Dr. Davidson's Homepage

Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery

About the Author

Aging Face Surgery

Anesthesia

Blepharoplasty

Chemical Peel

Chin Augmentation

Complications

Evaluation for Facial Plastic Surgery

Facelift

Forehead Lift

General Instructions to Patients

Hair Replacement

Healing

Liposuction

Otoplasty

Rhinoplasty

Risks with Facial Plastic Surgery

Scalpels, LASERs and Endoscopes

Scar Revision

Skin Cancer

Submental Lipectomy

The Cost

Who Does Facial Plastic Surgery?

Why the University?

Hair Replacement

Many men and some women lose the hair on their head anywhere between the ages of eighteen and fifty. There are a variety of techniques available for refurbishing the scalp. The oldest technique is called hair transplantation, and involves taking a series of small, circular punch grafts from the back of the head in areas where hair did not bald and putting these in the front of the scalp. The hair from these little transplant plugs grows and with proper grooming, gives an improved appearance. There are problems to this kind of hair transplantation and these include the fact that it takes several operations to get a reasonable result. The result is rarely perfect, and it requires a period of anywhere from a year to two years before the hair grows out fully enough to be combed and properly styled.

There are new surgical techniques that are available, and these include scalp reduction and the Juri flap. Scalp reduction is a very simple technique. One simply excises the bald scalp and in a series of operations, removes as much of the bald scalp as possible and stretches the hair-bearing scalp over the top of the head.

The Juri flap is a technique developed in Argentina, but has now been utilized in the United States and seems to be reliable. The technique takes a strip of hair-bearing scalp from the side of the head, lifts it up and places it across the front of the scalp. The defect left on the side is closed by simply performing a facelift procedure on the side of the head. If one wishes to spend the time and money, one can have a similar flap performed about three months later on the opposite side and then undergo a series of scalp reductions and in many patients, completely cover the head with hair-bearing scalp. The biggest problem with hair replacement surgery is patient limitations. Not everyone is a good candidate for this kind of surgery, i.e., not everyone will get a nice result because the density of the hair, or the amount of hair that is left, is insufficient.