Previously we’ve talked about Alopecia or more commonly known as hair loss, its symptoms, if there are a cure and treatment, and also how to cope with it. As someone with alopecia myself, I feel you all and that’s why I share my sentiments in this article.

Millions of us suffer from alopecia and including both men and women, and if you’re someone who suffers from it, well that makes both of us. I myself tried to save my thinning hair because people kept noticing my hairline. I know, it’s bothersome even if you try to laugh it off—hell I’m even the joke of family gatherings and I just hide my pain.

I tried medications and used castor oil for my hair. They didn’t work for me so I just accepted my fate.

Previously:

ARTICLE 1

This is unproven but it makes sense that it might be a genetic disorder. My dad is bald, so is my uncle and older brother, even my girlfriend gets worried. I do appreciate the support she gives me so I just learned to accept it.

If you want to preserve your hair, don’t throw in the towel just yet. Although I myself can’t afford it, I’m happy to tell you that surgical treatments like hair transplant are possible and it works very well. Now I’m not bald shaming here, you don’t have to do this if you feel that acceptance is better. Let’s get started by looking at different hair transplant methods that are viable.

What does hair transplant do? 

Naturally, you’ll be asking this. Surgical procedures can tend to give people some a sense of uneasiness over what may happen if the hair transplant procedure goes awry apart from wondering if the money you’ll be spending on it is worth it, and from whom should you get the treatment.

Embed from Getty Images

Hair transplantation is a surgical process wherein hair follicles are taken from a “donor site” or is the healthy part of your head or scalp (usually at the back of the head) that has genetic resistance to balding. The follicles are then transplanted to a “recipient site” or your bald spot. The good news is that it is not really that invasive meaning there’s no huge incisions or cuts. Surprisingly, the procedure is also rather painless as people testify. It’s not only for your hair, but transplantation can also be done to your eyebrows, eyelashes, and even your beard and chest hair.

This explanation is hair transplantation in general but there are two types of treatment that are fairly common nowadays and you ought to give them a look. The procedures in question are the Follicular Unit Transplant and Follicular Unit Extraction. We’ll abbreviate them as “FUT” and “FUE” and we’ll give them in-depth explanations.

Follicular Unit Transplant (FUT)

FUT is also known as Strip Harvesting and it is the traditional method of hair transplantation and also the most common method of removing hair follicles from the donor site

What happens here is that your surgeon will harvest strips of posterior scalp in areas with good hair growth (healthy hair). A scalpel with one to three blades would be used to remove strips of hair that have tissue from the “donor site”.

And speaking of scalpels, there would be incisions to get the follicles out intact. While the wounds close up, they will dissect the individual grafts from the strip and remove excess tissue while taking care to avoid damaging the follicular cells.

For grafting hair follicles; micro blades or fine needles would be used to puncture the sites wherein the grafts would be embedded. The patterns of which they are placed would look natural and realistic as the area and density on which the grafts will be placed are predetermined.

You might feel some discomfort since thin linear scars would be present in the donor areas though it would be covered by the patient’s hair. Additional medication may be given to counteract the slight pain.

Recovery time would be around two weeks and stitches or staples must be removed by medical personnel, although sub-cuticular sutures that melt away by themselves can also be done.

FUT in action below:

Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE)

Also known as FUE Harvesting, compared to FUT this involves removing individual follicular units rather than resorting to an incision to get a strip of scalp and follicles. That means there’s much less pain involved as local anesthesia would be applied. Follicular units that have 1-4 hairs would be removed via “punches” that are 0.6mm-1.0mm small in diameter.

For grafting, it‘s still like what FUT does; puncture and graft.

Do take note that an FUE treatment is very time consuming and you could arrange for it to be administered in a single long session or in multiple short sessions. Plus side about it is that it doesn’t really hurt and you can continue going to work like nothing happened because of the minimal scarring. It’s just much more expensive than an FUT transplant so weight your options well.

WARNING: You might feel a bit uncomfortable watching this. It’s a video of the actual grafting process.


If it weren’t for the anesthesia, that looks like it might’ve been mighty painful.

Post Operation for Both Transplantation Method

In some cases, side effects may occur and the most common form is shock loss.

This occurs when newly transplanted hair follicles fall out during the first week of post operation. But after 2-3 months new hair would begin to grow and eventually thicken.

So there we have it. Those are the two common transplantation methods that are currently available in our country. So now where would you go for a hair transplant in Manila? There are lots of specialists and centers to choose from. Would you take chances if it meant affordability? Or would you only settle for the best in the field?

If I had the money, personally, I’d settle for the real professionals; at least I’d know that I wouldn’t have to worry when having a transplant.

I know one expert though and it’s Dr. Arambulo (Julieta Peralta Arambulo, MD) who’s a member of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery or ISHRS. You’ll see her at the Asian Hair Restoration Center in Pasig City. You can see her in an interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE9ybI4m620 (it’s in Filipino. I would’ve translated and transcribed it if I had more time.)

And I just read about some new technological advances with hair restoration which are something to look forward to. And those are stem cell discovery in hair follicles and also hair cloning. Should it be approved then I think we’ll have better cost-efficient methods.

There is hope!

The hair is a man or woman’s crown of beauty and it compliments one facial feature in ways that are subtle but often noticed by many. Even if it’s fixed up or messy, your hair garners attention as much as how your face and getup does. But that crown of beauty, our hair, just like a real crown, gets worn out as time goes by unless it is well kept. Unfortunately, there are cases that no matter how well you take care of your hair, it just falls out and won’t stop. If that happens, then we have a problem and of course, we’ll want a solution.

Alopecia

Or what we call “hair loss” is the usual culprit when it comes to balding—not to be mistaken with hair shedding, as shedding naturally stops but alopecia really thins out your hair.

How does it happen?

Alopecia is an autoimmune disorder and it happens when our immune system identifies the hair follicles as a threat and then attacks it. Because of that, hair loss happens. You’ll know you have alopecia when a cluster of hair falls off, leaving off a smooth hairless patch. In some cases it would just thin your hair then re-grow thinner—the severity varies.

This affects people both young and old. In most cases, youths aged younger than 20 may experience this, which is true for me as the onset of alopecia started when I was as young as 17 years old. It could also happen much later in life like how my father lost his hair. It could be genetic, but it hasn’t been proven as a primary cause. It doesn’t sound so bad and it is better than having a more serious condition, right? Still, some take it very seriously as it can cause psychological distress to some people. I can give myself as an example: my hairline is getting higher and you’ll see my forehead like a sun rising in Manila Bay. When people do take notice, it gets rather uncomfortable.

Is there a cure?

Well, there’s no permanent cure, but you can treat it so the hair would grow back. Having alopecia doesn’t mean it’s the end of your hair; you could still do something about it.

Medical treatment

It could be in the form of medication. Be it Rogaine, or topical immunotherapy among others. It could be effective but only if the severity of alopecia is mild. DIY treatments sound appealing like applying castor oil but it does not work for everyone. Trust me, I tried. And if medications won’t work, you could try…

Hair Restoration via Transplant

I myself have been thinking of getting a transplant if my hair loss gets worse. I have lots of options to choose from when looking for a surgical treatment; like popular hair restoration clinics in Metro Manila.

When getting a transplant, there are two types of treatments available: the Follicular Unit Transplant (FUT) and the Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE). Long story short FUT gets a strip of hair in a healthy donor area of the scalp and then in FUE, individual donor hair grafts are removed and then transplanted.

In case you were wondering how a hair transplant would go? This is a pretty good example as it shows the end result too.

These methods are costly but prove to be effective treatments for hair loss so look forward to them.

Acceptance

Now I’m not trying to say that having hair compared to being bald is better, I’ve actually accepted this fact that I’ll be bald and embraced it just as how my dad did. Sure it gets irritating when somebody’s busting your balls calling you bald and whatnot or being the butt end of some jokes. You just have to accept and live with it when nothing works.

I used to worry about it, but now? Not so much. I do have to agree that the procedure above really raised my hopes up. Since I don’t have the means for a transplant, I just get my hair shaved per two months to make it look good. I’ve accepted that I am meant to be bald, but not throwing in the towel just yet.

Besides, there are celebs and even fictional characters that look good even little or no hair.

Caption: Left to Right per row: Saitama from One Punch Man, Jason Statham, Dwayne Johnson, Patrick Stewart, Kratos, Vin Diesel, Ainsley Hariott, Rude from FFVII, Agil from Sword Art Online, Brian Cranston as Walter White

Being bald shouldn’t mean that you’re going to be the shiny King Neptune-y center of other people’s attention.


Kidding aside, having to live with being bald and managing getting over the jokes takes a lot of self-control and tolerance so if you know someone who’s really bothered by hair loss, do show your support instead of making a joke out of them.

Remember: In order for an individual to accept who they are, others must be willing to accept that individual despite how they look. Kindness heals all.

Fighting hair loss is only as hard as what you think others might think of you. If you let yourself be bothered by your thinning hair then you just lost the battle. To conquer it, you must make do with what you have and just learn to love it. Or save up for that hair transplantation—both methods will help you feel better about the situation anyway.