Hair Transplantation in Cleveland

If you’re concerned about your hair loss, you are not alone. Over 20 million men in the United States are balding, along with millions of women, and all but a few would like to restore a fuller head of hair. For some people, the search for a cure unfortunately leads to a variety of worthless and sometimes damaging treatments and products. We can help you make the right decision.

This is an exciting time for hair restoration surgery. Advances in equipment and technique now permit us to produce results impossible only a few years ago. As these procedures have gained nationwide acceptance, the popularity of surgical hair restoration has grown remarkably, and it now ranks as one of the top cosmetic procedure performed on men.

The old reputation of hair transplantation included large, visible plugs, noticeable scarring of the donor area as well as the necessity for expensive and disfiguring scalp procedures. This has been replaced by the knowledge that when performed properly, hair transplantation can be virtually undetectable during all activities, and can be completed in a reasonable amount of time for a reasonable cost.

While surgical hair transplantation is the only permanent solution to the problem of baldness, medical treatments for hair loss, including the oral drug Propecia® and Rogaine®, 5% Foam can often be incorporated into your hair restoration program.

We take pride in offering a highly personalized level of attention, and encourage you to compare the services and quality available at our center with those available elsewhere.

Schedule a complimentary consultation visit today to learn more about how state-of-the-art hair transplantation procedures can exceed your greatest expectations.

Procedure Summary

Follicular Unit Micrografting with Microslits is performed by Dr. Haber to provide all the benefits of modern hair restoration surgery. The techniques used by Dr. Haber also eliminate the many pitfalls of previous surgical techniques.

On the day of your procedure, photographs are taken, and your new hairline will be designed and marked on your scalp, with your active involvement. A density measurement will be made of the donor zone, and the donor zone will be trimmed and anesthetized.

Dr. Haber will first make very shallow scoring incisions with a blade, then use the Haber Spreader™. to dissect the donor strip with virtually no transection. The wound will then be closed with staples or sutures. Almost all closures will include the Trichophytic Technique, which can produce nearly invisible scars. The strip will then be “slivered” into small pieces, then further dissected into the follicular units, and all steps are performed using stereomicroscopes. Dr. Haber will then anesthetize the recipient scalp and make the microslit incisions, customizing the size according to the graft size. The follicular unit grafts are then gently placed into the recipient sites.

We use a minimal bandage approach with an absorbent headband, and post-op care consists of frequent spraying of a saline solution onto the planted area. Some patients will return the next day, and most will return about 10 days after surgery for removal of staples or sutures. For patients traveling from long distances, a self-absorbable suture can be used.

Hair Transplant Terminology

Follicular Unit Micrografting

The type of graft we use is the follicular unit, which is a naturally occurring bundle of 1 to 4 hairs that emerge from the scalp together. Nature put them in this way, and we carefully dissect and plant these bundles as intact units, creating the most natural and undetectable hair growth possible. There are centers that still rely on minigrafts or large round plugs as part of their approach. Larger grafts can be successfully planted, but the growth they produce will be far more visible, and will require careful camouflage and hairstyling.

Microslits

These are incisions as small as 0.5mm in size created in the recipient zone that receive the follicular unit micrografts. Using this type of recipient site permits planting grafts close together for maximal density, provides extremely fast healing, and permits the entire transplant process to be completed in the shortest amount of time.

Megasessions

Megasessions refer to sessions in which at least 2000 grafts are placed. They are not fundamentally different from smaller sessions, but require larger numbers of well trained, experienced surgical assistants to produce excellent results. Dr. Haber routinely performs megasessions using between 2000 and 3500 grafts with consistently high quality results, with his team of nine “world class” surgical assistants.

Haber Spreader™

Due to the curvature of the hair follicle, even experienced surgeons using meticulous surgical technique will usually transect many of the follicles at the edge of the strip. Dr. Haber invented the Haber Spreader™ to decrease this transection problem. The device works by gently but firmly separating the strip along a natural cleavage plane after making only very shallow scoring incisions with a blade. The transection rate with this device is often zero, maximizing the graft yield from the strip. The device is particularly useful in patients with very curly hair or grey hair.

Trichophytic Technique

This is a technique in which a small strip along the edge of the donor wound is removed prior to closure, forcing hairs to grow through the donor scar, and rendering the scar far less visible, and sometimes almost invisible.

Special Categories

Women

Women can be excellent candidates for transplant surgery, if they are experiencing certain types of hair loss and have sufficient donor density. Unfortunately, many women have significant thinning of the donor zone, and transplantation in these patients runs the risk of long term dissatisfaction. Women with hair loss should first be evaluated in a Dermatology visit to determine the type of hair loss, and review all available treatment options.

Children

Children generally become candidates for hair transplantation after trauma, such as burns and lacerations, and less often as a result of congenital defects. When appropriate, transplantation can be very successful in these cases.

Eyebrows, Eyelashes, Pubic Hair

These and other sites can all be transplanted successfully using specialized techniques. Depending on the cause of the hair loss, often only a single session may be required.