Thinning of hair, hair loss and baldness are quite common these days and many look towards a permanent solution for this ailment. Permanent hair loss can be treated with hair replacement procedures one of which is hair transplantation. Hair transplantation is a cosmetic procedure where a surgeon removes hair follicles or grafts from the back of the head and places them on the bald areas or in areas with scant hair growth.

Hair replacement or hair transplantation procedures utilize your existing hair and are generally successful provided you go to an experienced dermatologist who has the skills to perform the procedure. There are different types of hair transplantation techniques and the suitability of each depends on the individual patient's condition. Basically, there are two methods of removing the grafts for transplantation, namely Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) and Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE).

In Follicular Unit Transplantation, a strip of the scalp from the back of the head is removed and cut into individual grafts used for transplantation. This is an ideal method where large bald areas need to be covered in minimum sittings.

Follicular Unit Extraction involves cutting out each hair graft individually with the help of specialized tools and transplanting it to the areas where there is no hair. Clearly, this is a time consuming process and requires great skill. There are no stitches and hence no scarring with FUE. The patient's recovery is also quicker.

Hair transplantation is done with the help of local anesthesia. Hair Transplants Long Beach will inject a local anesthetic into the scalp to create a recipient site for the grafts with the help of blades and needles. The extracted grafts are then inserted into the prepared sites.

Types of Hair Transplantation Grafts:

• Micro Grafts – These contain just one or at most two hairs. Slits are made into the scalp with the help of a needle or scalpel to receive the micro grafts. Generally, micro grafting is used to create the hairline on the forehead.

• Slit Grafts – These contain four to ten hairs or may be elongated strips containing 30 to 40 hairs. The recipient site is created by making a slit to receive these grafts.

• Punch Grafts – These can hold 10 to 15 hairs and are lifted with forceps from the donor site. 1 to 4mm diameter punch-like holes are made in the balding area to receive these grafts.

Flap Surgery: This is another type of Long Beach Hair Transplants technique that can easily cover large balding areas with just one flap of donor tissue. In flap surgery, a part of the balding scalp is removed and a flap of hair bearing tissue is lifted off with one end still attached and sewn on to the recipient area. Flap surgery hair transplantation technique shows faster results although it is a tricky procedure.