Frequently asked questions

Hair Loss

Why does hair fall out?

Understanding Hair Loss

Hair loss can result from various causes, including environmental factors, stress, diet, disease, and commonly, male pattern hair loss. Naturally, hair goes through a life cycle where some shedding occurs, so finding a few loose hairs on a brush, pillowcase, or in the sink is not alarming. People typically shed up to 100 hairs daily, which are usually replaced with new growth.

Androgenic Alopecia

Alopecia, meaning “hair loss,” can occur in various forms. Androgenic Alopecia, or hair loss due to hormonal activity, is the most common cause of baldness in men. Studies suggest that by age 30, 25% of men experience Alopecia, and by age 60, 66% will see hair loss. This type of hair loss is genetically triggered and can sometimes begin shortly after puberty.

Androgenic Alopecia is often caused by the action of DHT (dihydrotestosterone), a form of testosterone. DHT can cause hair follicles to deteriorate to the point where they can no longer produce normal hair. Some topical medications and shampoos claim to block DHT to prevent this.

Dr. Hasson and Dr. Wong often recommend Finasteride to combat further hair loss and potentially prevent damage from DHT. While results vary among patients, many see noticeable improvement.

Other Causes

Hair loss can also be triggered by emotional stress, physical trauma, poor nutrition, pregnancy, medications, and environmental factors. Medications affecting hormonal levels, such as those for blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes, can cause hair loss. Chemotherapy drugs are known for causing rapid and often temporary hair loss.

Rapid Hair Loss

If you experience rapid hair loss or your hair falls out in clumps, seek professional medical advice as it could indicate serious underlying health issues.

Women’s Hair Loss

Women can also suffer from genetic pattern hair loss, though it is less common than in men.

If you’re concerned about hair loss and want to explore your options, our specialists at Hasson & Wong are here to help.

What leads to hair loss in women?

Female hair loss can be caused by a multitude of factors, including traction, pregnancy, and heredity.

How can I tell if my hair is falling out?

Monitoring Your Hair Loss

While it might seem like a simple question, there are no straightforward answers when it comes to monitoring hair loss. Many methods have been devised and tried, but even counting individual hairs isn’t reliable since healthy hair naturally goes through phases where it falls out and regrows months later. Finding hairs on your pillow or in your sink does not necessarily mean you are experiencing permanent hair loss.

The reality is, there is no easy or reliable way to monitor hair loss precisely. Instead, you can stay aware of your overall hair density, how visible your scalp is through your hair, the position of your hairline, and how these factors change over time. It’s easy to become paranoid and obsessive about hair loss, but such stress is unhelpful.

If you’re losing hair due to an illness, stress, or disease, you may experience rapid hair loss, hair falling out in clumps, or bald spots appearing on your head. In such cases, it’s important to consult with a physician, as rapid hair loss can indicate serious underlying health issues and should be investigated by your doctor.

Our best suggestion for monitoring your hair is to take standardized photos of yourself every 6 to 8 months and compare them. Set up your camera to duplicate the same position, lighting, and pose when retaking your photos. This method allows you to track changes accurately and objectively.

Retention of Hair

How can I stop the thinning of my hair?

You must first determine what is causing or is likely to cause hair loss in your specific situation if you want to lower the likelihood that you will lose hair or the volume of hair lost.

Although there aren’t any “Miracle Solutions,” you can still use a variety of clinically tested techniques.
Learn more about stopping hair loss here, and discover safe treatments for hair loss here.

Does Propecia or medication have to be taken?

Propecia and Proscar are brand names for Finasteride, a medication taken as a pill. If you are susceptible to pattern baldness and want to keep your hair for as long as possible, Finasteride can help.

If you are considering hair transplant surgery, it’s important to consider the continued long-term loss of your hair. While Propecia does not promote hair growth in all patients, it is effective in preventing further hair loss for many. At Hasson and Wong, our goal is to achieve outstanding, natural-looking cosmetic and aesthetic results. If you undergo surgery today, we’ll do our best to make you look good, but if you continue to lose hair, your transplanted hair may start to look less natural and may not provide the coverage it initially did. To maintain your appearance, taking Finasteride is a sensible choice.

While it is rare, some patients report side effects and feel unable to take Finasteride. In such cases, we often suggest topical Minoxidil as a second line of defense, though its results are not as robust. Currently, we have thousands of patients successfully using Propecia without side effects and can help adjust your dosage if you experience extreme sensitivity.

If you’re ready to take the next step in maintaining your hair, we’re here to help you find the right solution.

Is it necessary to use minoxidil or Rogaine?

Rogaine is a brand name for Minoxidil, a topical solution (cream or spray) applied daily to the scalp to promote hair growth. Although the exact mechanism of Minoxidil is not well understood, it appears to work as a vasodilator, improving blood flow to the scalp and potentially delivering additional oxygen and nutrients that may encourage hair growth.

In our experience, Minoxidil can help some patients maintain or even regrow hair. However, patients who use the oral medication Propecia (Finasteride) typically see much better results. Your first line of defense in preserving your hair should be considering the use of Propecia. Our Patient Advisors often compare Propecia to toothpaste: if you want healthy teeth for life, you need to brush them daily with the right toothpaste. Similarly, if you want to prevent hair loss, a daily dose of Finasteride might be essential. For patients who cannot take Finasteride, Minoxidil is often the next best solution.

Our goal is to help you find the most effective treatment to maintain and regrow your hair. Whether it’s Propecia, Minoxidil, or a combination of both, we’re here to support you in your hair restoration journey.

Transplantation of hair

Will Alopecia Areata be covered by a transplant?

Alopecia areata is an immune system-related hair loss condition. Your immune system may, for unknown reasons, abruptly turn on your hair follicles, causing them to stop producing hair. Patchy bald areas are one way that alopecia areata can appear, and it’s not necessarily permanent. Excellent cosmetic results can be achieved with hair transplant surgery, which is a feasible remedy if the loss is irreversible.

What is the duration of surgery?

The quantity of grafts being processed has a significant impact on how long your treatment will take. You should plan to spend at least eight hours in the operating room if your procedure involves more than 5000 grafts. To enhance your comfort, surgery is performed in cosy operating rooms with televisions and lots of breaks. When you are here for lunch or supper, we also serve meals.

Less than 2000 small-scale procedures might be finished in five or six hours. These are only estimations that may not apply to your specific surgery because there are several variables that can affect how long it takes to remove, prepare, and transplant your grafts.

Is a scar going to appear?

Both the Strip Excision technique (FUT) and the punch extraction method (FUE) result in some scarring.

In FUE, individual holes are created during the extraction process, resulting in small, almost imperceptible scars. These extractions are dispersed widely throughout the donor zone to minimize concentrated stress and reduce the appearance of scars. The resulting scars from FUE are very small and difficult to see.

In the FUT method practiced by Dr. Hasson and Dr. Wong, a thin linear scar is left in the donor area. These scars are easily hidden by short hair growth and are generally imperceptible. Our videos feature a comb-through segment to showcase the scars created by FUT, demonstrating how difficult they are to spot. In some patients, the scars are almost impossible to see.

Both techniques aim to minimize visible scarring while achieving the best possible hair restoration results.

Will the transplanted hair fall out?

Carefully and uniquely, each graft, or follicular unit, is placed in the designated recipient location. Every graft incision is made with a blade that has been precisely measured for your operation. Once the graft is inserted, it is locked in place by the surrounding tissue clamping onto it while the wound heals.

Losing a graft following transplantation is extremely uncommon, however it can occur as a result of intense exercise, excessive perspiration, or infection. To maintain the grafts, transplant patients are advised to gradually resume intense activity in the weeks after their procedure.

When will my new hair start to grow?

After around eight months, when most grafts start to produce live hair follicles, the full effect of hair transplant surgery may be felt. Your grafts will go through several phases in the months following your operation, and it’s possible for the follicles to fall out before the transplant begins to grow new hairs.

Are hair follicles clonable?

We realise that cloning healthy hair grafts is still several years away, but we always keep an eye on industry news and medical advancements for any new innovations in hair transplant technology. While there have been some encouraging developments in the use of stem cells to stimulate follicular growth, there are still numerous challenges to be solved and more research to be done.

Although there have been some exciting developments recently, there is currently no reliable method for multiplying donor hair.

Describe FUT and FUE.

FUE, or Follicular Unit Extraction, is a form of FUT (Follicular Unit Transplant) that harvests donor grafts by extracting them individually from the donor area.

FUT and FUE Explained

FUT (Follicular Unit Transplant): A general term often used to refer to the Strip Excision technique. In this method, a strip of skin containing hair follicles is removed from the donor area, and the follicles are then transplanted to the recipient area.
FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction): This method involves extracting individual grafts from the donor area, leaving tiny marks rather than a single linear scar.

Key Differences Between Strip Excision and Follicular Unit Extraction

The primary difference between these methods is the type of scarring they produce:

Strip Excision (FUT): Leaves a single strip scar in the donor area. These scars are easily hidden by short hair growth and are generally imperceptible.
Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE): Leaves tiny individual marks that are also hard to see.

Hasson and Wong offer both methods and can help you determine which one is best for your needs. While there are ongoing debates online about which method is superior, it’s important to remember that the final cosmetic result of a hair transplant depends more on where and how the grafts are planted in the recipient area than on the harvesting method.

To learn more about the differences between these techniques, read an overview of the two methods.