Hair loss is a natural part of aging for many men and some women in the United States, but hair loss is something that is often dreaded and greatly resented. Hair restoration is something that many adults with bald patches or thinning hair seek out, and a hair loss doctor can help with this. There is no shame in hair loss, of course, but it is often seen as unattractive and many people will go to great lengths to avoid it or reverse its effects. Hair restoration experts can be consulted for this, and a FUE hair transplant, or Follicular Unit Extraction, procedure can be done at a hair transplant clinic for those interested. How often do Americans go through balding or hair thinning, and how effective might an FUE hair transplant be? Will a FUE hair transplant restore a full head of hair?
Rates of Hair Loss
Many millions of American men and women are experiencing hair loss or balding, and there are some statistics kept to see how often this happens, and what the end result might look like. Men experience this the most: nearly 95% of men will go through male pattern baldness during their lives, and today, around 35 million men are going through hair loss. This is even higher than the rates for women. About 21 million women also experience hair loss as they age. Meanwhile, by age 35 on average, about two in three men will experience some hair loss or thinning, and by age 50, nearly 85% of men will have significantly thinning hair, or may be nearly bald. Once a person starts losing his or her hair, this hair loss phase may continue for about 2- years or so. Some factors may in fact accelerate this process, and over time, the hair will continue to thin out and miniaturize before the balding process has been completed.
Hair loss is often considered unattractive in men and women alike, and many of them are very unhappy with their hair loss. There are even some numbers to show what people would do, if they could, to get all their hair back, since a large part of a person’s self-image involves their hair. In fact, around 47% of people who are losing their hair, nearly half, report that they would spend their entire life savings on restoring all of their hair. And even more people, 60%, reported that they’d rather have all their hair restored than have money or friends. The Norwood Scale can also be used to measure the rate and severity of hair loss, which can be a useful reference for hair doctors. Type I hair loss is the mildest, representing minimal hair loss, and Type VII is the most advanced form of hair loss. A person may sometimes use a wig, toupee, or comb-overs to hide bald patches or thinning hair, but other times, an FUE hair transplant can be done to fill up bald patches. Many Americans opt for this minimally invasive form of surgery. What does it entail?
An FUE Hair Transplant
A person who is going through hair thinning, or who has pattern baldness, may want to look up local clinics that can take care of hair loss using medical procedures, and visit such sites to get a consultation. If a person agrees to have FUE work done, he or she can expect very low-risk surgery to be done on their scalp to rearrange their hair and make for a better look. During an FUE hair transplant, the doctor will carefully remove hair follicles in small groups, and relocate them to bald patches or areas where the hair is thinning on the patient’s head. Hair follicles naturally grow in units ranging from one to six in size, and hairs can be moved one group at a time for convenience. The relocated hair follicle units should be oriented so that the hairs grow in the same direction as existing hair for a natural look.
This does not actually increase the number of hairs on the person’s head, but such a procedure can fill up thinning patches or bald spots, and FUE transplants have often proven effective and popular among many hair loss patients today.
