Thinning Hair? Here’s How to Know if You’re a Candidate for Hair Restoration

Every morning, you see more hair than usual floating around the shower drain or into your sink. So it may come as no surprise that you’re starting to see far more of your scalp, too.

Thinning hair is a common problem that affects millions of Americans — both men and women. Up to 85% of men will experience noticeable hair loss as they age, alongside more than half of women.

As experts in hair restoration, our team at Vivida Dermatology has helped hundreds of patients fight back against thinning hair using the gold standard in hair restoration — hair transplants. Based on this experience, we know who makes a good candidate. Let’s take a look at the details of the procedure and whether it could be right for you.

Hair transplantation with FUE

We rely on a hair transplantation technique called FUE, which stands for follicular unit excision. 

With FUE, we harvest healthy hair follicles, one at a time, and transplant them into areas where your hair is thinning. We typically take follicles from the sides and back of your head. Why?

The average head contains about 100,000 hair follicles, but these follicles can behave differently depending on the location. This explains why many men first experience thinning hair around the hairline and the top of the head. Women tend to lose hair more uniformly, but it does tend to be more noticeable around the part and hairline — in other words, more toward the front. 

For this reason, we usually take donor follicles from the areas that resist thinning the most.

Good candidates for hair transplantation

To determine a good candidate for FUE, we look for:

• Thinning hair due to androgenic alopecia (the leading driver of hair loss in both men and women)—and not some other condition
• Enough hair growth in the harvest areas to support transplantation
• Good overall health status to undergo the procedure
• Stable hair loss (not sudden hair loss, due to things like stress or abrupt hormone changes)

We also want to make sure that each candidate has reasonable expectations about the process and results. For example, you need to be patient, as it can take anywhere from several months to two years before you see the final results. 

A final note

While transplanted hair follicles can provide great long-term results, they, too, can succumb to thinning down the road. Bear in mind that we minimize this by using stable hair follicles from areas of your scalp where thinning isn’t as common.

For personalized guidance as to whether you're a good candidate for hair transplantation with FUE, contact one of our offices in Las Vegas or Henderson, Nevada, and St. George, Utah, to schedule a consultation.