Dr. Arvind Poswal

Hair transplant is basically of two different types. And, that is only difference in the extraction method how we take out the grafts. The older method was F U T or strip method in which a hair bearing strip of skin was totally taken out from back side of the head and then separated into individual grafts.

And the grafts were placed in tiny slits , made in the bald area. The other method, which was an improvement is called F U E, which I have, which we started in 1997. F U E is the basic technique in which grafts are taken out one by one without a long strip being excised without any stitch and without any stitch scars, that method is called F U E or follicular unit extraction.

Please do not be confused by a lot of different things. They're different clinics have put for F U E those are only trade names. The basic idea is to take out graphs one by one from the donate area and place them in that bald area. The stitchless method has certain benefits. One of course is the obvious one .

There will be no stitch. There'll be no long stitch scare there will be less, very less pain. And one of the most important benefits of F U E is that we can take graft from beard also, we can take out body hair grafts also. The strip or F U T method is a outdated method still practice, by doctors who do not know or who are not adept at F U E cannot take out strips from beard and the body doner areas.

That will be very bad and counterproductive so F U E has enabled us to take out grafts makes it more comfortable to the patient also. And at the same time increases the total number of grafts. We can easily transplant 6,000 to 10,000 grafts by that stitch less. F U E method by taking out grafts strong beard and body donar areas, also apart from your scalp donor area.

So ingest in summary, there are two basic techniques, the stitch method, which is called the FUT method and other is FUE the stitch less method , thank you.

Now your problem is unique to the current generation and that is hair loss or baldness at a very young age. If you are noticing hair loss at such a young age and have experienced up to Norwood two or three, level of hair loss, then as a doctor, I will ask you your family history of hair loss.

Sometimes it is not only your genes, which are playing a role, it is your epigenome or your lifestyle, which is also hastening your hair loss, meaning causing baldness at a younger age than what it occurred in your family members. It may be your father, your grandfather, your maternal grandfather or your mother's brother.

So first step, instead of rushing into a hair transplant is to inquire at what age did they loose hair ? If you are losing hair at least five to 10 years before the time when your senior family members lost their hair. Then considered factors like your epigenome or lifestyle, which can be modified and good antioxidants, like resveratrol can be delivered by microneedling to make the skin and the enviroment around your hair follicles healthy and conducive to hair growth.

If it is hairloss at the same time, in your case, as it is in your previous generation. then, of course, you can go for a hair transplant. Also, if you go for the hair transplant, remember first step should be to evaluate your total donor hair availability. That would be the hair on back and the side of the head, the beard area, the armpits, and any strong body here that you may have. All of these hair are yours. Hair, which can be transplanted once you go bald. So if you're planning to go for a transplant at this young age, then use only a small fraction of the donor reserve. Because if you lose more hair, you will need these grafts that are remaining hair grafts to go for more transplants.

I hope I helped you understand this. Regarding epigenome improvement or lifestyle improvement. Take care to avoid undue stress. Improve your diet. Do not take too much processed food or food containing preservatives . Home cooked food is better. Take a salad of broccoli, tomato, and mushroom every day. If possible, take seafood, especially Salmon that also helps you in preventing premature hair loss or baldness. Anti aging supplements

like resveratrol and NMN (Nicotinamide mononucleotide) have been shown to help regrow hair. So that is also an alternative you can look at and study. And let me know if you wish to know more about those things. Thank you. 

In Hair transplant, one has to remember a few things-

1. Hair transplant is an ART. A natural result is very important. We take care of that by ensuring absolutely natural angles and directions of the transplanted grafts.

2. Equally important is density (how many grafts are transplanted per square centimetre). In 25 years of my experience, I have found that no one is satisfied by a low density hair transplant.

A great hair transplant, therefore, is one where the patient puts forward his choice of hairline design, on the one hand, and the doctor gives a natural look as well as the best possible density using all the available grafts from the patient's scalp, beard and body donor areas.

For the remaining areas, where the patient is noticing early hairfall or diffuse thinning, it's important to improve the epigenome of the patient.

Epigenome can be best described as the inner environment of the body, especially, around our genes. Epigenome is affected by a wide variety of things including diet, exercise, stress, illness, pollution etc. A stressed/flawed epigenome is why we find :

1. People losing hair 10 years before their previous generations.

2. Hairfall is preceded by an adverse event like an illness or change of diet, water or location.

Till recent times, doctors did not use to pay attention to these factors, taking them to be incidental in a disease largely governed by our genes.

However, correcting these epigenetic anomalies goes a long way in reducing or even reversing hairfall.

Epigenetic measures are more personalised according to patient history and involves feeding the hair follicle roots/stem cells by a microneedling based, home-use approach.

More details are available on request.

(Please note that we don't advocate medicines with questionable effects and serious side effects like finasteride.)