Growing Your Own Hair Doesn’t Have to be a Memory

Hair is the fastest growing tissue in the human body. Hair on our scalp grows between .3 and .5 mm per day. That equals half an inch per month, or 6 inches per year. But some unfortunate people have more and more hair follicles enter the dormant phase of the hair growth cycle and never return to active growth.

That’s when you start seeing more and more hair on the brush or comb every morning. And nobody likes that.

Unfortunately, the creams and pills touting hair growth don’t work for the vast majority of people. And hair transplantation hasn’t delivered natural-looking results.

But now Dr. Saltz uses the NeoGraft process for his patients with thinning hair. NeoGraft uses what is known as follicular unit extraction (FUE) and it allows you to start growing hair again using your own follicles.

Follicle by follicle is better

Hair transplantation is nothing new; it’s been attempted for over 60 years. But the results have not been good. Taking a patch of hair from the back of the scalp and transplanting it into a balding area doesn’t create natural looking results. Plus, it leaves a huge scar across the back of the scalp.

It makes more sense to take the hair follicle by follicle from where it is still actively growing and move those follicles to the thinning area. That’s what Dr. Saltz does with NeoGraft. NeoGraft takes individual follicles from the back of the scalp and transplants them into the balding areas. The results look quite natural and are very effective.

How is FUE done?

In a NeoGraft session, the first step is to shave and numb the back of your scalp. This is the area where your hair is still growing normally and isn’t prone to balding. Dr. Saltz then removes hair follicles one by one from this area using the NeoGraft device. This penlike device gently rotates around each particular graft in a cylindrical shape. It uses pneumatic pressure to remove the hair follicles smoothly and uniformly. This is a closed system where Dr. Saltz never touches the follicles. They remain in the NeoGraft system, receiving a light spray of saline solution until they are ready to be transplanted. Each follicle contains between one and four hairs.

Next, the areas where you need hair replaced are cleaned and then numbed. Each recipient site is created with a special tool to the exact specifications of the graft. Dr. Saltz then inserts the hair grafts into the created holes to the precisely measured depth. As you would assume, this is a time consuming process, taking anywhere from four to eight hours.

When will the hair start to grow?

After about two to three weeks, your transplanted hair will fall out. What? Not to worry — this is simply the follicles’ reaction to the trauma. Of your transplanted follicles, around 60 percent will successfully take hold and start growing new hair within six to nine months. Some patients, once they get a good idea of how many follicles have successfully taken, opt to have a second NeoGraft session to further fill in the thinning area.

Interested in filling back in thinning or balding areas? Call us at Saltz Plastic Surgery in our Salt Lake City office, (801) 274-9500, or our beautiful new Park City office, (435) 655-6612.