There are 150,000 hairs on the human head and most guys want to keep them right where they are. Trouble is many of them can't. Male pattern baldness affects 40 million men in the U.S. and a quarter of them start going bald by age 30. Now there's a new way to regrow what's gone.
It's a cold hard fact, most men will lose what they have up there.
But what is reality when it comes to hair loss? Is baldness inherited from the mother's side? The fact is it can be inherited from either side.
Contrary to popular belief, hats do not stop the flow of air and blood to the hair follicles.
Plastic surgeon Ken Williams not only sees five to ten patients a day who want to get their hair back; he didn't like what was happening to his own head.
"My kids were making fun of me, my wife was making fun of me," said Dr. Williams.
Dr. Williams had a hair transplant with this new NeoGraft machine.
"I was surprised at how much it didn't hurt," Dr. Williams added.
He had 4,500 hair graphs taken from the back of his head.
"With this device, we're able to suck out the hair and put it into cold storage," explained Dr. Williams.
Then piece by piece-the follicle is reinserted into the scalp.
Joe Guzman didn't have enough hair in the back of his head for a transplant, so Dr. Williams took the grafts from his chest.
"I think it gives you more confidence," Joe said.
This is Joe's second go-around. The first time, he had a traditional transplant that took a strip of his scalp and transplanted that into the bald spot leaving behind a scar.
"So now what you have in the back of the head, are little dots, instead of a scar, and those dots are spaced out and they heal within a few days," said Dr. Barry DeBernardo, a plastic surgeon at New Jersey
Dr. Debernado used the new follicular unit grafting for James Halloway.
"My hair line is a quarter of an inch lower and my peaks are not as void of hair," said James.
For three months, the transplants were in a resting phase. Then by month four, the hairs started to grow.
"I felt good about it, and that's what matters," Halloway said.
NeoGrafts cost about $16,000 for 1,500 follicle transplants compared to $10,000 for the traditional strip procedure. But there is less recovery time and no scarring. And it works for women, just as well as men.
RESEARCH SUMMARY
BACKGROUND: Male pattern baldness is the most common type of hair loss in men. It usually follows a typical pattern of receding hairline and hair thinning on the crown of the head. Hair grows about an inch every couple of months. Each hair grows for 2 to 6 years, remains at that length for a short period, and then falls out. A new hair soon begins growing in its place. At any one time, about 85 percent of the hair on your head is in the growing phase and 15 percent is not. Each hair sits in a cavity in the skin called a follicle. Baldness in men occurs when the follicle shrinks over time, resulting in shorter and finer hair. The end result is a very small follicle with no hair inside. Usually, hair should grow back. However, in men who are balding, the follicle fails to grow a new hair. Why this occurs is not well understood, but it is related to your genes and male sex hormones. (SOURCE: www.nlm.nih.gov)
TYPICAL TREATMENT: Treatment for baldness is not necessary if you are comfortable with your appearance. Hair weaving, hairpieces, or change of hairstyle may disguise the hair loss. This is usually the least expensive and safest approach for baldness. There are two main drugs used to treat male pattern baldness. Minoxidil (Rogaine), is a solution that you apply directly to the scalp to stimulate the hair follicles. Also, there's Finasteride (Propecia, Proscar), a prescription pill that inhibits the production of the male hormone dihydrotestosterone. (SOURCE: www.nlm.nih.gov)
NEOGRAFT MACHINE: The NeoGraft system is the first and only minimally invasive FDA approved automated hair transplant system. The system harvests, collects, and implants individual follicular grafts using one platform. NeoGraft introduced the newest method of hair transplantation, Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE). This method is known to be a very safe, non-invasive, relatively minor procedure. A FUE hair transplant with NeoGraft can be done in the same amount of time as a "strip" hair transplant. With FUE, each graft from the back of the head, known as the donor area, is harvested individually and is placed in the thinning or balding areas on the top of the head. The hair at the back of the head is genetically programmed not to fallout. (SOURCE: neograft.com)
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Gary Grasso/ Media Relations
(323) 963 - 8880
ggrasso@doctorsp
