Hair loss a shocker
Early baldness can cause anxiety, but there are various solutions available
It was not long after my 22nd birthday that I first spotted my dodgy hairline.
As my 20s rolled by, my hair receded. Then, last April, just months before my wedding at 28, I had hair restoration surgery.
Now, two procedures, more than $16,000 and a stress-free wedding later, I am invigorated. After two days of follicular unit extraction (FUE) — in which 1,200 tiny grafts were removed from the back of my head and rehomed at the front — and a further round of scalp micropigmentation to provide an extra illusion of thickness, I barely think about my hair.
It may sound like vanity, but hair loss can be more than a cosmetic issue. Just ask the 45 per cent of men who suffer male pattern baldness before 35. It can spark depression, body dysmorphic disorder and conditions such as trichotillomania, where the loss is worsened by pulling out or twisting hair. Many find themselves withdrawing from daily life.
“I became a recluse,” says Spencer Stevenson, 41. “I was a confident, good-looking guy, had girlfriends and loved life. But when hair loss hit in my early 20s, I was devastated.”
Stevenson invested more than $66,000 in restoring his hair, and now offers advice via his website (spexhair.com). “I’ve had 10 hair transplants, but I made so many mistakes and had nobody to speak to.”
As Stevenson explains to clients, catch hair loss quickly and surgery might be avoided. However, the market is full of bogus remedies.
The handful of products proven by science to fight baldness includes hair stimulant minoxidil and Nizoral, an anti-dandruff shampoo. The gold standard, however, is finasteride, which made headlines after U.S. President Donald Trump was outed as a user by his doctor.
Dr. Edward Ball, 41, owner of London’s Maitland Clinic, says it can slow hair loss or even stop it altogether.
Despite continued leaps in technology, the surgery market around baldness can still embody the Wild West.
Of Stevenson’s 10 procedures, most were attempts to fix the first “unnatural, pluggy” transplant he had in 2000.
Dr. Ball says unlicensed bargain clinics are “popping up” all over the world, while admitting even he was seduced by the latest innovation when going under the knife in 2011.
The Artas robotic hair transplant system is a machine that aims to combine the skill of a surgeon with the precision and speed of technology. It moves around the head and quickly removes the hundreds of grafts needed to carry out FUE, rather than a surgeon doing so by hand. Dr. Ball was a guinea pig.
“They wanted me to speak very highly of the robot, but I can’t do that.”
He worries that patients might be dazzled by the technology, instead of opting for the course of action that is right for them.
One thing is clear: Experience is essential. “There are only a handful of top surgeons in the world that I would trust my head with,” says Stevenson.
The main consideration is the availability of hair at the back of the patient’s head. Once harvested, it does not grow back, meaning the supply is limited.
A legitimate surgeon will match each patient to the transplant method best suited to them, as they may only have one shot at success.
This may meanes chewing FUE in favour of follicular unit transplantation (FUT). Also known as the strip method, this removes a small portion of tissue from the back of the head and places it where the patient is balding.
Of course, such dilemmas may soon be irrelevant. Discussions about 3D printed follicles, cell transplants and hair cloning abound.
Blood-plasma treatments, which involve injecting your own blood into your scalp, are currently in trials and believed by some to improve hair density.
Although Dr. Ball believes a hair revolution may come, for now, he advises caution.
“The thing to be careful of is promising, ‘In five years we’ll have this breakthrough’ because that’s been said for 20 years,” he says.