Hair loss can be particularly devastating to women. Whilst male hair loss is seen as inevitable for a large proportion of men in the community, female hair loss is far less common and therefore less culturally acceptable, which only adds to the stigma for those experiencing it. In many cases the damage to a woman’s self-confidence can affect her whole quality of life.
As a general rule female hair loss is quite different to male hair loss. Females experience a thinning out of mid scalp and crown hair and usually retain their frontal hairline. Due to the different hair loss pattern and reproductive concerns, treatments suitable for men are not always safe and effective for women.
With this in mind, improvements in hair transplantation techniques have meant that we can now reassess female patients who in the past would have been rejected as unsuitable for the procedure.
The new techniques have allowed us to :
- Thicken thinning areas while avoiding damage to or removal of existing hair follicles.
- Utilise the dense packing procedure to achieve a relatively high density in treated areas.
- Minimise scarring in both donor and recipient sites.
The National Hair Institute has treated and advised women with hair loss for many years and in some cases hair transplantation may not be the best treatment option. A consultation with our doctor will allow him to assess your current status, seek pathology tests and advise you of a treatment program that takes into account your current and future hair loss.
The recent introduction of the Medicare Safety Net entitles female hair loss sufferers to a rebate of approximately 80% of the cost of a procedure after reaching your threshold.
So if you thought a procedure was the best option for you, but found the cost to be beyond your means, these changes may benefit you.
I’ve had thin hair since my teens and always hated it. I’d spend hours styling it, contriving a thicker look. Then, about a year ago, I read the National Hair Institute’s advertisement for hair transplants and saw them about such a procedure for me.
I felt confident about going ahead with a transplant because of their professional and caring approach, and now I’m very happy with my thicker, normallooking hair. The transplant is growing longer and stronger and blends in naturally as though it was always there. It is a great confidence booster and I couldn’t be more pleased with the result.
Hair loss is caused by a combination of hormones and "balding" genes.
The good news is that even people who are balding have a supply of non-balding hair that can be successfully transplanted to the balding or thinning areas.
It is quite normal to lose some hair every day. A person's head has tens of thousands of hairs, and the average person loses about 100 hairs a day. This is known as "hair fall".
However, hair loss is quite a different thing. It is often called “male pattern baldness”, as it generally affects men, and it is caused by the male hormone, testosterone. When testosterone is changed chemically, by an enzyme in the skin (5-alpha reductase), it becomes a more potent hormone, known as dihydro-testosterone (or DHT).
Now we come to an important distinction : DHT acting alone does not cause hair loss. Hair loss occurs only when DHT comes into contact with hairs that are genetically programmed to suffer under its influence.
This means that hair loss arises from a combination of two factors: the hormone DHT, plus the fact that you have inherited genes that cause your hair to be sensitive to DHT.
The good news is that this genetic disposition to hair loss generally affects only certain parts of the scalp, typically the top of the head and the crown.
This is why balding people usually have the horseshoe-shaped fringe of hair surrounding the bald area.
These hairs in the fringe, and notably at the back of the head, are not genetically sensitive to DHT. This explains why hair transplantation which transfers non-balding hairs (ie. those that are not genetically sensitive to DHT) to bald areas, is so successful. Even in the new areas of the scalp, which were previously bald, these hairs retain their non-balding qualities.
This all means that hair transplantation provides a lasting solution. |
