Hair Loss Hair Loss Treatment Treating Women's Hair Loss

Hair Transplantation for Women: Understanding the Procedure

Summary & Participants

If you are a candidate for a female hair transplant, you probably have a long list of questions about the procedure. Join our panel of experts as they discuss these issues and more.

Medically Reviewed On: June 18, 2008

Webcast Transcript

DAVID R. MARKS, MD: When we think of hair transplantation, we often think of balding men. But women lose their hair too, and more and more of them are turning to hair transplants.

Joining me to talk about the procedure are two experts. First is Dr. Michael Reed. He's Assistant Professor of Clinical Dermatology at NYU Medical Center and he directs their hair transplant program. Next to him is Dr. Robert Cattani. He's one of the founders of the American Board of Hair Restoration Surgery and he practices in New York. Welcome.

As I said, we usually think of men, but women certainly do lose their hair. How many women actually are turning to transplants?

MICHAEL L. REED, MD: This is a male dominated field historically. It was male surgeons and male patients in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, which is probably good because the techniques were so bad that no one would go near women. They were too smart to do that. But as recently as 1990 in my practice, maybe 1 out of 20 patients was a women. In the first few months of 2000, it's 50% women and 50% men. They got to be equal. This is for women, just like it is for men. The women might even take over.

DAVID R. MARKS, MD: Dr. Cattani, why would a woman choose transplantation?

ROBERT V. CATTANI, MD: First of all David, they are devastated by their hair loss, more so than men. They feel singled out. They feel this is highly unusual. They feel this may be a manifestation of something else in their medical condition. They are so bothered by it. Men who know that women will lose their hair will say, "Well, a woman can always have a hair piece." The answer to that is yes, but they detest when that hairpiece has to come off. So now they know that this is no longer unusual, that there are surgical remedies, that there is micrografting, and that there is the ability to cosmetically improve their hair loss through surgery.

DAVID R. MARKS, MD: Tell me about micrografting in women.

MICHAEL L. REED, MD: Micrografting in women is really the same as it is in men. I'll just show you a picture here. One of the reasons why we have made advances in this field is that we understand something now which is called the follicular unit concept. This is a video microscopic view, very close up of normal scalp. Here we see the hair shafts arising from the scalp. If you look at them, you can see quite obviously that it's clear they grow in little anatomical clusters which we now call follicular units. These grow anywhere from 1-6 hairs per cluster. This concept has resulted in much more natural results. We basically do micrografts of these individual follicular units, either one or two or three of them together. If we get these close enough together in an area of thin scalp in women, we can actually go in between those hairs. We can get in between those with those little instruments.

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