Body Hair Transplant for Bald Men
Men loose hair for various reasons. The most common reason for men’s baldness is called as “Alopecia Androgenetica” commonly known as “Male Pattern Baldness”. In this disease the hair are lost from the front and top of the scalp (skin of the head) due to genetics of the family. So men with bald fathers, paternal uncles or maternal balding uncles are more prone to get this kind of hair loss. A few medications can slow, halt or reverse this hair loss to some extent. If these medications fail, or if the hair loss is already advanced to a completely bald head, then the remaining hair from the sides and back can be taken out and transplanted on the balding or bald area where they start growing again.
The question is why do even the baldest men still retain some hair on the sides and the back of the head. The answer lies in the fact that genetically these hair are protected from the damaging effect of testosterone (a hormone made by testicles in men). When this hormone circulates in the blood, it sends signals to the genetically vulnerable hair on the top of scalp of balding men to stop growing but the hair on the sides and back are genetically spared. This is why when some of these hair from the back are taken out surgically and transferred to the bald top of the head, they still grow. On the other hand, if the hair from the genetically prone balding top of the head are take out and transferred to the back of the head – they will still fall out at a certain age just like their counterparts on the top and front scalp will do. So in other words, it is not the location, it is the genetic signal that keeps the hair growing.
The problem occurs when a balding man does not have enough hair on the back and sides of the scalp to spare for the hair transplantation. In such circumstances, a relatively new technique called as “Body Hair transplant” is performed. In this technique, the hair from the body areas like chest and back are take out and transplanted on the balding front of the scalp. This technique could prove to be a blessing for those who are otherwise not a good candidate for hair transplant because of a lack of density in the donor area – I.e., the area from where the healthy hair from the back of the scalp are usually taken to be transferred to the bald frontal scalp. The main disadvantage of the body hair transplant remains the slow growth rate of these hair as well as somewhat different texture and limited supply from a certain area. For example the number of hair that can be extracted from a normal healthy donor area of the scalp in one centimeter may need a few inched of the body to match the same number of hair as the hair are much sparser on the body. The good news is that most bald men usually have denser body hair and thus make a reasonable choice for this advanced hair transplant technique.
