Hair plugs have become a common treatment for male baldness. Technically, the term hair plug refers to a section of scalp that is removed, containing a few strands of hair. This plug is then transplanted to a bald, or balding, section on the head.

Most balding men have their hair loss in the form called a receding hairline or on the crown of the head in what is called a bald spot. This type of hair loss is referred to as male pattern baldness. What happens is that the man’s body attacks the hair roots and they stop producing new hairs when an old hair falls out. This is the time for one to begin to search the benefits of getting hair plugs for men.

There are many advertisements for creams and lotions that will fix baldness. However, the fact is that once the hair is gone, the chances of the hair follicles starting to work again are pretty close to zero. The only way to get hair back onto the bald spots is by using hair plugs, a now very accepted procedure to treat male baldness.

Now called hair transplantation, there has been a lot of improvement over the decades since surgeons first tried using hair plugs as a means to treat baldness. Typically, the procedure is performed in a medical setting and can take several hours. A common procedure used today is where the surgeon takes scalp and hair from the back part of the head. The doctor then makes small cuts into the balding scalp section and inserts a small plug into the slit. The doctor is very careful to place the plugs so that the resulting hair growth will look natural.

There have been lots of improvement and refinement in hair transplantation techniques. For some procedures being done, the term hair plug is not accurate. Some doctors use a technique that removes individual hairs from the scalp, along with their root and then transplant these, with one to three hairs to a group, into a bald area. This procedure can be done using just local anesthetic. What is very nice about this way to do hair transplantation is that it is a lot less mess and the patient can leave the office the same day with no bandages. There can be some irritation for a few days but it quickly goes away.

Hair plugs is a great way to treat a receding hairline or any bald or balding spot. It actually allows you to use your own hair. Rather than getting a hairpiece, you have your own hair growing out of your head. You do not have to worry about swimming or showering or any mishaps that can happen when using a hairpiece.

Once the hair plugs are inserted, you very own hair will grow in naturally. You will be able to cut it and comb it the way you want. If you have very obvious bald spots but have healthy hair growing on another part of your scalp, hair plugs might just be right for you. If you are a man in your 40’s, you do not have to live with male pattern baldness. Talk to your physician about the options and benefits of getting hair plugs.

Hair plugs were originally tried in the 1950’s with not very good results. At that time there was no such thing as micro-surgical techniques so it was necessary for the surgeons to actually remove entire portions of scalp with growing hair and then place these scalp chunks into the balding area where incisions had been made. The surgeon would use a tool which removed a round plug of scalp with about 10 to 15 hair still growing in it. These plugs were removed from the back or the scalp where there is less hair loss and the removal is less noticeable.

If you notice the majority of men who have hair loss do so above the forehead, which is called the receding hair line, or on the vertex of the head which is called a classic bald spot. This is because of the cause of the hair loss in the first place. 95% of men who suffer from balding issues are suffering from a condition called male pattern baldness. MPB is a genetically derived medical condition in which the man’s own body attacks his hair follicles (hair roots) and causes them to stop producing hair shaft material. There is a substance in the body called DHT or dihydrotestosterone which is a metabolite of the male testosterone hormone. This DHT bonds with receptor on the hair roots and causes a stoppage of the nutrients and oxygen flow to the root. This causes the root to slowly stop producing keratin and thus the hair shaft gets thinner and thinner. Eventually the shaft is just a wisp of hair. Eventually it falls out and the hair follicle goes dormant. Eventually the follicle is encased in fibrotic material and will never function again.

Once the hair falls out, the chances of getting the hair follicle to start producing hair again is close to or at zero. The only option if you want to have growing hair again is to replace these dead roots with vibrant ones from the back of the head. When a man suffers hair loss from male pattern baldness he does not generally lose the hair on the sides of the head and back or posterior section. This is because of how the DHT attacks the hair. For some unknown reason, the substance will not kill the follicles in these two areas which is good news because it means you have a good donor site for the hair plugs.

Actually, the term hair plugs is really a misnomer any more. Surgeons do not remove entire sections of scalp using either the hair plug or hair strip methods. Instead, they will generally use the hair follicular unit extraction method to remove individual hairs and their support structures and then insert these into groups of one to three follicles into the bald area. This is much less messy and allows the patient to leave the office at the end of the day without bandaging. There is usually some irritation for a few days but it quickly goes away.

A more common name used today for this procedure is hair implants or hair transplants. These are both based on the follicular unit extraction and placement method of hair restoration and really are the same procedure under a different name.

Getting hair plugs as a way to treat your receding hair line is a great idea because you can actually have the hair growing right out of your scalp. Hair piece manufacturers claim that you can comb their hair straight back with no problems but you still have fake hair on your head. No, I think the only way to get hair growing in this area is to have hair plugs inserted and allowed to grow naturally.

The causes of male pattern baldness and female pattern hair loss are very closely tied together. Both of the conditions are caused by a genetic predisposition to hair loss in certain areas of the scalp. This is usually manifested as balding or hair thinning at the vertex and crown of the head while other areas of the head, such as the occipital or back of the head, continue to exhibit good growth. These areas of continued hair growth can play a big part in determining the hair transplant cost. The better the donation area the easier it is to harvest the healthy hair follicles and so the cost of hair restoration goes down.

The mechanism for pattern baldness is quite simple. There is a natural occurring hormone in our bodies, dihydrotestosterone (DHT),which is formed when the so called male hormone testosterone is metabolized. This appears to act on the body in two ways. One is to have a negative affect on the male urinary tract, in particular on the prostate gland. In fact, the way DHT was determined to be a cause of hair loss was in trials for drugs to treat enlarged prostate. During the trials it was noticed that the men who were taking the drug actually saw a decrease in hair loss and some experienced hair growth. Further testing showed DHT to be a contributor to male pattern baldness.

Some of the hair follicles on the men and women who show signs of pattern baldness seem to have a genetic predisposition to be affected by the free DHT in the blood stream. There are receptors on these follicles that attach to DHT and start the miniaturization process. The complete mechanism is not understood but it appears that the certain areas of the head have these follicles that are affected by the hormone. Thus the term pattern baldness is uses. As the hair goes through its natural cycles of growth and rest the dihydrotestosterone shortens the growth phase during each cycle and eventually the follicle has been shrunken to a point that it can not continue to produce hair shaft material. At this point the hair falls out and baldness is exhibited.

Cost Of Hair Plugs

The size of the area that is genetically predisposed to pattern baldness is a major factor in determining the cost of hair transplant procedures. Most clinics and cosmetic surgeons will adjust their charges based on how many hair units need to be transplanted from the donor area to the balding patch. Small areas can require a few hundred transplant units with the average amount being a thousand. If the pattern baldness is more advance then of course this number will increase and the overall cost of hair implants will be more.  Thus a person who has lost most of the hair on the affected area of the scalp is going to have a higher hair plugs cost than someone with only hair loss at the vertex of the head.

The other major factor in the cost of hair replacement is the per unit cost. This can vary from about $3 to $7 in the US. So as you can see the overall charges for hair plug surgery can easily reach anywhere from a few thousand to several thousand dollars.
When determining per unit costs the physician will look at such things as fullness of donor area and color and texture of the natural hair. It takes more thin, blond hair to give good coverage than thick, black hair unless the underlying scalp color is very light. If that is the case then more dark colored hairs are needed.

When determining whether you can afford a hair transplant procedure the best thing to do is check out several options. Many clinic advertise on line now and you can get really good information by visiting there sites. Once you have a couple you are interested in then meeting for a free consultation is very highly recommended. The cost of hair plugs is irrelevant if the procedure is not performed properly.

]]> http://hairplugsguide.com/cost-of-hair-plugs/feed/ 0 http://hairplugsguide.com/hair-plugs-cost/ http://hairplugsguide.com/hair-plugs-cost/#comments Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:30:09 +0000 Albert http://hairplugsguide.com/?p=71 Hair plugs have been applied in the US for the treatment of baldness in men for over 50 years. During that time the procedure has been improved many fold to give a result that is natural looking and last for years. The first tries at the procedure were not very good though, as surgeons did not have the tools or the micro-surgical techniques necessary to manipulate the hair follicles in such a way that the implanted hair matched the surrounding hair. Although the cost of hair plugs is not cheap it is a great alternative to bald spots.

When the hair transplant method was first being utilized was the term hair plugs came into being. The early pioneers of this cosmetic surgery actually removed a portion of scalp from usually the back of the head. This scalp section was then cut up in to little pieces and then inserted into slits made in the bald spot. As you can imagine this did not give very good results and was very noticeable. These grafts resulted in hair groups that stuck out in every which direction. This is the where the term hair plugs came from. The hair looked like the artificial hair that is plugged into the head of a cheap dolls. Just clumps of hair sticking out of the head.

The first big advancement was when micro-surgical techniques allows for the removal and placement of individual hair follicular units. That is, the hair shaft, hair follicle, and associated parts. This allowed to surgeons to place the hairs in a more natural position and allowed for a more natural look. It was as this time that the cost of hair plugs for men finally started to make sense from a results stand point.

The use of this method went on with a few modifications for years until the next big advancement in hair plug therapy took place. People were complaining about men’s hair plug cost because not only was it expensive but there was still some scarring from the removal of the scalp portions at the back of the head. Granted, the scarring was smaller because now scalp was removed in thin strips instead of chunks but there was still scarring.

The next change came with the introduction of Follicular Unit Extraction. This method allows for the removal of individual hair follicles and small groups of follicles. There is no scarring with this method and the only irritation looks like a pin prick and is quickly healed up. Use of this method actually allowed for the use of hair from other parts of the body besides just the scalp. This body hair works well for filling in the bald hair spots.

When you are contemplating the cost of hair plugs you need to take into account where the procedure is performed. The hair plug cost is going to be more in the US and Western Europe than other countries like Brazil and Thailand that are aggressively working toward a cosmetic surgery industries.

Even within the US there are variations in hair plug costs but you can usually expect to pay between $3 and $8 per implanted unit. These units consist of one to three hair follicles bunched together because that is how they grow naturally, The normal patient usually requires between a few hundred and a few thousand of these units.

The cost of hair plugs is not cheap but if you have areas that are completely bald then this is about your only option other than getting a hair replacement system also known as a toupee. Hair plugs costs can be dramatically reduced though by looking for a cosmetic surgery vacation package.

Hair plugs is actually a colloquial word that has been replaced with the more accurate hair implants or hair grafts. The name originated in the 1950’s when hair transplantation procedures were first being used. At that time the state of the art in micro-surgery did not exist so surgeons were forced to work with large pieces of scalp. This gave results that looked like the artificial hair that is plugged into a cheap dolls head.

The procedure went like this. The cosmetic surgeon would first remove a section of scalp from an area of the head that still had good hair growth. For men this is usually at the posterior portion of the head. He would slice this section into small sections and prepare them for implanting. Next, the doctor would make slits in the bald area of the scalp. The slices of prepared scalp material would then be sown into the skin and hopefully they would start growing again. As you can imagine, by dealing with fairly large chunks of scalp the results were not very appealing.

Most of the time the procedure was very noticeable because the hair that did grow pointed every which way. This has now changed as the new techniques allow for implantation of individual follicles. With the standard method in use today a section of scalp with hair growth is still removed, but then the individual hair units are removed from that section and implanted individually. This allows the surgeon to place the hairs at different angels allowing him to match the growth direction of the existing hair. Within a few weeks these new follicles attach to the scalpal blood supply and begin to produce hair shaft material. These will continue to grow for years to come.

This method of hair loss treatment is fairly expensive but it does work very well and is mostly unnoticeable. There is slight scarring at the back of the head but this is easily covered with existing hair growth. If you are tired of hearing bald jokes then you need to look into hair plugs for men as way to get your head of hair back again.

With the cost of hair plugs what it is you want to be sure to treat your new transplants very carefully so you don’t have any follicles loosen up and fall back out. This doesn’t mean the hair shafts might not fall out as a natural course of events. The stress of the procedure often time causes the actual shaft to separate from the hair follicle, or hair root, and thus fall out of the bald spot. This is normal and should not be a concern. Within a few weeks the transplanted follicles will start producing hair shaft material again and you will be on your way to a full head of hair like when you were younger.

The modern hair transplantation techniques, like follicular unit extraction, con be done with very little disruption to the scalp. Because of this there is usually not very much bleeding when the implant procedure is finished. There is some, though, and the care of the scalp for the first few days is very important.

If you have a bandage over the area it is important to keep the dressing clean and changed regularly. This will help combat any infection that may try to take hold. Also, most cosmetic surgeons recommend you start shampooing the scalp within a few days. This keeps any scabbing soft and pliable instead of letting it get hard. When the scabbing hardens it tends to stick to the hair shaft. If it is then picked or caught on something like a comb or brush it can disrupt the follicle and pull it back out. This means that hair plug will not take hold and grow. It is very important that nothing is done to loosen the hair follicle, or hair root, once it has been implanted into the bald section of the scalp. Within a few weeks everything has healed fine and you can then comb and brush your hair like normal but, until that time, you need to very careful.

When treating pattern baldness hair plug costs can vary based on several factors. One of the main variables in the cost of hair plugs is the geographical location in which the procedure is performed. In the US, the southern states have the lowest average hair plug costs and the Midwest the highest. Of course, within these locations there is much variability in costs based on the number of implants, the hair implantation method used, and the base costs of the clinic and cosmetic surgeon.

If you are wondering what are hair plugs the explanation is real simple. The hair shaft grows out of a hair follicle which is also called the root. When a hair plug procedure is performed, the hair follicle and associated parts are removed from the scalp in an area with good hair growth. The hair unit is then transplanted into the bald area where it starts growing the hair shaft again. Once the unit it transplanted it continues to grow just like the natural hair did. Hair plugs can last for years and offer a great alternative to other hair restoration methods.

If you are developing bald spots then it would be well worth your time to find out about hair plugs and how they can change your life.  Not only are hair plugs for men there is also a lot of recent success with hair plugs for women also.

Hair plugs are really good at covering the bald spot because they are your own hair that has been removed from a spot on your head, or other part of the body, and placed in the bald spot. Unlike toupee’s or hair pieces they will never slip and slide or fall off in the wind. You can swim with hair plugs. You can ski with hair plugs. And you can get close to the opposite sex with hair plugs without the risk of embarrassment that could come from a hair piece falling off. They work because the hair is your own, and once the transplantation procedure is done, the hair follicles are growing just like when you were younger.

The hair plug procedure is really straight forward. There are to main methods in use today. The first is the traditional method known as the ribbon method. With this procedure a surgeon removes ribbons of scalp which still contain good hair growth from the scalp of the patient. The individual hair follicles or bulbs are then removed from the ribbon of scalp by an assistant trained in hair restoration. While the hair follicles are being removed and prepared the surgeon sutures the place in the scalp where the ribbon was removed from. This ribbon is usually taken from the back of the head which leaves a scar line that is easily covered up by the hair growth of the follicles that are left.

The surgeon then transplants each of the follicles individually into the scalp at the bald area. Usually the follicles are inserted with one to three per insertion area because that is how natural hair grows. This method has been used for over 50 years and offers very good results.

The second method is called FUE or follicular unit extraction. This just means that instead of removing a portion of scalp and them separating the hair follicles out, the FUE method removes the follicles individually directly from the scalp. This does not leave any scarring because there is no suturing needed. The results of the extraction look like a pin prick and the wound is completely healed within a few days.

This method also allows hair to be removed it the person is suffering from thinning hair along with bald spots. This is especially true for women and thus this method is used predominately when performing hair plugs for women procedures. The surgeon can remove hair shafts from several areas of the scalp and thus leave as many hairs as possible spread out.

The cost of hair plugs varies depending on several factors including geographical location, type of hair, experience of the doctor, and number of follicles to be transplanted. In general each hair plug costs between $3 and $7. The total cost of the procedure also depends on the number of plugs needed. Usually, between 500 and 4000 hair plug transplants are necessary depending on the size of the area to be filled.

As you can see how much do hair plugs cost is a question that is hard to nail down but the results are definitely worth the cost. Especially when you consider the cost of other hair treatments for the next 20 or 30 years.

]]> http://hairplugsguide.com/how-much-do-hair-plugs-cost/feed/ 5 http://hairplugsguide.com/hair-plugs-and-hair-implants-cost/ http://hairplugsguide.com/hair-plugs-and-hair-implants-cost/#comments Sat, 27 Jun 2009 02:15:22 +0000 Albert http://hairplugsguide.com/?p=20 If you are losing your hair or if you already have some substantial bald spots and you want to have a full head of hair again then hair plugs or hair implants may be the right way for you to go. Unlike medications with potential side affects like rashes and even birth defects, hair plugs are safe and rarely result in any problems. As an added bonus, a skilled physician can insert the plugs or implants in such a way that they are almost unnoticeable.

Hair plugs were originally tried in the 1950’s as a way to treat baldness. The cost of hair plugs at that time was not great with the reason being they really didn’t look that good. In fact, the term hair plug actually was derived from the resemblance of early hair implants to the head of a cheap doll. I am sure you have seen a doll with just ten or twenty plugs of hair sticking out at all angles. It was very noticeable and really looked worse than being bald. This has all changed though. Hair plug cost has increased but along with that is the skill level of the doctors and the intricacy of the procedures they use.

When looking at the average cost of surgical hair implants it is important to remember that you get what you pay for. You can still get a cheap job done that is noticeable. Or you can choose to spend a little more and get a job that almost no one will recognize as being anything but natural hair growing in its natural position.

The price of hair plugs or hair implants is usually determined per implant. Modern techniques involve removing a strip of scalp from the back of the head and then removing the individual hair follicles and cleaning them. Once the hair is prepared the surgeon uses a small scalpel or needle to insert the individual hair bulbs. A skilled doctor will insert the follicles in groups of one to three hair shafts which mimics how hair grows naturally. He or she will also insert the hair follicles in such a way that the hair will lay in the same direction as the surrounding hair. This is in contrast to the old hair plugs which stood straight up and were very noticeable as being artificially inserted.

The average cost of hair plug surgery depends on how many individual units are implanted. Each implant usually runs between $3 and $6. This cost can be drastically reduced by having the procedure done on a medical vacation in a country such as Brazil or Thailand. Costs have been reported as low as 25 – 50 cents per implant in these areas and most of the plastic surgeons have actually been trained in the US and Europe.

When determining the price of hair plugs you also have to factor in how many units will be implanted. Generally speaking a major covering of a large bald spot will involve from 1000 to 3000 implants. As you can see the cost of the hair plug surgery can range from a few thousand dollars to over $20,000 depending on where it is performed and how thick you want the resulting hair to be. You can see why more and more people are looking into a hair plug vacation. You can see a new country and get a new head of hair.

The cost of hair plugs varies depending on many factors. Hair implant surgeons are going to be much more expensive in LA or New York than they are in the heartland and overseas procedures will be cheaper yet. If you are losing your hair then start looking into hair plugs or hair implants today. The more information you have the better a decision on hair plug costs you will be able to make. Do the research and enjoy the benefits of a full head of hair again. Hair plug costs vary so find the best deal you can.

If you want hair plugs you have to go to a hair replacement center an have a hair surgery procedure done. There is at least one hair clinic in most every large US city and often times there are several. The hair implant surgery is usually on one day affair and often times the surgeon recommends that you start shampooing the next day. Once the hair follicular units are embedded in the scalp they are secured and can not be washed out.

Hair loss replacement therapies can range from the bizarre home herbal hair growth remedy to so called high tech remedies like the current hair growth laser. But surgical hair replacement seems to have the best over all results. Hair plugs therapy has been used since the 1950’s and every year the technique is made better and the success rate is much better than other methods. That’s not real hard to do considering most of the home remedies are absolutely worthless for growing hair. As far as a hair restoration product the US FDA has only certified two for the use of hair regrowth. There are just not very many effective treatments for man hair replacement other than surgery.

Hair Plugs Not A Scam

Hair loss may be funny to people who have not experienced thinning hair but a person who is going bald will spend a lot of money to restart his or her hair growth. This is why hair loss treatment is filled with sham artists. There are very few good hair growth therapies and there is a big need for answers so people are willing to spend money on any dream of big hair again. It has been estimated that people are spending tens of millions of dollars a year on hair scams that have no hope of working to regrow hair.

Hair replacement therapies are not cheap but they do work. The average cost of hair implanting is $4 – $6 per follicular unit transplantation. This is a natural grouping comprised of one to four hair shafts. Transplanting these units has proven to be the most effective for a natural looking hair growth. Usually 1000 to 3000 of these follicular units is transplanted when a person has a hair transplant procedure. The overall cost is between $4000 and $20,000 in the US. Many other countries now offer the surgery at a major reduction in cost while still giving good results.

There are many people who claim they have a system for hair restoration including topical creams and hair vitamins but what seems to work very well in hair transplant surgery. Baldness is not funny and is very serious to someone who suffers from it. It can be devastating to someone’s self esteem if a full head of hair is important to their self image. If you need to get your hair back look into hair plugs or hair restoration surgery.

Hair loss treatments have been around since the Egyptian times. There are many hieroglyphs that show hair regrowth concoctions being applied to scalps. These ancient treatments usually contained honey along with other substances such as cow dung. Today we have a much better smelling treatment when it comes to increasing hair to fill in male pattern baldness spots.

Hair thinning is a problem that can affect both men and women. In men it usually shows up as male pattern baldness or MPB. There is such a thing as female pattern baldness but generally women suffer from a thinning of hair over their entire scalp instead of patches of complete baldness that men experience.

Hair Plugs Cost

If you are looking to regrow hair then hair plugs or hair replacement surgical procedures is a good thing to look into. The hair transplant cost can be fairly expensive but what is a full head of hair worth. When using the transplanting procedure, the hairs are removed in follicular units of one to four hairs each. Generally the cost is $4-$6 per follicular unit transplant. 1000 to 3000 of these units is usually manipulated so you can see the cost is fairly large. Hair cloning has not been very effective yet but this may change with new research. As of now hair plug therapy seems to give the best results for people looking for a full head of hair.

Looking through a hair loss forum you see many posts about hair loss solutions. In reality most of these treatments do not work too well. The FDA has only accepted two treatments for effective baldness cure and both of these only work about half the time. What does work though is hair transplant surgery. It usually takes a few months for the hair transplantation to really take off but when it does the hair is very natural looking and very difficult to detect.

Hair implants are nice because they use a person’s natural hair so there is no mismatched look like in hair replacement systems. If you are worried about hair lose you really should look into a surgical procedure. This goes for both hair loss in men and hair loss woman. The technology has improved to the point where it is very difficult to think anything other than what a great head of hair. What started with hair plugs in the 1950’s has expanded into a billion dollar industry with results that are amazing.