Depend­ing on your hair loss sit­u­a­tion, the cost of a hair trans­plant can vary from per­son to per­son. For some, the cost of a hair trans­plant is a major con­cern. Espe­cially is these times of eco­nomic cri­sis, spend­ing thou­sands of dol­lars on a cos­metic pro­ce­dure may seem a lit­tle extreme.

A piece of advice I would give would be to do some thor­ough research when it comes to hair trans­plant cost. Due to the pop­u­lar­ity of hair trans­plant surgery and the advances in tech­niques of fol­lic­u­lar unit graft tech­nol­ogy, the mar­ket is flooded with spe­cial low prices for hair trans­plant grafts.

Although the cost of a hair trans­plant surgery may seem extreme to many, you have to con­sider the long term invest­ment it will have on your self esteem and the results are for a life­time. If you have suf­fered from hair loss, and you are read­ing this, you know what the feel­ing is like. You may ask your­self, “where do I start?” when decid­ing on hair trans­plant cost. I real­ize cost is an issue, but you have to con­sider that what you pay now will only affect you in the short term. Sure, you want to look for the low­est price, but also keep in mind that your hair trans­plant surgery is per­ma­nent. If you try and save a few bucks and skimp a lit­tle, you may get a ‘not so impres­sive’ out­come. Most hair trans­plants are pretty good these days, so don’t get too scared. The doll-head like result is still seen at times in a town near you, but it is not so com­mon any­more. This type of surgery has really advanced in the last 10 to 15 years. The best hair trans­plant surg­eries are the pro­ce­dures that you never rec­og­nize. You don’t rec­og­nize the trans­plant because its looks so natural.

Now, sev­eral fac­tors can con­tribute to the cost of a hair trans­plant. One fac­tor would be the num­ber of ses­sions you want to have. The sec­ond fac­tor would be the type of pro­ce­dure used. Third, hair trans­plant cost may be deter­mined by where you have the pro­ce­dure. For exam­ple, the cost of a hair trans­plant may be more expen­sive if the surgery is per­formed by a hair restora­tion clinic. These clin­ics carry more of an over­head to run. Con­trar­ily, if you have the pro­ce­dure done by a doc­tor or sur­geon who is in pri­vate prac­tice, it may cost less due to the lower over­head. This will ulti­mately trans­late to a con­sid­er­able sav­ings to the client.

Over­all cost of a hair trans­plant actu­ally varies on each client’s par­tic­u­lar hair loss sit­u­a­tion. This also has to be cou­pled with real­is­tic expec­ta­tions to the client. Keep­ing the real­is­tic expec­ta­tions in mind, the cost can be as lit­tle as $2,500 all the way up to $9,000 price range. Most doc­tors’ will pitch or sell you on price per graft, which will usu­ally run between $3 to $8 price ranges. Remem­ber, each graft can con­tain 1,2,3, or 4 hairs. The aver­age price for most doc­tors is typ­i­cally $5 to $6 per graft.
Let us look at the big pic­ture of hair trans­plant cost. Many men and women spend hun­dreds of dol­lars a year on hair pre­ven­tion prod­ucts such as Rogaine and Prope­cia. These prod­ucts can be effec­tive in some peo­ple, but the results will be lost if you dis­con­tinue tak­ing these prod­ucts. Many peo­ple opt for non-surgical pro­ce­dures such as hair sys­tems, hair weaves, wigs, and other non-surgical solu­tions. The major­ity of the pop­u­la­tion sup­ports the opin­ion that, hair trans­plant surgery is the most attrac­tive option because it was the only per­ma­nent solu­tion, and it looks natural.

With the busy agen­das we push our­selves to accom­plish daily, we are bound to be stressed out and exhausted. We for­get to slow down and take care of our­selves, which results in other stress related con­di­tions to occur. When you get up in the morn­ing and are get­ting ready to work, if you were to run your hand through your hair, it will come away with mul­ti­ple strands, more than the usual. And again when you wash your hair, more hair loses. Such is the human body, it acts and reacts to every­thing we do and eat. There­fore, it is essen­tial to take care of our body and try keep­ing calm and relaxed to avoid hair loss con­di­tions. Some of the other causes could be hor­monal imbal­ance, thy­roid lev­els are not cor­rect, indi­ges­tion, tak­ing of cer­tain med­ica­tion or addicted to drugs. If you are under treat­ment for some other ail­ment and have been tak­ing med­ica­tion con­tin­u­ously and notice hair loss, you will also see it stops when you stop tak­ing the pills. So, this is just a tem­po­rary con­di­tion and noth­ing major. Peo­ple have today real­ized the value of using nat­ural prod­ucts since they have lit­tle or no side effects and are effective.

1.  Alter your diet

A sure shot way by which one can pro­mote hair growth is to watch their diet. Every time you eat a chip or take a drag of a cig­a­rette, you need to remem­ber you are harm­ing your body. There­fore, by keep­ing track of what you put into your mouth, you can help cleanse your sys­tem and help hair grow bet­ter. If you are over­weight, you will need to con­trol the amount of food and the kind of food you con­sume, and this will grad­u­ally reflect on your hair’s health.

2. Avoid using chem­i­cals and chang­ing brands

If there is any cer­tain sham­poo or serum that you have been using on your hair based on your hair expert’s opin­ion, do not change the brand sud­denly.  You might see mul­ti­ple adver­tise­ments and pro­mo­tions for sham­poos that pro­mote hair growth, or give you long lus­cious hair, don’t get tempted by these and fall for them. You might be sub­ject­ing your hair to stronger doses of chem­i­cals. Instead opt for aloe vera or pro­tein rich sham­poo with a good con­di­tioner to keep the nutri­ents intact and help the scalp get more blood.

There are sham­poos which are made using wal­nut bark or kelp oil that will help keep your scalp clean and stop the prob­lems of thin­ning or bald­ing. When you are done wash­ing your hair, it will not be dry, but will have cer­tain essen­tial oils remain­ing in the strands to help them grow better.

3. Hor­monal balances

Upon con­sult­ing your endocri­nol­o­gist, you will be pre­scribed med­ica­tion that will bring your hor­mones into con­trol, and curb pro­duc­tion of DHT. This will auto­mat­i­cally aid in hair growth.

Genetic fac­tors may pre­dis­pose males to hair loss, this is con­di­tion is often referred to as male pat­tern bald­ness. Male pat­tern bald­ness is more sus­cep­ti­ble in males who have high lev­els of DHT (dihy­drotestos­terone) a gene that is found to be the cul­prit of bald­ing. Pre­vent­ing hair loss should be a mat­ter of con­cern for those who are more sus­cep­ti­ble to hair loss and begin­ning to expe­ri­ence male pat­tern bald­ness. Obtain­ing knowl­edge and a clear under­stand­ing of the envi­ron­men­tal and genetic fac­tors that go into crest­ing this con­di­tion is imper­a­tive oth­er­wise, if not addressed, can lead to baldness.

Alope­cia is what doc­tors and other med­ical experts call hair loss that has been caused by genet­ics. In just about every case, this alope­cia is andro­genic in nature, mean­ing that there are hor­mones within the body that inter­act with hair fol­li­cles of the scalp. In some males, these fol­li­cles become sen­si­tive to DHT (dihydrotestosterone).

There is also sev­eral other genetic or envi­ron­men­tal fac­tors that go into mak­ing up the con­di­tion that cre­ates andro­genic alope­cia, and although it is referred to as “male pat­tern bald­ness” women are just as sus­cep­ti­ble. One such envi­ron­men­tal fac­tor has been iden­ti­fied that relates the kinds and qual­ity of aer­o­bic exer­cise to the bald­ness though the link is still some­what unproven.

At any rate, many men and women are con­fronted with grad­ual loss of the hair on top of their heads and quite often become alarmed by it. There are ways, through, to help pre­vent such loss these days. New prod­ucts– mostly nat­ural in nature – have come into the mar­ket that show great promise in help­ing men and women to keep what they already have on their head and maybe even add a lit­tle bit more to it.

Most of these new prod­ucts are com­posed mainly of vit­a­mins, herbs and min­er­als into sup­ple­ments that are taken orally and some­time are com­bined with a top­i­cal appli­ca­tion. Those who sus­pect or fear that they will become vic­tims of alope­cia can begin tak­ing these vit­a­mins and herbs as soon as they begin to expe­ri­ence hair loss. They do not have to accept exces­sive or per­ma­nent hair loss, espe­cially with all of the pre­ventable prod­ucts on the mar­ket today.

While the loss of hair from the scalp- hair thin­ning, male pat­tern bald­ness, a reced­ing hair­line, and alope­cia– is a very com­mon and frus­trat­ing prob­lem among both men and women, some indi­vid­u­als suf­fer from loss of over­all body hair. There are five main causes of body hair loss– skin con­di­tions, hor­monal dis­or­ders, med­ica­tions and other med­ical ill­nesses, stress, and diet. Cer­tain skin con­di­tions, such as eczema, pso­ri­a­sis, der­mati­tis, skin injury, and burns, cause dam­age to the hair fol­li­cles and sur­round­ing cells mak­ing hair growth impos­si­ble. In some of these instances, espe­cially in the case of severe skin burns, the cell dam­age can be irre­versible so the body hair loss is also permanent.

Aside from hor­monal dis­or­ders and skin injury, cer­tain other med­ical ill­ness can lead to loss of body hair. Can­cer, dis­eases that affect the immune sys­tem, and con­di­tions that dis­rupt organ func­tion can all cause tem­po­rary lapses in the nat­ural hair growth process. In most cases the body hair loss is restricted to one or two areas most affected by the dis­ease or ill­ness, but in some cases the hair loss can be seen all over the body.

Because there are so many dif­fer­ent rea­sons that you may be los­ing the hair all over your body it is imper­a­tive that you see a doc­tor at the first sign of this hair loss. If the hair loss is a result of an under­ly­ing med­ical con­di­tion it is impor­tant that you receive treat­ment for the dis­ease not just the hair loss.

Top 5 foods for Healthy Hair

When it comes to healthy hair, it’s not just what prod­ucts you use that con­tributes to its heath. Hav­ing healthy hair also includes hav­ing a healthy diet. If you were born with fine, thin hair, you’ll never have rope-thick tresses — no mat­ter what you eat — but a well-balanced diet that includes plenty of growth-promoting pro­tein and iron can make a dif­fer­ence. Read on for the top 5 foods that should be the foun­da­tion of your healthy hair diet.

1. Salmon

When it comes to foods that pack a beauty punch, it’s hard to beat salmon. Loaded with omega-3 fatty acids, this high-quality pro­tein source is also filled with vit­a­min B-12 and iron.

2.     Dark Green Vegetables

Spinach, like broc­coli and Swiss chard, is an excel­lent source of vit­a­mins A and C, which your body needs to pro­duce sebum. The oily sub­stance, secreted by your hair fol­li­cles, is the body’s nat­ural hair con­di­tioner. Dark green veg­eta­bles also pro­vide iron and calcium.

3.     Beans

Legumes like kid­ney beans and lentils should be an impor­tant part of your hair-care diet. Not only do they pro­vide plen­ti­ful pro­tein to pro­mote hair growth, but ample iron, zinc, and biotin. While rare, biotin defi­cien­cies can result in brit­tle hair.

4.     Nuts

Brazil nuts are one of nature’s best sources of sele­nium, an impor­tant min­eral for the health of your scalp.Walnuts con­tain alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid that may help con­di­tion your hair. They are also a ter­rific source of zinc, as are cashews, pecans, and almonds. A zinc defi­ciency can lead to hair shed­ding, so make sure nuts are a reg­u­lar on your healthy hair menu.

5.     Poul­try

Chick­ens and turkeys may have feath­ers, but the high-quality pro­tein they pro­vide will help give you the healthy hair you crave. Poul­try also pro­vides iron with a high degree of bioavail­abil­ity, mean­ing your body can eas­ily reap its benefits.

Causes of hair loss induced by scalp infections.

Fol­li­culi­tis

Fol­li­culi­tis is a term for inflam­ma­tion of hair fol­li­cles. It looks like acne with lit­tle rings of inflam­ma­tion sur­round­ing the open­ing of a hair fol­li­cle. In the early stages of a fol­li­culi­tis, the hair fiber may still be present, but as the fol­li­culi­tis pro­gresses the hair often falls out. There are non-infectious forms of fol­li­culi­tis, such as those caused by oils and greases applied to the skin that clog up the hair fol­li­cles, but fol­li­culi­tis is usu­ally due to a bac­te­r­ial infec­tion. Non­pre­scrip­tion top­i­cal antibi­otics such as bac­i­tracin, myc­i­tracin, or neomycin can be used to treat minor folliculitis

Piedra

Piedra (tri­chomy­co­sis nodu­laris) hap­pens when the hair fibers are infected by a fun­gus. The vis­i­ble indi­ca­tor of a piedra infec­tion is devel­op­ment of hard nod­ules on hair fibers. Indeed, “piedra” is Span­ish for stone. Piedra infec­tion may affect hairs of the scalp, body, and gen­i­tal areas. Usu­ally the infec­tion is rel­a­tively benign. In parts of Malaysia, the nod­ules of black piedra are con­sid­ered attrac­tive and tra­di­tion­ally women encour­aged its growth by sleep­ing with their hair buried in the soil. Treat­ment gen­er­ally involves shav­ing off affected areas. Anti-fungals such as keto­cona­zole or terbinafine are also used.

Demodex fol­licu­lo­rum

Demodex is a lit­tle worm-like crea­ture that likes to live on skin and in hair fol­li­cles. It feeds on dead skin and oils, so it par­tic­u­larly likes to live in hair fol­li­cles where there are lots of both.

Humans are born free of Demodex, but dur­ing child­hood, through con­tact with oth­ers, the skin can become infected with it. For the most part, we never know they are there. They are benign, if repul­sive, lit­tle crea­tures. The most com­mon prob­lem with Demodex is that they may cause irri­ta­tion, par­tic­u­larly in the eye­lashes. If you have itchy eye­lashes, Demodex may be the problem.

Mis­tak­enly thought to be a strictly male dis­ease, women make up a sig­nif­i­cant per­cent­age of Amer­i­can hair loss suf­fer­ers. In female pat­tern hair loss some excess loss of hair is noted, but grad­ual thin­ning is the rea­son women seek pro­fes­sional advice from a physi­cian hair restora­tion spe­cial­ist. Nor­mal hair shed­ding is approx­i­mately 100–150 hairs per day, in female pat­tern hair loss the shed­ding sub­stan­tially increases and becomes more evi­dent. The affected areas uni­formly grow back smaller in diam­e­ter (minia­tur­ize). The hair that takes place in the affected area will appear fuzzy and invis­i­ble (peach fuzz).

Pat­terns of female bald­ness can vary con­sid­er­ably in appear­ance. Pat­terns that may occur include:

• Dif­fuse thin­ning over the entire scalp
• Dif­fuse thin­ning other the entire scalp, with more notice­able thin­ning toward the front of the scalp

Hair loss in women can be absolutely dev­as­tat­ing for self image and emo­tional well-being. For­tu­nately, with the new inno­v­a­tive tech­niques hair restora­tion has to offer women are now able to achieve per­ma­nent growth with the new fol­lic­u­lar unit and min­i­graft techniques.

There are a wide vari­ety of scalp infec­tions that can cause severe hair loss. For­tu­nately, most scalp infec­tion can be treated suc­cess­fully and have a sig­nif­i­cant effect on the hair growth. The main causes of scalp infec­tions are bac­te­ria, fun­gus, virus or par­a­sites. Fol­licul­tius is a bac­te­r­ial infec­tion which affects a large area of the scalp. If the infec­tion is deep in the hair fol­li­cles the dam­age may cause for a more exten­sive treat­ment but, if caught in time and treated it will heal quickly. An exam­ple of fun­gal infec­tion is Tinea Capits, which is cause by viral and par­a­sitic fol­li­culi­tis. Gen­er­ally it affects other hair grow­ing areas such as the body, beard, eye­brows, and eye­lashes. Pei­dra is another very com­mon scalp infec­tion that affects both curly and straight hair. It can lead to for­ma­tion of nod­ules on the infected hair, how­ever with care­ful exam­i­na­tion of these scalp infec­tions treat­ment can solve the hair loss.

Tri­chor­re­hexis nodosa gives hair a paint brush like look. This is because the hair fiber has a defect that dam­ages the cuti­cle layer result­ing in the dis­rup­tion of the cor­tex; this is just one exam­ple of a hair shaft abnor­mal­ity. There are many types of hair shaft abnor­mal­i­ties; one of the most com­mon is Tri­ch­or­rhexis Nodosa. Tri­chor­re­hexis nodosa is a focal defect in the hair fiber. The cuti­cle layer is com­pletely absent, this cause a large num­ber of fry­ing and swelling nodes that are evi­dent in par­tic­u­lar spots along the length of the hair fiber. The cuti­cle is the layer that pro­vides phys­i­cal sup­port, and pro­tec­tion of the cor­tex. The expo­sure of the cor­tex layer to chem­i­cals in the envi­ron­ment leads to dam­age and diminu­tion of the strength of the hair fiber, the cor­tex becomes weak and the hair may split and fray into minute strands so defec­tively that the cuti­cle will break down and as you brush your hair the hair fiber may break. The cause of it can be con­gen­i­tal. Some indi­vid­u­als have nat­u­rally weak hair where the cuti­cle is not prop­erly pro­duced. It can also be acquired as a result of exces­sive hair manip­u­la­tion and over pro­cess­ing. Treat­ment for tri­ch­or­rhexis nodosa depends on the cause. If con­gen­i­tal it would be advised to seek treat­ment that improves the strength of the hair fiber and fol­li­cle. If the cause is acquired through exces­sive hair manip­u­la­tion obvi­ous treat­ment would be to reduce the amount of hair manipulation.

Types of Tri­ch­or­rhexis nodosa

·         Prox­i­mal tri­ch­or­rhexis nodosa

·         Dis­tal tri­ch­or­rhexis nodosa

The more severe of the two is prox­i­mal tri­ch­or­rhexis. Often if occurs in Afro-Caribbean peo­ple because their hair is very tight and curly.Distal tri­ch­or­rhexis nodosa occurs in straighter hair. The sur­face of the hair becomes dry and dull, for the rea­son that to the shaft is being defected by the nod­ules in the hair fiber.

Each Strand of Hair con­sists of three Layers:

1. An inner­most layer or medulla
2. The mid­dle layer known as the cor­tex. The cor­tex pro­vides strength and both the color and tex­ture of hair.
3. The outer layer is known as the cuti­cle. The cuti­cle is thin and col­or­less and serves as a pro­tec­tor of the cortex.

Hair Grows in three phases –The first is the ANAGEN phase also known as the growth phase, approx­i­mately 85% of all hairs are in the growth phase at one time.  The growth phase can vary from two to six years rang­ing any­where from approx­i­mately 6 to 10 cm per year. The Sec­ond phase is the CATAGEN phase, this lasts about one or two weeks. Within one or two weeks, 25% of the hairs are in a tran­si­tional phase at one time. Dur­ing the sec­ond phase the hair fol­li­cle shrinks to about 1/6 of its nor­mal length. The third phase is the TELOGEN phase (rest­ing phase) and lasts about 5–6 weeks. 13% of all hairs are in the rest­ing phase at one time but this per­cent­age can vary from 4% to 24%.  Dur­ing this time the hair does not grow but stays attached to the fol­li­cle while the der­mal papilla stays in a rest­ing phase. Hair growth from the trans­planted fol­li­cles gen­er­ally begins at 2.5 — 3 months. Some of the hairs can begin to grow as quickly as one month. The remain­der of the hair will start to grow within the year fol­low­ing your pro­ce­dure, patients will see the full results within 8 to 12 months.