Saturday, August 23, 2008

Are Women Candidates for Hair Transplant?

If you think of the word “balding”, you may immediately imagine middle-aged men with receding hair lines. Although there are more men turning towards hair restoration procedures, women are also candidates for hair transplant. Women also have the threat of losing their hair more rapidly than the normal way because of the different chemicals they wash and style their hair with.

Answering the Question

So yes, women are actually candidates for hair transplant. In fact, studies show that 6 out of 10 women suffer from balding or hair loss/ thinning of hair. As there are newer methods of hair transplant which appear more natural and long-lasting, women have a lot of options to looking good (with hair!) again.

Hair Loss/ Thinning Vs. Balding

Balding is the process where hairs fall off and no new hairs will grow in their place. Hair loss/ thinning is simply the loss of hair in certain areas of the head and the possibility of other hair “replacements” is possible, however, may be achieved after quite a long time. This nuance is something that you should remember so that you will know how to properly deal with your situation.

Also, hair loss is different for women. While men lose their hair by becoming bald and the baldness starting from their foreheads or at the crown, women’s hair just thins out and the hairs in the front and the sides usually remain intact. It’s like a Barbie doll-look.

When women start seeing stray hairs in their pillows, they easily become shaken. This is because of women’s fear of becoming bald. You know how the hair is paid much attention when it comes to judging a woman’s beauty. In fact, the words “crowning glory” are directly associated with the hair. So, when something unusual is happening to a woman’s hair (e.g. become burnt by hair iron, has the wrong cut, “died” because of a hair treatment gone wrong), it is utterly heartbreaking for the woman. Yes, even hair loss/thinning.

The Social Battle

Whenever the quality of the hair is being threatened, a woman easily loses her confidence. There will be even more dangerous psychological results in this losing of self-confidence. In fact, there have been cases of suicide which were directly linked to a woman’s hair loss. A lot of people think about a woman’s hair loss as a symbol of femininity voidance.

If you’re one of these women who suffer from hair loss, if it’s not that grave yet, don’t overanalyze things. You need to quantify first what’s “hair loss” and what’s not. This is because it is normal to shed off 50-100 strands of hair every day. They just, naturally, fall off. They fall off when you brush your hair, when you walk around, when you do and undo your hairstyle and even whenever you tuck hair behind your ear. However, if you think the number that you see in your hairbrush + the bathroom + your pillow is abnormal, perhaps you’re suffering really from hair loss/ thinning.

What you need to remember is that sometimes, it’s only you who is being paranoid about the thinness of your hair. If it’s not really that obvious, do not lose confidence in yourself. There have been a lot of stories about patients overrating the mere thinning of their hair and directly concluding hair loss. Because of this, they skipped attending a lot of social gatherings and missed out on a lot of things. Do not fall into this trap. The best thing that you can do is to simply see a specialist.

Finding the Right Cure

There are a lot of things in the market which promise thicker hair, a healthier scalp and some creams which encourage hair growth. However, these things are not really curable especially if the case is really grave. Take for example women who have clumps of hair falling when they brush their hair. It’s as if they’ve undergone Chemotherapy! The superpower shampoos and wonder creams won’t be able to cure these things, and you should remember that. Only a hair transplant surgery or any other medical hair restoration procedure will solve that problem.

For women, there are a lot of options to choose from. First, there is a cosmetic procedure known as “extensions installation” where the there is a semblance of “grafting” but it doesn’t really include having donor tissues. It just “extends” the hairs and thus make it look fuller and longer. Second, there is an anti-baldness pill called Propecia. It has recently been proven safe for women. Third, there is always the option of a hair restoration procedure or a hair transplant, which costs relatively higher but, with good research, will give you a better result.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

My name is Mark Warren and i would like to show you my personal experience with Propecia.

I am 61 years old. Have been on Propecia for 6 years now. The drug has definitely slowed hair loss and kept my bald spot from growing much. Much less hair in the bathtub. No side effects - I'm puzzled by the hysterical posts about this. My big gripe is the cost - the price has gone up, not down. And my dermatologist refuses to prescribe proscar, which is the same thing except you have to split the pills.

I have experienced some of these side effects-
None that I can link to propecia specifically.

I hope this information will be useful to others,
Mark Warren

Propecia Prescription Medication