Hair loss isn’t just a man’s problem. Women often struggle in secret with thinning hair, concealing it with strategic hairstyles or fashionable hats or scarves. Dr. Marc DuPéré offers hair transplant and restoration for women in and around Toronto. Women who choose Dr. DuPéré enjoy a thoughtful, personalized treatment plan and an experience that’s second to none.
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Hair restoration for women is a specialized procedure aimed at addressing hair thinning and hair loss in female patients. The process typically involves transplanting healthy hair follicles from donor areas to areas of the scalp or the eyebrows with thinning or no hair, creating natural-looking and long-lasting results.
Although women experience hair loss at nearly the same rate as men, its causes are different. Female hair loss and baldness are often tied to one or more of the following factors:
In women, hair loss tends to begin at the crown, beginning with thinning and eventually shifting to significant hair loss on the top of the head. This type of hair loss is categorized with the Ludwig Scale.
There is also a small population of female patients who deal with a type of hair loss that’s similar to male-pattern baldness. Because this type of hair loss can have a genetic component, Dr. DuPéré recommends that patients pursuing hair restoration bring photos of their parents and grandparents to the first consultation.
Some women also experience thinning eyebrows or eyelashes, or hair loss from facial surgery (such as hair not growing easily in scars or stress-related telogen effluvium).
Loss of hair in the eyelids and eyebrows is usually patient-induced. Repeated plucking of the eyebrows over time can lead to the inability of the hair follicles to produce a hair shaft and thinning or loss, partial or complete loss of their eyebrow hair. Similarly, cosmetic treatments to the eyelashes, artificial eyelash application, inadvertent plucking of eyelashes can result in the loss of eyelash growth at one or more of the eyelash anatomic ciliary lash line locations.
The procedure for the eyelashes—and eyebrows—is very similar to the scalp techniques with mild variations. As a plastic surgeon, eyelid surgery—both aesthetic and reconstructive (BCC, SCC skin cancers, etc.), is a very common procedure so plastic surgeons understand completely the eyelid and eyebrow anatomy.
Once the surgical plan and the number of follicular unit eyelashes and eyebrow donor hairs have been selected, the procedure is performed under local anesthesia and as an outpatient. Dilute local anesthetic is inserted into the area of the donor site, FUE harvest region.
We carefully extract hair follicles with our FUE technology, SmartGraft, for all transplantation procedures.
The difference with eyelashes is that we do protect the eyes first with a corneal protector and eye lubricant and topical eye anesthetics (same as I do during eyelid surgery, laser to face, etc.) and the hair is grafted as single follicle, not group of follicles (usually a mix of those in scalp hair restoration). This is done under the same local anesthesia as is done with scalp hair transplantation, under my supervision and with my nurses and technicians.
The donor site hair is matched to the recipient hair (the eyebrow or eyelashes) both in caliber and diameter; these are often from the sides of the scalp above the ear. A small patch of donor hair needs to be shaved very short to facilitate the FUE harvest technique (same as scalp hair techniques) and prevent clogging of the SmartGraft harvesting system.
The density of the eyebrow and eyelash hair loss will determine the number of single hair FUE grafts to be harvested. It may be only a few follicular units to several hundred single-unit FUE grafts. Once the requisite numbers of single hair follicular unit extraction shafts and bulbs have been removed, the donor site of the eyebrow and eyelash is prepared and cleansed and under local anesthesia (and corneal protectors for lid procedures), tiny little recipient slits are made into which the FUE grafts are placed. The single hair FUE graft placement is scientific and artistic and needs to be in the right density. Angulation is also key in those 2 applications. The new follicular unit extraction grafts pick up a blood supply and start to produce the hair shafts. The hair shafts can grow quite long so they need to be cut and trimmed regularly with eyebrow and eyelash care.
Single hair FUE graft hair transplantation from the scalp to the eyebrow or eyelashes takes 2 to 4 hours to perform depending on the number of grafts required and the amount and number of eyebrow or eyelash hairs to be repaired. The procedure is performed under local anesthesia comfortably as an outpatient and patients can often return to work in a few days.
SmartGraft is a popular hair restoration option for women for several reasons:
Many transgender (MTF) patients need the frontal and temporal hairline brought down in order to achieve a more feminine appearance. Dr. DuPéré specializes in this type of forehead reduction procedure using FUE hair transplant technology and sometimes more complex surgical reduction. Read more in this blog post.
Would you like to learn more about hair restoration? Request your consultation online or call our Toronto office at (416) 929-9800.
Good candidates for hair restoration for women are individuals experiencing hair thinning, hair loss, or pattern baldness. Suitable candidates should have sufficient donor hair on the scalp, be in overall good health, have realistic expectations about the outcomes of the procedure, and not have any medical conditions that could hinder the success of the treatment.
Hair loss in women can be attributed to various factors, including genetic predisposition, hormonal changes (such as menopause), medical conditions (e.g., polycystic ovary syndrome), certain medications, stress, and nutritional deficiencies. A thorough evaluation by a hair restoration specialist can help determine the specific cause of hair loss in individual cases.
Hair restoration options for women typically include Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) and Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) procedures. FUE involves extracting individual hair follicles from the donor area (which requires a large scalp area to be shaved) and transplanting them to the recipient area. FUT, on the other hand, involves removing a strip of hair-bearing scalp (an no obvious residual shaved scalp post hair strip harvesting) and dissecting it into individual grafts for transplantation. The transplantation process is otherwise identical, be it FUE or FUT.
Yes, when performed by an experienced and skilled hair restoration specialist, hair restoration for women can yield natural-looking results. The transplanted hair is meticulously placed to match the patient’s natural hair growth pattern, ensuring a seamless and undetectable outcome.
Hair restoration for women is typically performed under local anesthesia with oral sedation, ensuring that patients remain comfortable and pain-free during the procedure. Mild nitrous oxide gas sedation is also often suggested. Some patients may experience mild discomfort after the procedure, which can be managed with prescribed pain medication.
After the hair restoration procedure, the transplanted hair follicles go through a shedding phase before new hair growth occurs. Patients can expect to see noticeable improvement within a few months, with more significant results becoming apparent as the new hair continues to grow over time.
The results of hair restoration for women are considered permanent since the transplanted hair follicles are taken from donor areas that are not affected by hair loss. However, it is essential to maintain good hair care practices and follow the advice of the hair restoration specialist to ensure long-lasting results.
To explore hair restoration options and determine if you are a suitable candidate, schedule a consultation with a hair restoration specialist, such as Dr. Marc DuPéré. During this appointment, the specialist will assess your hair loss concerns and recommend a personalized treatment plan to help you achieve your desired hair restoration goals.
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