Its Not About Hair Plugs Anymore

Its the scourge of mankind. A disaster in the making, at least to our vanity. Its hair loss, especially hair on top of the head. Not as common of a subject as before the advent of minoxidil, but still one that causes issues for men and women alike. We'll look at the costs of hair plugs, how and if they work, and the side effects of having this work done.

First, what are hair plugs and how do they work? The idea is simple. Move hair from one part of the head, where it is still healthy and growing to the place where you would like it to grow. Seems simple, but the amount of time and money that have gone into improving the technology runs into the millions of dollars.

Hair transplantation began in the 19th century, but did not move forward substantially until the 1950's. Plugs were an early way of describing the procedure. Hair follicles were gathered from a donor area (healthy area of growth) and moved to the desired spot. Because they were moved in clumps, they became known as hair plugs. The plugs, which were 2-4 mm in size, left the patient with "doll" hair--spotty and thin. As the process was perfected, it became possible to implant hairs as few as 1 to 4 hairs at a time. This has resulted in much less of a "plugged" look and provides the somewhat natural looking hair replacement we see today.

The process of hair plugs can be expensive. You won't find the specific costs online at any of the advertised sites, but you can expect to pay $3 to $7 per hair transplanted. The total cost of treatment with hair plugs can run from $6,000 to $20,000 depending on the size of the area that needs work. There are locations outside the United States that have lower costs for this elective surgery. India and Pakistan are a couple of locations where your cost can be 50% lower or more.

There are side effects with hair plugs. This is surgery, so you can expect some swelling and discomfort. Over time, you may have more hair loss--not from the hair plugs, but from the original hair area. This will either leave you with goofy hair patterns where the hair plugs are located, or require you to have more surgery to fill in the new bald spaces.

Hair plugs is just another name for hair transplantation surgery. It is generally effective, but your results may vary. There are a number of providers who can give you additional information.