Hair restoration is a surgical procedure to correct baldness in men. There are various methods of hair restoration.

Scalp Flap Surgery: In this type of surgery, a flap of skin and underlying tissue is removed from a scalp area and moved to another area. The surgeon first cuts out a section of the scalp where there is no hair growth and replaces it with a flap of hair-bearing scalp. The patient does not have to worry about the scar because it is covered by the relocated hair.

This method of hair restoration rectifies non-traumatic cosmetic defects as well as repairs a traumatic injury site and restores its functionality and cosmetic appearance. Another use of scalp flap surgery is repairing a skin defect caused by congenital malformation. The advantages of this hair restoration surgery procedure include natural frontal hairline, proper hair placement in temporal areas, hair pattern distortion avoidance, etc. However, it runs the risk of certain side effects. They include permanent hair loss at donor sites, scarring at donor or recipient sites, and blood supply failure to the flap.

Scalp Reduction Surgery: Scalp reduction surgery is the hair restoration procedure usually meant for people with posterior baldness. In this hair restoration surgery the surgeon reduces the baldness by cutting out a segment of the bald scalp skin. The hair restoration process in scalp reduction surgery has two parts. The first part includes the surgical removal of the bald portion of the scalp. The other part entails hair-bearing scalp being upwardly stretched to replace the bald scalp that has been removed. You many need the scalp reduction surgery to be conducted in combination with the surgical procedure called brow lifting.

This surgical procedure can be carried out through scalp extension or scalp expansion device. In this technique the hair-bearing scalp skin is stretched causing better coverage to bald areas of the scalp. This hair restoration surgery is often combined with hair transplantation.

Recent advances in hair transplantation: These new hair restoration techniques are less complicated and painful.

Follicular Unit Transplantation – At present it is considered to be the most reliable hair transplant technique. Its success rate is almost 10 per cent. A follicular unit is a physiological unit that needs to be extracted and transplanted as an intact unit. Its advantages include natural looking hair, more effective surgery due to the use of stereoscopic microscopes for dissection, avoidance of damage to the follicular unit, etc. However, it is a time consuming procedure.

Direct Hair Implant (DHI) – The minimally invasive hair transplant procedure for follicular hair transplant, DHI is free from the use of scalpel, stitches and a donor strip. The technique is based on the transportation technique named Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE).