Other conditions treated with hair transplants

There are some diseases that cause hair loss that is not treatable using hair restoration techniques. These include alopecia areata. There are plenty of non-genetic or illness-related conditions that can be treated by hair transplantation, including:

• Scarring
• Eyebrows
• Trichillomania
• Traction Alopecia
• Burns
• Post facelift scars
• Post radiation therapy hair loss.

Eyebrow hair transplants

- This can be very successful in cases where hair has been lost due to excessive plucking, trauma or congenital lack of eyebrows.

- The technique is exactly the same as scalp hair transplants but the hair is placed in the eyebrows, either thickening up a sparse area or totally recreating the eyebrow line.

- Initially, the hair does tend to be faster growing and curlier, so needs training and trimming but it does settle down to blend very well with existing eyebrow hair (which tends to be slower growing and straighter).

These techniques can also be used for beards, mustaches, sideburns and even eyelashes.

Post face lift scars or alopecia

- These can occur when the skin in front of the ear i.e. sideburn is removed to tighten up the face over the cheek and jaw.

- Lack of hair here can look “wrong” or the surgeon may place the scar around the ear line but this scar can be visible if there is hair missing from the sideburns. Again, standard hair transplant techniques are used to re implant hair.

Tricillomania

- This is similar to excessive plucking of eyebrows. Obsessive pulling or twisting of hair damages the hair root until it no longer grows properly.

- Once the patient has stopped the Obsessive Compulsive behaviour ( OCD ), then the damaged hair can be replaced by hair surgery.

Traction Alopecia

This is again basically caused by excessive pulling on the hair roots, this time by over tight hair styles. This can affect men or women with pony tails, dreadlocks or those who wear turbans.

Burns

This obviously damage the skin but it is the deep burns that cause hair loss. Because hair roots don’t regenerate in scarred or burnt skin, hair is permanently lost. However, hair transplants can still survive in reasonably healthy scarred tissue so this can still help such patients.

Post Radiation Therapy Hair Loss

This can be due to an actual burn or more usually, it is because fast growing cells such as hair roots, are more susceptible to radiotherapy damage. The surrounding skin can be left still fairly healthy but the hair has been killed. This is not a problem on the body but in hairy areas such as the scalp, it is obvious when a patch is missing. Fortunately, hair transplanting is usually successful, the only problem is if there is a large area to cover and some of the donor area has also been damaged.