According to a recent study, more than 40 percent of men over 35 have noticeable hair loss, with 65 percent by age 60. If you are curious about whether you have significant hair loss, there are obvious signs:
- You have more hair in the shower drain each morning (and it does not belong to your spouse)
- Your forehead seems to be larger than in the past
- The area around the crown of your head is always sunburned in the summer when you do not wear a hat
For many who suffer from significant hair loss, hair restoration may be an option to give you back a full head of permanent natural hair. Here are five ways to know if hair restoration is right for you.
You are a candidate for hair restoration. If you have suffered from male pattern baldness for either a few weeks or over the course of a year, hair restoration may be the right option for you. The speed at which the pattern baldness develops can be important.
You have a generous supply of donor hair.Typically with male pattern baldness, the hair loss occurs in certain areas while other areas are not affected by hair loss (donor areas). For hair restoration, it is essential to have an ample supply of donor hair from which your physician can take hair to place in balding areas. To give you an idea of the number of hair grafts patients need for hair restoration, 50 percent of patients receiving hair restoration needed at least 1,000 grafts to achieve their desired results while over 40 percent needed at least 2,000 grafts.
You are a man. This is not meant to be sexist, but it is simply a fact. Men make better candidates for hair restoration because of the patterns of their hair loss. Because women’s hair loss does not typically follow a pattern in the same manner as male pattern baldness, women who experience hair loss for over the course of a year should see a doctor.
You have realistic expectations. The results depend on the amount of hair in the donor areas and what you want to achieve as well as the possibility or likelihood that further hair loss following hair restoration may occur (even if you continue taking medication to prevent it). That is why it is important to have realistic expectations from hair restoration, which means that though you benefit from hair restoration, you understand your hair probably will not have the look and feel it did when you were a teenager.
Talk with a Physician
If you suffer from any form of recent hair loss and have thought about hair restoration, it is probably to your advantage to talk with a physician who specializes in hair restoration to make sure one of the treatment plans is right for you.
