Health Food Vitamin

Hair loss sufferers seeking real hair loss help often come to our hair restoration forum asking questions about hair restoration methods that might work best for them.  This hair restoration forum member asked whether or not a synthetic hair transplant is a viable option.  This insightful answer was posted by well respected hair restoration discussion forum member “BeHappy”.

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Synthetic hair transplants are illegal in the USA because of the problems and complaints synthetic hair transplant patients were making as a result of having it done.  I looked into doing this as one of my hair restoration options because it was still being done then.  It was banned shortly after I was considering it.  The hair transplant doctor would attach hair (could be real or fake) to tiny aluminum (or or something similar such as plastic) tips, sort of like putting a small piece of metal around the end of the hair and crimping the metal so the hair stays on it. Then they make the slits in the recipient area and put the synthetic or real hair grafts in so the metal ends are in your scalp. After a few days the healing of the holes they made will grow around and over the metal tips, so they can’t come out.

The synthetic hair transplant patient will end up with several thousand little pieces of metal/plastic small “pipes” in their heads. The hair doesn’t grow whether real or fake, so it’s always the same length. Over time natural occurrences such as combing your hair, strong winds if your hair is being blown around, shampooing your hair, etc slowly makes the implanted hair come out, many times leaving the tips lodged in your head. After a few years the synthetic hair transplant patient will have to go back to do an overall fill in to replace all of those that fell out. This includes surgically removing any of the pieces that remain lodged into your scalp. After this is performed a few times the hair transplant patient’s scalp is often very scarred and it is inevitable that the patient will have to continue going back for a refill every few years forever.  Small infections may occur on an ongoing basis because of having thousands of little pins in your head constantly. Your body doesn’t like that and will keep trying to reject them. This can lead to pain and stinging when you try to comb your hair or when someone puts their hands through your hair.

Nearly everyone who has had synthetic hair transplantation has eventually had them all removed for one reason or another (money, infections, pain, etc). The hair transplant patient is then left with a bald head full of scars which makes it harder to have a real hair replacement surgery which would have been a more sound hair loss treatment.

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Bill - aka Falceros
Associate Publisher of the Hair Transplant Network and the Hair Loss Learning Center
View my Hair Loss Weblog

I pointed out a paper in passing a few weeks back, in which researchers put forward a model to explain how some species can evolve extreme longevity, or even agelessless (or negligible senescence).

As it turns out, there may be some plausible scenarios - which is a good thing, given the fact that many extremely long-lived animal species exist, and that some might indeed be ageless. Problems arise for any theory that cannot explain the outliers. Chris Patil has given this work a great deal more attention over at Ouroboros, and you should take look.

The evolution of negligible senescence:

The evolution of negligible senescence, part II: Organisms that are remotely like us:

Mole rats are no less similar to humans than lab mice are. Therefore, biogerontologists are very interested in learning the detailed mechanisms by which mole rats have delayed senescence, since it’s likely (more likely than for clams and trees, anyway) that these details might be of some practical use to us.

The most important lesson to learn from an examination of the huge range in animal - even mammal - longevity is that it is possible to design better humans with the biotechnology of tomorrow. Longer lived, less diseased, less prone to aging. That is the driving goal behind much of the mainstream work in metabolism, genetics and aging these days. It'll be a long time in the making, however - a truly massive undertaking of great scope and complexity.

While that great work is underway, we should devote more resources to the easier path to longevity: learning how to repair the humans we have now.

My attention was drawn to a Spanish article on one of the many research groups investigating the role of p53 in aging and cancer. There has been a great deal of interest in finding ways around the "cancer or aging, choose one" limitation to this set of biochemical mechanisms, thought to apply until recently. This Spanish article is somewhat in advance of the scientific publication; I'm not sure why that is the case.

The translation via Google is fair (suggestions taken on a better translation automaton):

Because this extension of life, 50% in superratones is the longest that has been described in mammals.

You get the gist, despite the breakdown of translation in the last few sentences: there are combinations of metabolic and genetic states in mammals not selected for by evolution that nonetheless lead to a clearly superior beast, from our perspective at least. Well, more or less. If you head over to the Methuselah Foundation forums, you'll find that Michael Rae wrote a long piece on this research back in mid-2007, before the life span studies were complete:

There are a lot of caveats and details both prior and after that statement, many of which still apply even with these final life span study results. It's not all completely clear-cut, as is often the case, but I can see this impressive work garnering a great deal of attention in the popular press once it jumps the language gap for the English-speaking world.

Our hair restoration discussion forum is regularly is chalked full of important answers to hair loss and hair transplant related questions.  Additionally, questions are answered daily on our news and blog sites including the Hair Loss Q&A Blog, the Hair Transplant Network, and the Hair Loss Learning Center.

Be sure to check frequently as new highlighted questions and answers will be featured on our hair restoration forum!

Some recent hot hair restoration topics include:

How Does Stress Play a Roll in Causing Hair Loss? Many online articles indicate that stress can play a role in the balding process. Read this article to learn the truth of stress related hair loss and whether or not you are at risk.

Why are Some Patients Better Candidates for Hair Transplant Surgery? Some bald men and women are better candidates for hair replacement surgery than others. Read this article to see why some patients are better candidates than others.

Minimizing Scar Stretching After Hair Transplantation: Read this article to learn how a hair transplant surgeon creates a minimal scar and what you can do to assist.

Bill Seemiller - aka Falceros
Associate Publisher of the Hair Transplant Network and the Hair Loss Learning Center
View my Hair Loss Weblog

When considering hair transplantation, one must consider the varying philosophies and techniques between hair restoration physicians.  Some hair transplant surgeons seem to prefer smaller hair transplant sessions of follicular unit hair transplantation and prefer to accomplish a patient’s hair restoration goals over multiple sessions for those with extensive balding. I know those who typically believe in smaller hair transplant sessions typically are concerned mostly about minimizing the risk of donor scarring.  This is what is typically referred to on our hair restoration forum as the “conservative” approach.

Larger hair transplant megasessions are performed by some hair transplant clinics when appropriate and is typically referred to as the “liberal” approach.  Those hair transplant surgeons who perform hair transplant megasessions on a regular basis believe there is no additional risk of scarring assuming the patient has proper scalp elasticity.  There is also some debate as to what is considered a hair transplant megasession.  Because of many of the recent advancements in hair transplantation, some hair restoration physicians are doing 2500 to 4000 follicular unit grafts in a single hair transplant session on a regular basis.  Depending on the hair transplant patient’s hair characteristics, these hair transplant surgeons may even be able to excise 5000+ follicular unit grafts from the donor hair in a single hair transplant procedure.  This enables many hair transplant patients to meet their hair restoration goals in fewer sessions than those who are receiving smaller hair transplant sessions. 

Hair restoration physicians who are members of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Surgeons perform these hair transplant megasessions on a regular basis when appropriate for the hair transplant patient.  Additionally, these Coalition physicians also perform state of the art ultra refined follicular unit hair transplantation.  With minimally invasive incisions being made in the bald areas, hair transplant physicians can dense pack transplanted hairs closer together.  Additionally, shock loss is minimized and postoperative healing occurs much more quickly.

View real patient hair transplant photos from these hair transplant doctors on our hair restoration forum. 

Bill Seemiller - aka Falceros
Associate Publisher of the Hair Transplant Network and the Hair Loss Learning Center
View my Hair Loss Weblog

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