cycles:

• The anagen phase (growing phase) can last from two years to eight years. This phase generally refers to about 85% to 90% of the hair on your head.
• The catagen phase (transition phase) is the time that hair follicles shrink and takes about two to three weeks.
• The telogen phase (resting phase) takes about two to four months. At the end of this phase, the hair falls out.

Your shorter hairs like eyelashes, arm and leg hair and eyebrows have a short anagen phase — about one month. Your scalp hair can last up to six years or even longer.

 

What Causes Hair Loss in Woman?

1. Hereditary hair loss
   This form of hair loss affects both men and women and is the most frequent cause of hair loss globally. Male pattern hair loss is a term used to describe hair loss in males. Female pattern hair loss affects women. Androgenic alopecia is the medical name for hair loss that occurs in either males or women.
   
   Whatever word you choose, it implies that you have genes that drive the hair follicles—the sacs from which each hair emerges—in your scalp to contract and finally cease developing hair. Shrinking can occur as early as your adolescence, although it is more common later in life.
   
   The earliest visible indication of genetic hair loss in women is generally overall thinning or a widening portion.
   
   
2. Age
   Most people experience some hair loss as they become older because hair growth slows. Hair follicles eventually cease producing hair, causing the hair on our scalp to diminish. Hair begins to lose color as well. The hairline of a lady gradually recedes.
   
   
3. Alopecia areata
   Alopecia areata is a disease that develops when the body’s immune system attacks hair follicles (what holds the hair in place), causing hair loss. You can lose hair anywhere on your body, including your scalp, inside your nose, and in your ears. Some people lose their eyelashes or eyebrows.
   
   
4. Cancer treatment
   If you receive chemotherapy or have radiation treatment to your head or neck, you may lose all (or most of) your hair within a few weeks of starting treatment.
   
   
5. Childbirth, illness, or other stressors
   You may notice a lot more hairs in your brush or on your pillow a few months after giving birth, recovering from an illness, or having surgery. This can also occur following a traumatic event in your life, such as a divorce or the loss of a loved one.
   
   
6. Hormonal imbalance
   Polycystic ovarian syndrome is a typical cause of this imbalance (PCOS). It causes cysts on a woman's ovaries, as well as other signs and symptoms such as hair loss. Stopping certain birth control tablets might result in a temporary hormonal imbalance. Women who experience a hormonal imbalance may experience thinning (or hair loss) on their scalp.
   
   
7. Scalp infection
   A scalp infection can lead to scaly and sometimes inflamed areas on your scalp. You may see what look like small black dots on your scalp. These are actually stubs of hair. Some people develop a bald spot.
   
   
8. Medication
   Hair loss is a potential adverse effect of various drugs. If you suspect a medicine is causing your hair loss, check with the doctor who provided it to see if hair loss is a side effect. It is critical that you do not discontinue the medicine before consulting with your doctor. Stopping certain drugs abruptly might result in significant health concerns.
   
   
9. Pulling your hair
   Some people pull on their hair, often to relieve stress. They may be unaware that they’re pulling their hair. The medical term for this is trichotillomania.
   
   
10. Scarring alopecia
    This condition develops when inflammation destroys hair follicles. Once destroyed, a hair follicle cannot grow hair. Diverse conditions can cause this. The medical name for this group of conditions is cicatricial alopecia.
    
    
11. Sexually transmitted infection
    A sexually transmitted infection (STI) can cause hair loss if left untreated. Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection. Syphilis, if left untreated, can cause patchy hair loss on the scalp, brows, beard, and other areas. Hair loss can also be caused by other STIs.
    
    

What are the Types of Hair Loss?

There are three: anagen effluvium, telogen effluvium and female pattern hair loss (FPHL).

• Anagen effluvium: This is caused by medications that poison a growing hair follicle (like chemotherapy).
• Telogen effluvium: This is caused by an increased number of hair follicles reaching the telogen phase, which is the stage where hair falls out.
• Androgenetic alopecia/female pattern alopecia/female pattern hair loss (FPHL)/baldness: This type is the most common. Hair thins over the top of the head and on the sides.

 

Which Women are likely to Experience Hair Loss?

Any girl or woman can be affected by hair loss. However, it is usually more common in:

• Women older than 40.
• Women who have just had babies.
• Women who have had chemotherapy and those who have been affected by other medications.
• Women who often have hairstyles that pull on the hair (like tight ponytails or tight braids) or use harsh chemicals on their hair.
• Menopausal women.

 

Myths About Hair Loss

There are several myths about hair loss. The following points are false:

• You're losing hair because you shampoo it too frequently, or because you've dyed or permed it.
• In women, dandruff causes irreversible hair loss.
• In women, stress causes lifelong hair loss.
• Shaving your head causes your hair to come back twice as thick.
• Sitting on your head stimulates hair growth by increasing circulation.
• Brushing your hair 100 strokes each day will make it healthier.
• Women's hair loss is caused by hats and wigs.
• Only intellectual women suffer from hair loss.

 

Relationship Between Hair Loss in Women & Menopause

You may notice one of two things with your hair during menopause. You may begin to grow hair where you previously did not. Alternatively, you may notice that your hair begins to thin. Changes in hormone levels during menopause could be one cause. When estrogen and progesterone levels decline, the effects of androgens, or male hormones, rise.

Hair may become finer (thinner) during and after menopause when hair follicles diminish. In some circumstances, hair grows more slowly and falls out more easily.

Your healthcare provider will do a thorough examination and take a detailed history to help you deal with changes in hair growth. You may be directed to have your iron levels or thyroid hormone levels tested. Your medications might be changed if what you take is found to affect hair loss or growth.

 

Signs of Hair Loss in Women

Seeing more hair fall out daily either on your brush, on the floor, in showers, on your pillows, or in the sink.

• Seeing noticeable patches of thinner or missing hair, including a part on the top of your head that gets wider.
• Seeing scalp skin through hair
• Having smaller ponytails.
• Seeing hair break off.

 

What Tests are Done Before Fill Up Hair Grafting?

The tests performed to diagnose hair loss in women can be simple or complicated:

• Gently pulling on your hair to see how many hairs come out.
• Blood tests. These check for vitamin and mineral levels (like vitamin D, vitamin B, zinc and iron) and hormone levels (including thyroid and sex hormones).
• Scalp examination under a microscope and trichoscopy.
• Scalp biopsy to remove and examine a very small piece of scalp skin.

 

Can Medical Treatment Help?

The treatment you receive is determined by the cause of your hair loss.

• When the loss is caused by stress or hormonal changes, such as pregnancy, there may be no need for therapy. After a while, the hair loss will halt.
• Treatment for hair loss caused by hair style methods such as tight braids, ponytails, or certain chemicals entails refraining from performing the activities that caused the harm.
• You may be advised to take supplements if you have dietary deficits. For example, you may be advised to take a multivitamin and three to five milligrams of biotin on a regular basis.
• Minoxidil (Rogaine®) is an FDA-approved treatment for FPHL. The 2% or 5% solution is available in shops. However, you must strictly adhere to the directions and utilize the product indefinitely. If you are pregnant, want to become pregnant, or are breastfeeding, do not use this product.
• The HairMax Lasercomb® low light laser is FDA-approved for the treatment of FPHL. Theradome LH80 PRO® helmet and low light laser helmets and caps are also FDA-approved laser products.

Other medications that have been studied, but not approved, for hair loss in women include:

• Spironolactone and other anti-androgens.
• Finasteride and other alpha-reductase enzyme inhibitors.
• Estrogens.
• Prostaglandin analogs.
• Steroids.
• Other light treatments.

It is important to note that premenopausal women should not take medications for hair loss treatment without using contraception. Many drugs, including minoxidil and finasteride, are not safe for pregnant women or women who want to get pregnant.

 

Things to Consider Before Having Fill Up Hair Grafting Procedure

Some essential considerations before deciding on fill up hair grafting surgery include:

• It is critical to have realistic goals. If you don't have much hair to begin with, a transplant will not provide you with a full head of hair. The thicker and dense your remaining hair, the better the effects.
• In general, thick hair that is light colored or grey produces better results than thin hair that is dark colored.
• It might take up to nine months after hair grafting for the hair to take root and begin to fill in.
• Consider the cost. Cosmetic surgery is often not qualified for Medicare or private health insurance company rebates. Hair grafting surgery, on the other hand, is considered a reconstructive procedure and may be reimbursed by health insurance if the hair loss was caused by burns or trauma. Inquire with your surgeon about any out-of-pocket expenses you may pay.
• Smokers are at increased risk of complications from surgery. If you are serious about undergoing surgery, you should try to quit smoking.
• There may be a need for continuing medical treatment after hair transplant surgery.

 

Before Fill Up Hair Grafting

Discuss the following medical problems with your doctor or surgeon before the operation:

1. Physical health - an examination will help your doctor or surgeon decide if the procedure is suitable. Medical history - some pre-existing diseases and surgery you have had in the past may impact decisions regarding this operation, including the type of anaesthesia used.
2. Hair examination - covers your hair growth pattern, the level of your hair loss, the hair loss history in your family, and any past surgical or medicinal treatments for hair loss you may have had.
3. Hazards and potential consequences - it is critical that you understand the risks and complications so that you can decide whether a hair transplant is good for you.
4. Medications – tell your surgeon about any medication that you take on a regular basis or have recently taken, including over-the-counter preparations such as fish oils and vitamin supplements
5. Past reactions to medication – tell your surgeon if you have ever had a bad reaction or a side effect from any medication, including anaesthesia
6. Preparation for surgery – your surgeon will give you detailed instructions about what you should do at home to prepare for surgery. For example, you may be advised to take a particular medication or alter the dose of an existing one. Follow all instructions carefully.

 

Fill Up Hair Grafting Procedure

Various methods of transplant surgery are available. Your surgeon will choose the surgery most appropriate for you, based on your own circumstances.

Hair Transplant Graft

Hair transplant grafts are often placed under local anaesthesia. Depending on the amount of hairs transplanted, each therapy session might last anywhere from two to eight hours.

In most cases, 1,000 to 2,000 hair follicles are transplanted in a single session, although bigger regions of hair loss may necessitate up to 4,000 follicles in each session. A session can last many hours, and many patients choose for two or three sessions.

The operation generally includes:

• To make it easier to manage, the hair on the 'donor' portion of the scalp is clipped short.
• The surgeon anaesthetizes the region of the head where the hair grows profusely.
• The surgeon cuts tiny chunks of hair-bearing scalp and transplants them to the targeted spot (usually the front of the scalp above the forehead).
• Various devices may be used to collect the donor skin. A round tube (punch) or a scalpel, for example, can be utilized. Depending on the size of the tube, a single punch graft may harvest 2 to 15 hairs. A slit graft may have 4 to 10 hairs, but a strip graft may have up to 40 hairs.
  

 

Flap Surgery

If the hair transplant is extensive, flap surgery is utilized (for example, requires large tissue flaps instead of small grafts). This sort of hair loss surgery may necessitate a hospital stay, as well as general anaesthetic.

• The surgeon inserts balloon-like devices (called tissue expanders) under the skin of a hair-bearing area of the scalp during flap surgery. Over the course of many weeks, the tissue expanders are inflated with increasing amounts of saline. This encourages the area to grow more skin cells.
• The scalp has generated enough additional skin for the transplant operation after around two months.
• The bald section of scalp is cut and removed. The newly grown area of hair-bearing skin is partly cut away, moved to its new location and stitched into place. Since the flap is never fully severed from the scalp, it should retain a good blood supply.

 

Scalp Reduction Surgery

Scalp reduction surgery is suitable to treat bald areas on the back and top of the scalp, not towards the front of the scalp. The surgery includes:

• Local anaesthesia is administered to the scalp.
• The surgeon cuts out a strip of bald skin in a U or Y shape.
• The scalp is loosened and the incisions are brought together and stitched.

 

What Recovery Looks Like?

Your scalp may be quite tender after surgery. You may need to take prescription painkillers for a few days. Your surgeon will have you wear bandages over your scalp for at least a day or two. They may also give you an antibiotic or an anti-inflammatory medication to take for a few days. Most patients are able to return to work within 2 to 5 days of the procedure.

The transplanted hair will fall out after 2 to 3 weeks of surgery, but you should observe new growth within a few months. After 6 to 9 months, most people will notice 60% new hair growth. Some surgeons prescribe the hair-growing drug minoxidil (Rogaine) to improve hair growth after transplantation, but it’s not clear how well it works.

 

Self-care After Fill Up Hair Grafting Surgery

Be guided by your surgeon. General self-care suggestions include:

• Follow all wound-care guidelines.
• Exercise or any vigorous activity that raises your blood pressure might cause your wounds to bleed. Your surgeon may advise you to avoid intercourse for 10 days.
• Report any bleeding, severe pain, or strange symptoms to your surgeon.

 

Costs of Fill Up Hair Grafting

The price of a hair transplant will depend largely on the amount of hair you’re moving, but it generally ranges from $4,000 to $15,000. Most insurance plans don’t cover it.

 

Complications of Fill Up Hair Grafting Surgery

Every procedure involves some level of risk. Some of the risks associated with hair grafting surgery include:

• Risks of general anaesthesia, including allergic reaction, which may (rarely) be fatal.
• Surgical risks such as bleeding or infection.
• Scars that may be severe, raised, reddened and itchy.
• Nerve damage, including permanent loss of sensation.
• Death of the skin grafts.
• Tissue death along the wound.
• Further surgery to treat complications.

This is not a complete list. Your medical history, for example, or your way of living may place you at a higher risk of certain issues. For further information, consult with your surgeon.

 

Long-term Outlook

Most hair transplants are successful, although it can take up to nine months before the hair takes root and begins to fill in. It is fairly unusual for transplanted hair to fall out and then regrow after a few months.

Because the hair is transplanted in the direction in which the hair would typically grow in that spot, it should seem natural once it begins to regenerate.

Most scars will be hidden by hair and will be difficult to see. Any apparent scars will be permanent but will diminish over time. Be patient; scar improvement may take a year or more.

To improve the appearance of your hair transplant, you will almost probably require 'touch up' surgery.

 

Conclusion

Fill Up Hair Grafting surgery is a therapy for hair loss. There are several procedures available, but all hair transplants entail grafting hair-bearing skin from one portion of the scalp onto bald or thinning parts of the scalp or sites of damage.

Hair loss can be caused by typical male pattern baldness (also known as androgenetic alopecia), scalp inflammation, or scalp damage. Hair transplantation can mask persistent regions of hair loss caused by burns, scalds, surgeries, or car accidents.

Certain inflammatory diseases, such as lichen planus, lupus, or morphea, can also cause permanent hair loss that is ideal for transplantation.

If you are concerned about the way you look or are thinking about cosmetic treatments to boost your confidence, there are alternatives. These include prescription medication, over-the-counter minoxidil lotion or accepting yourself the way you are.