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.

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.