Balding is not just a men's problem; women often lose hair, as they get older as well.  You might wonder, if that is the case, why more women do not have hair transplant surgery.  You may be surprised to know that many women are not good candidates. 

Women usually have a different type of hair loss than men.  Male pattern baldness uncovers parts of the top of the head.  However, the sides and back of the head are usually covered with healthy balding-resistant hair follicles. 

Men with this pattern of balding will have donor hair that survives the hair transplant process and flourishes long afterward.  That is because a naturally occurring enzyme in the body combines with testosterone to create a chemical called DHT.  This chemical is responsible for the hair loss on the tops of men's heads when they have male pattern baldness. 

However, it does not affect the back and sides of their hair in most cases.  These areas have healthy hair follicles and make excellent donor sites for hair transplant surgery.  These are called stable sites because they remain unchanged over time rather than shrinking like the hair follicles affected by DHT do. 

Female pattern baldness is different.  In most cases, they do not have large areas of stable balding-resistant hair follicles.  The sides and back of their hair tends to thin just as the front and top of the head do.  The DHT affects all the areas of their hair. 

Any hair follicles that are affected by DHT will simply fall out if they are moved by hair transplant procedures.  Moving them from one place to another does not affect the basic nature of the hair follicle. 

Also, women do not have the problem of receding hairlines in most cases.  Their hair is lost in a more diffuse manner, thinning uniformly all over the head.  It is not so much where their hair is that is the problem, but how much they have.  Hair transplant surgery will not correct this problem.  It is best used to move hair from one place to another. 

There is a very small percentage - about 5% of all women with baldness problems - who are good candidates for hair transplant surgery.  The thing that all these women have in common is that they all have healthy areas of hair follicles that can be used as donor sites. 

For example, women with mechanical or traction Alopecia have lost their hair because they have scratched their head for a long period of time, they have used tight rollers or their hair has been pulled or stretched in any manner.  These women almost always have an area of their hair that is unaffected.  If they do, they can have hair transplant procedures. 

Some women have cosmetic surgery and suffer hair loss around the incision sites.  In these cases, hair transplant surgery can help.  Other women actually have a pattern of hair loss that is similar to male pattern baldness.  These women are able to have the surgery, too.

Finally, women who have suffered trauma from accidents or burns are good candidates for hair transplant procedures.  If you are a woman with balding problems, is worth the time to consult with a doctor to find out if you are one of the women who can benefit from hair transplant surgery. 

Most people would not consider hair transplant surgery cheap.  In fact, some people cannot afford to have it done at all.  However, a great number of people have the option of getting financing for their procedures. 

The costs for hair transplant surgery vary from doctor to doctor.  They even vary within one doctor's practice.  A common quote for hair transplants is between $2 and $10 per graft.  The reason for the wide variance is mainly because the price per graft decreases the more grafts you have done. 

Often, the price per hair transplant session is quoted.  This may be a lunchtime session.  For example, 200 grafts may be done in a short session for $2000.  That equals $10 per graft, of course, but you are getting a special time slot, and a very low number of grafts per session.

Prices for specialty hair transplant work tend to be higher as well.  For the grafts that are taken from body hair, the price per graft may be anywhere from $12 to $15.  Facial hair grafts for those who have lost eyebrows or eyelashes are also high, at $11 to $15.  These are specialized procedures. 

Follicular Unit Extraction hair transplant costs more than micro-grafts.  FUE may cost as much as $15 per graft.  Mega-sessions in which large numbers of grafts are completed at one time are cheaper per graft.  Figured into the fee is the use of highly skilled technicians to help the doctor. 

Repair work is also done at a per graft price.  This includes taking out hair plugs from past hair transplant procedures gone wrong.  The price may be around $12 per graft when other grafts are being put in at the same time.  If the plugs are just being removed, the price is higher, about $15 per graft.  Scar revision surgery is usually done at a flat fee, perhaps around $1000 for the procedure. 

The normal hair transplant procedure will cost differently depending on the number of grafts even though the cost per graft goes down the more grafts you have.  For example, 100 grafts may cost you $1500, while 3000 grafts may cost about $12,000.  The price per graft goes down, but the amount of money you have to come up with soars. 

This is why many people finance their hair transplant surgeries.  To get the results they want, they would have to come up with more money than they can gather at one time.  Some examples of financing options are credit cards, finance companies, and bank loans. 

Some finance companies are geared especially to people who are getting cosmetic surgery.  They may offer loans with no proof of income, available within a day or two of the application.  You can finance your entire hair transplant operation with no down payment.  You may get 12 months same as cash or 12% interest on a 36-month loan. 

Hair transplant is costly, but with the right financing, you can do it if you choose to do it.  Financing gives you the opportunity to use the doctor you want to do, have the procedures done as quickly as possible, and have as many procedures done as possible. 

It is getting more common for people to get hair transplant procedures as the methods keep improving.  It is just less obvious than in earlier times when everyone could spot a person with bad hair plugs.  Yet, there are still a few facts about hair transplant surgery that are not widely known. 

1.  A large percentage of men have balding issues.  In fact, 50% of American men that are 50 years old or older are dealing with some amount of hair loss.  Hair problems in today's society beg to be conquered.  Some do it by shaving their heads completely.  Others take the exact opposite route and have hair transplant surgery.  Those who accept their baldness may have a healthy psyche, but they are slightly out of step with the rest of the world. 

2.  The procedure is permanent.  If you decide you do not like the results, it is not as simple as taking off a wig to change your hair.  You would have to go through many surgeries and your head may never look the same.  This is why you should never accept any doctor's offer to do a few hair grafts and see how you like it before doing a full hair transplant surgery.  Once you start, you are committed. 

3.  You need several days of rest afterward hair transplant surgery.  Since the operation is so easy to endure, you might think that you can jump up and go right back to your regular activities.  It is just your scalp after all, not muscle or bone.  The truth is that you have many small wounds and you need to protect them. 

4.  Hair transplant can be a time-consuming commitment.  Treatment can often last one to two years.  Mega-sessions where thousands of grafts are done in one sitting help to shorten the overall time.  However, the length of these sessions is often grueling. 

5.  Hair transplant surgery may be combined with other procedures.  If you do not have enough hair, you cannot have a normal hair transplant surgery.  However, there are other surgeries that can be used in conjunction with hair transplant to achieve similar results.  The difference is that these procedures are generally more painful. 

6.  The grafts may not survive.  Few surgeons will divulge to you the fact that hair grafts do not always survive after hair transplant surgery.  The hope is that only a few will be lost and the overall result will not suffer.  The reality is that is what usually happens. 

7.  Hair transplant treatments do not cost as much as you think.  For example, you might reasonably spend $12,000 on a hair transplant.  If you got it done at age 30 and died at age 70, you would have the transplant 40 years. 

That would average out to $300 per year, or $25 per month.  Many of the supposedly low cost treatments for hair loss cost much more than $25 per month.  You would actually save by getting the hair transplant surgery done in the first place. 

Before you have hair transplant surgery, you might want to know how it will turn out.  The truth is that every head of hair is different from all others and you cannot know exactly how it will turn out.  However, with a few facts at your disposal, you can get an advance idea of how your hair will look. 

1.  The more hairs per graft that are used in your hair transplant, the less natural your hair will look.  Many doctors still use grafts that contain up to eight hairs.  These do not look as conspicuous as the hair plugs of earlier decades, but they do not look as natural as they can, either.  Try to find a doctor that uses grafts that contain one to four hair follicles. 

These smaller grafts, also called follicular unit grafts, are ideal in restoring a receding hairline.  If your doctor uses the follicular unit grafts for your hairline, it will look much more natural than with the larger plug-like grafts.  This is important because your hair transplant will be noticeable if the hairline is not done well. 

2.  Your hair transplant site will be fuller if you have higher density in your donor sites.  The density is based upon the number of hair follicles you have in each section of your scalp.  If you have a high number of hair follicles per square centimeter than most people, more grafts can be done, so your hair will look fuller. 

3.  Your scalp laxity will also affect the fullness of your resulting hair transplant site.  This refers to the flexibility of your scalp.  How loose your scalp is helps to decide how many grafts can be done just as hair density does. 

4.  Coarse hair will cover more area.  When your hair transplant is done, the surgeon will be able to use fewer hair follicles per graft if your hair is coarse.  That is because coarse hair provides more coverage.  However, finer hair will tend to look more natural, if thinner. 

5.  Straight hair does not cover scalp like curly hair does.  If you have straight hair, you can be sure that your hair transplant surgery will be a challenge to your doctor.  Curly hair appears to provide even more coverage than it actually does because it stands up from the head. 

6.  The way your hair color compares to your skin color will have an effect on the look of your hair transplant.  If you have a hair color that is similar to the color of your skin, you are in luck.  Your scalp will not betray any lack of coverage that happens to be present. 

If, on the other hand, your hair and skin color contrast distinctly hair follicles show up more.  If there is even the slightest lack of coverage, it will be evident.  Just imagine a very light-skinned person with jet-black hair.  This person's hair follicles will stand out in a very obvious way. 

No one ever knows how hair transplant surgery will turn out until they see the results.  All of the basic problems can be dealt with if a skilled surgeon is involved.  However, knowing the possibilities will make it easier for you to know what questions to ask. 

The future of hair transplant procedures is in the laboratories at this very time.  Scientists are working together to find a way to make the surgery work for more people.  They also want to see it work better for the types of people who have hair transplants today.  One area of research is hair cloning. 

Hair cloning promises to be a revolutionary procedure that would give people with little hair a chance to have hair transplant surgeries.  It would do this by multiplying the hair a patient already has rather than using up the good hair that still exists on the patient's head. 

Taking stem cells, or dermal papilla cell, and cloning them in a laboratory setting do hair cloning.  They are then multiplied and combined.  The end result is an increase in the number of hairs available for hair transplant. 

Not only is hair cloning possible, it has been proven in many scientific studies.  Recently one group of researchers did a culture whereby they multiplied the number of dermal papilla cells.  With this being possible, hair cloning is a single step away. 

Hair transplant procedures that use cloned hair are farther off, though.  The research cannot be done as to whether these hairs can safely and effectively be transplanted onto a person's scalp yet.  First, they cloning process will have to be completely perfected.  Only then can the hair transplant trials begin. 

More research needs to be done to find out which hair cells can be used for hair cloning and then hair transplant procedures.  Some of the available cells go through several stages before ending in cell death in a very short time.  These cells would not be adequate for use with hair transplant surgery.  There seem to be other cells, which last longer and would work for this application. 

A scientist named Dr. Gho has done some work and acquired a Dutch patent on his work with hair multiplication.  It is unclear whether this is much like hair cloning or not.  That is because Dr. Gho neglects to submit his findings to be published in medical journals.  Without review by other doctors, Gho's theories cannot be tried and evaluated. 

Certain types of autoimmune diseases, such as alopecia areata can now be treated by means of hair transplant techniques by using the donor strip method.  Yet, in the future, hair cloning will make hair transplant easier for these people who often have very little hair to use for grafts. 

Some people believe that hair transplant grafts using cloned hair would be about the same cost as the usual hair transplants that are available today.  Other experts believe that the price will be much higher - perhaps three or four times per graft higher - because of the specialized methods required to do the work. 

Hair cloning is probably not as far away as one might think.  It might be ready for use with hair transplant procedures as soon as five years from now, or even sooner.  If you are considering getting a hair transplant but you want to wait awhile, hair cloning is something to think about. 

There was a time when no one would even think of doing hair transplant surgery on young men.  It was agonizing for this group of young people because thinning, balding, and receding hairlines often started before they got out of their teens.  Now the procedure is being opened to young men - but with restrictions. 

Because losing hair at such a young age is very traumatic, hair transplant doctors do not like to go along with the patients' snap decisions.  After an in-depth consultation, the doctor will do everything in his power to put off the surgery.  He will ask the patient to come back for a final consultation in six months or so.  Many doctors will refuse to do immediate hair transplants if they are put to the test. 

There are advantages to getting hair transplant surgery under the age of 25.  Most of these patients are healthy.  They do not usually take medications.  They are often optimistic and have the motivation required to make the commitment needed for what may end up being lifelong treatment. 

When a young man gets a hair transplant procedure, it can avert many problems with low self-esteem and lack of self-confidence.  With older men, these attitudes are already ingrained so that it takes some doing to change them.  If the hair restoration is started early enough, the young patient need never feel the stigma of being bald for very long at all. 

A doctor who is skilled in doing hair transplant procedures on young people will do some investigation before tackling such a project.  He will ask to see members of the family to assess their hair loss and how the young person might inherit hair loss traits from the family.  If family members cannot be present, the doctor might ask for photos. 

One trick of doctors, who work to give young people hair transplant surgeries, is to guide them in setting the hairline.  A young person will usually want a fairly low hairline.  He remembers the way it was just a few short years ago and wants to duplicate the image.  

A good hair transplant surgeon will discourage a low hairline.  Instead, he will campaign for a higher hairline.  There are several advantages to this.  One is that, with less top hair to cover, more donor hair will be saved.  Since the young patient will be dealing with this problem for a long time, this is a necessary consideration. 

When the hair transplant surgeon achieves a higher hairline, he will be able to get more fullness on the top of the head because he has less to cover.  This is not to say the young person will have a receding hairline when the procedure is complete; just that the hairline will not be too low. 

There is no reason for young people to enter adulthood without a full head of hair if they can get a hair transplant.  This option is now open to them.  It is bound to make many young men very happy. 

It is not unusual for men to have hair transplant surgery for male pattern baldness.  Even female baldness is discussed on commercials for hair transplant clinics.  A less common use of hair transplant surgery is to replace eyebrow hair.  However, this procedure is quite different from other hair transplant surgeries. 

It is important to replace eyebrow hair that has fallen out because it is such an integral part of the human face.  People realize that men have receding hairlines and balding on the tops of their heads.  It is not out of the ordinary to see a woman with thinning hair.  Yet, look at a person without eyebrows and the effect will be disturbing.  Eyebrows are just expected. 

Some people have hair transplant surgery to their eyebrows because the hair has simply fallen out over time.  Others have thyroid disease or other diseases that affect their hair.  A certain type of alopecia results in eyebrow loss.  Excessive plucking can be a problem, too.  Burns, tattoos, and infections can cause the eyebrow hair to fall out, and some people just are not able to grow eyebrows at all. 

Hair transplant surgery for eyebrows is different because eyebrows are different from scalp hair.  For one thing, the hair has a distinct growth pattern with each section of the eyebrow pointing in a different direction.  The hair forms a sharp angle so that it grows out and then flat to the face.  Scalp hair has a much gentler angle. 

Eyebrow hairs do not grow in the same type of follicular units as scalp hair.  Rather than growing in groups of one to four hairs, they are simply single strands of hair.  You can see this if you look carefully in the mirror at your eyebrows.  Hair transplant methods have to take this fact into account. 

When doctors do hair transplant surgery to replace eyebrows, they have to make sure that they put the hairs in so that they will point in the natural hair direction.  For this, the surgeons use very fine gauge needles.  They must also use this to help the hair to lie flat. 

Because the eyebrow hair is made of individual hairs, hair transplant surgery must involve creating those single units of hair.  To do this, hair is taken from the scalp, just as in other hair transplant procedures.  Then, the follicular units are divided into individual hair grafts.  This is done with a stereomicroscope. 

Inserting these micro-grafts is a very tricky business.  Creating the correct angles is difficult.  If the patient does not have straight hair, her curly hair must be inserted by rotating it so that it lies even with the curve of the brow that is being made. 

One drawback to eyebrow hair transplant surgery is that eyebrow hair, which usually does not grow, will grow and need to be cut because it is actually scalp hair.  Also, when the wounds heal, the lay of the eyebrows may change and not be so natural. 

However, if you need hair transplant surgery to replace your eyebrows, it is usually a much better alternative than other choices you have.  Eyebrows drawn in with eyebrow pencil do not look natural at all, and the option of going without eyebrows is unthinkable to many people.  Hair transplant surgery may just be your best bet. 

Certain doctors have been aware of follicular units for a long time now, but the knowledge only recently made its way into hair transplant methods.  Now these ideas are being used in hair restoration every day. 

To understand how follicular units have affected hair transplant surgery practices, it is necessary to first understand what a follicular unit is.  A follicular unit is a single entity that is made up of several parts.  All these parts are necessary to the whole. 

The first part, and the one most people getting hair transplant surgery are interested in, is the hairs.  There should be one to four full hair follicles in the unit and one or two fine hairs as well.  There are sebaceous glands in the follicular unit, which produce oil. 

The follicular unit is a living unit with muscle, nerves and blood vessels that are all tiny enough to fit into this small package.  A band of collagen that holds it together sets off the unit.  If you look under a microscope at a scalp, you can see follicular units growing in just this way. 

The idea of bringing this information into hair transplant procedures led to innovative surgical methods.  Rather than just moving around individual hair follicles, surgeons actually moved a unit, which contained everything the hair, needed to keep growing.  The results were groundbreaking. 

One way surgeons used to move the donor follicular units to the balding areas was by single strip harvesting.  Moving small strips of tissue containing follicular units does this.  This method keeps the units intact and ready to transplant.  Earlier methods such as mini-grafting and micro grafting broke up the follicular units. 

As a part of the hair transplant process with Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT), a new microscope technique was used.  It is called stereomicroscopic dissection.  This means that the follicular units are carefully taken out of the donor tissue and kept individually intact. 

When doctors use hair transplant procedures with FUT, they do not have to use quite as large of a donor site.  The follicular units are small and they can be separated from tissue that has no hair, under the microscope.  That way, only the tissue that grows hair is transplanted.  It is a much more efficient procedure in that way. 

Follicular units placed during hair transplant procedures are put into tiny holes the size of needles.  The insertion sites heal quickly, and they leave no marks.  This makes for a much more comfortable recovery and better results. 

FUT hair transplant procedures can make a big difference in the number of times a patient will have to go back for more treatments.  More grafts can be done at one session, so that the patient has to go back fewer times.  This is more convenient to patients. 

Hair transplant done using follicular unit procedures is becoming more and more the norm.  Possibly this is because it puts hair into the scalp in the same arrangement as it grows there naturally.  This represents a leap forward in hair transplant technology. 

Hair transplant surgery begins, after anesthesia is applied, with removing donor tissue.  Follicular units are then extracted from the tissue using a stereomicroscope.  Skilled nurses and technicians do all this.  The insertion of the hair into the receptor sites comes later. 

Once the follicular units for the hair transplant are dissected out of the donor tissue, technicians set them aside in a saline solution.  The temperature must be ideal or the small grafts will not survive the procedure.  This is done very carefully in order to ensure a good result. 

The surgeon will make tiny incisions into the scalp where the hair transplant grafts are to go.  These are called the receptor sites.  They are made with a very thin surgical needle.  The surgeon must have an eye for detail to properly set the receptor sites.  He must also be very artistic to achieve a natural look, especially at the hairline. 

The direction the hair grows, both on the front of the head and at the crown, are very important, too.  The doctor must make the condition of the newly placed hair look like the patient's own natural scalp hair.  The angle that the hair is put in determines how much it will stand up from the head. 

Once the surgeon has made all the hair transplant incisions that lay out the design he has created, the specially trained surgical team steps in.  They use his plan to accomplish his goals, and in turn the goals of the patient.  The surgeon does the groundwork for them when he does his incisions. 

The surgical team takes care to get every hair transplant graft into the receptor sites as they have been laid out.  They waste no time, though, because the small grafts are vulnerable when their follicles are outside of the skin.  The goal is to get the grafts in as quickly as possible while staying true to the design. 

Next, the doctor looks over the hair transplant for quality control.  He may take a good deal of time tweaking the placement of grafts before he is satisfied that they are all set properly into their receptor sites in a pleasing fashion.  When he gives the ok, the surgical technicians again take over the patient's care. 

The grafts will be more permanently set into place when the technicians dry them by blowing a cool blow dryer across them.  This makes them adhere in their place so that no bandages are necessary.  The patient will be asked to bring, or will be given, a baseball cap for the ride home from the hair transplant procedure. 

The doctor will want to see how the grafts are doing the day following the hair transplant.  The patient will go in for a check-up so that any problems can be corrected quickly.  If that is not possible, at least plans can be made to correct them at a future time. 

The doctor will have done his job with the hair transplant procedure at this point.  All that remains is periodic checkups.  If the hair loss is extensive, there may be more procedures, but all the hair transplant surgeries will be done with the same amount of care. 

When you shop for a hair transplant surgeon, you will find that different doctors give widely varying estimates of the number of grafts you will need.  This can make you very uncertain about the wisdom of even getting a hair transplant.  It helps to have a fair idea of what to expect. 

Unfortunately, there are hair transplant surgeons who do not take their position of respect seriously.  Some doctors are even transplanting donor hair into areas where the patient still has hair.  Perhaps this is easier than placing it where it rightfully belongs - on the balding spots. 

For whatever reason, some hair transplant patients are not getting the number of grafts on their balding areas as they are billed.  Certain doctors who have seen the results testify this.  The density of hair on these patients' heads is not commensurate with the number of grafts they supposedly got. 

The best hope a patient has of getting what he pays for in a hair transplant is to learn to calculate the number of grafts he needs to cover his balding area.  If the surgeon he sees is not in that ballpark, it may be wiser to look for another surgeon.  If however, the surgeon estimates a similar number, just make sure all the grafts go onto the balding parts of your scalp. 

To calculate the number of grafts you need for hair transplant surgery, there are several factors to take into account.  The thickness of the hair shaft makes a difference.  Whether the hair is curly or straight determines if the hair will lie flat or stand up, creating more fullness. 

Another important factor for hair transplant is the color of the hair in contrast to the color of the skin.  For a light-skinned man with light-colored hair, or a dark-skinned man with dark colored hair, it takes a certain amount of hair to cover the baldness.  However, a light-skinned man with very dark hair will need much more hair to provide the same amount of coverage. 

You should figure that the average number of hair transplant grafts needed to cover a balding area is 25% of the original hair that was there.  You can move up or down from this figure according to your other factors such as thickness, curliness, or color.  Then, you can use this number to figure up the grafts needed. 

Based on the fact that the average Caucasian male has a density of 2 hairs per millimeter, it can be assumed that the average density of hair is 1250 hairs per square inch.  Figuring at an average of 2 hairs per follicular unit, it would take 625 follicular units per square inch. 

To get 25% of that, you would need 156 follicular units per square inch.  All that remains is to measure your balding area and multiply the number of square inches by 156.  When you know what number of grafts to expect during your hair transplant surgery, you will be a savvy consumer.  It does not hurt one bit go into the process with an idea of your own about how the treatment should go.