Hair Restoration Blog

Q:

Dear Doctor,

I am 14 years old and I have hair loss in form of CTTA and my parents agreed to let me get the hair transplant, but will it actually take months for my hair to grow and I need to know how much it cost for the operation please.

A:

Congenital Temporal Triangular Alopecia (CTTA) is a congenital condition that is noted by parents at birth or soon after that.  CTTA could easily be treated with hair transplantation at any age. We at US Hair Restoration charge patients with the number of grafts and since patients only need a small number of grafts, the cost falls into our minimum charge category. Having said that you need to have a consultation with me so we can confirm the diagnosis and make sure you are a good candidate for a hair transplant surgery. 

Transplanted hair will grow in 2 to 3 months after hair restoration surgery and will become even better than that for the following months after that.  Since the location of the transplanted hair is only in the temple areas, it may not show as much since most people can easily comb their hair to cover the hair loss area.

Please feel free to call our office at 1 (888) 302-8747 and schedule your complementary consultation at one of our Southern California offices. If you are contacting from other states, you can send us an inquiry through our website and we contact you to complete your online consultation.
We look forward to seeing you soon.

Dr. Parsa Mohebi

We just had a hair transplant surgery for a child with Congenital Temporal Triangular Alopecia (CTTA) yesterday. He had a patch of baldness since birth and it started to bother him at school recently to the degree that he could not even wait until winter break – the time his parents originally planned to get it restored. The procedure went well and we densely packed 470 follicular unit grafts onto the bald patch of his temple area. He is happy and looking forward to the final growth of the grafts in a few months.

Congenital Temporal Alopecia is a patchy hair loss condition which is generally present at birth in form of a patch of hair loss on the child’s temple. The balding patch may consist of very fine hair. This non-scarring alopecia has been reported to respond well to hair transplant surgery.

Q:

Dear Sir,

I’m 36 years old and having many close round patches about the size of coin (Doctors called it Alopecia Areata) in my head and full body since last 5 years which is increasing slowly. I’m getting medical treatment which is included MINOXIDIL GEL 2%.

One year ago, one doctor injected 1 KANACART OR CANAKART injection/month for 5 times but not any positive result.  Now since last 10 months, I’m using MINOXIDIL GEL 2%, still there is no result. I visited few clinics in UAE.
I’m seriously depress now a days.
Can you advise me!!! what I’ve to do!

Thanks & regards

A:

Although Alopecia Areata (AA) is generally a self limiting condition, in many patients hair loss patches may last for a long time and warrant some types of treatments.  There are several recommended methods for the treatment of alopecia areata such as minoxidil and steroid injections into the hair loss patches.  However, there is no single treatment that can improve the lesions on all patients.  It seems like you have been treated with a variety of medical options in the past without a good result.

The diagnosis of alopecia areata is clinical in most cases, however, in some instances that the lesions do not look typical for AA or the recovery is not complete in a reasonable period of time, the skin lesions or hair loss patches need to be biopsied to confirm the diagnosis of alopecia areata.  You need to be evaluated by a good dermatologist to rule out other conditions that might be presented in a similar fashion.

Temporal triangular alopecia (TTA), also known as congenital triangular alopecia is a skin disorder that is assumed to be congenital.  Balding spots contain normal numbers of hairs, although virtually all are vellus (baby hair) or indeterminate follicles

Congenital temporal triangular alopecia is a form of nonscarring alopecia.  This hair loss condition is generally present at birth. TTA, however, does respond well to hair transplantation.  A few studies have shown that patients whom underwent hair transplantation were successful.

A new study was just published in dermatologic surgery which shows that follicular unit transplantation can  successfully treat congenital temporal triangular alopecia.

Dear Dr. Mohebi,

I am 21 years old and I have the beginnings of a small bald spot on the back of my head - one of my friends first noticed the spot about a year ago. My hair is thick and curly and I did not expect to have hair loss this soon, especially because I don’t really have a family history of hair loss (except for my paternal grandfather). My hair type is very similar to my mother’s family, and in her family most people keep their hair into their 80s, though it becomes very white. I currently live in Watertown, NY.

I have had widespread eczema since I was little, and when I was younger they classified it has icthyosis. At one point, when I was about 5, I suffered pretty bad eczema on my scalp and started losing some hair. I used prescription shampoos for a while and that seemed to take care of it. The only other medication I take on a regular basis is Zyrtec. I work in a very high stress field, and sometimes work 16 hour days - could that have contributed?

Do you have any suggestions as to what I can do to control my hair loss?

Thanks!

A:

Bald spots or patchy hair loss on scalp can have many different causes.  The most common cause of patchy hair loss is known as alopecia areata (AA).  We’ve discussed and described this issue on our site and in this blog on many posts before.  If AA is causing patchy hair loss, hair transplant will not be the answer.

You need to find and maintain a good relationship with a good dermatologist who can make your diagnosis and start a treatment plan for your hair loss condition.  You may also need a skin biopsy to confirm your hair loss condition.  Many of the diseases that present themselves with patchy hair loss are chronic conditions and require consistency in treatment.  Some inflammatory skin conditions may also be seen along with scalp hair loss.

Ichthyosis is a family of generalized and mostly genetic skin disorders.  All types of ichthyosis have dry, thickened, scaly or flaky skin. Ichthyosis has been reported along with patchy hair loss condition.  That combination is known as The tay syndrome (congenital ichthyosis with trichothiodystrophy).

Hi
I am 36 year old from Faridabad.  I have had Alopecia Areata (AA) since12, I took Ayurvedic treatment & after about 5 years alopecia areata appeared again since then it is continuous almost. Hairs goes in patches from all over the body including eye brow and eye lashes, but additional thing with me is that I feel itching on the place from where hairs are going to fall with pain on the itching area too, then consequently within 1-2 days hairs falls and leaves red patch behind pains also gets disappeared.  After that I start using Diprovate lotion twice daily on affected area.  Hair comes within month then I stop using Diprovate.  But normally hair length goes to only 8-10 inches and then again hair loss same process going on since 1980. One thing I observed is that places of hair loss patches are almost fixed.  One thing I also used some hormonal injections too but as usual no permanent remedy.  Do you also feel pain before falling of hair on the place of hair fall on the scalp?  Generally I felt pain on scalp only though hair loss periods.  Pain is only on scalp.

A:

It seems like you are experiencing episodes of patchy baldness.  Although hair loss in a patchy form is usually considered alopecia areata or AA, your condition is not a typical one.  Alopecia areata is usually painless and the changes in skin shape and color is not that noticeable except for the hair loss.  There are some other hair loss conditions that may present themselves as patchy hair loss such as Cicatricial Alopecia in which an inflammatory reaction causes hair loss.  A diagnosis could be established through direct examination and biopsy of the scalp from hair loss lesions.  My recommendation to you is to see a good dermatologist and confirm the diagnosis of your condition.  Hair transplant is not indicated in many types of patchy hair losses, but your hair transplant doctor can discuss it further after reviewing your scalp biopsy results.

Q:

I was diagnosed with Alopecia and lost pretty much all of my hair during pregnancy. My son is now 5 months old and my hair has grown back. All but one spot. I can hide it but I would love for one day not to have to hide it.

A:

Dear Mo,

You have experienced extensive alopecia (I am assuming that you mean alopecia areata) and now only after a few months got your hair back except for a small patch. This is a pretty good recovery for a condition that could have had a much worse outcome. My suggestion to you is to hang in there. It is very likely that you can grow the rest of your hair back without any treatment. If your hair loss is due to alopecia areata, a hair transplant can not help your condition.  You need to be seen and examined by a hair specialist or a dermatologist to best confirm the diagnosis.

Best of luck to you.

Q:

Dear Dr. Mohebi,

Hello, I am really interested in doing hair transplant by you, as my friends in California highly recommended you. I wonder if you can please help me with this questions:

1. Which method would you recommend, FUT or FIT?
2. I have had Alopecia areata in the past in back part of my head. It happened several times, last time 3 years ago. I wonder how it will affect my chance for doing hair transplant. I really appreciate if you can please answer me in details.

Thank you so much for your attention and time.

Sincerely,
S T

A:

Thanks for you interest in our hair restoration services.  I will answer your questions in the order they were received:

1. Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) is the gold standard method in doing hair restoration. FUT is done in two methods 1. strip technique and 2. Follicular unit extraction (FUE, also called FIT).  It has to do with your goals in hair restoration and you can read more about advantages and disadvantages of FUE in my hair restoration blog.  Planning on doing one vs. the other needs to be discussed with the patient during the initial consultation.
2. Alopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune disorder and usually a reversible condition in which a patient loses hair in a patchy fashion.  It affects transplanted hair the same as normal hair.  I generally make sure that patients don’t have active AA before proceeding with hair transplant.  A physical examination is extremely important in differentiating between male patterned baldness and diffuse alopecia areata (a rare type of alopecia areata).  In undiagnosed cases of alopecia areata, if a patient gets a transplant in the balding area that hair is lost due to AA, there is a risk that patient will lose the transplanted hair with the same mechanism.

Q:

I am a 30 year old white man. Today I noticed a balding spot on my neck where I used to have hair. I have had a few of them in the past in the size of a penny. They usually come and go in a few days maybe weeks. It does not bother me, but do I need to worry about it?

A:

Patchy areas of baldness at your neck in the area that you used to have hair could be a skin condition called alopecia areata (AA). Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease that causes round patches of baldness and could happen to any part of the skin, including beard, scalp, eyebrow and even eyelashes. The outcome of alopecia areata is usually good and in most cases hair re-grows within several months. Occasionally the baldness could be permanent.

Alopecia areata usually recovers without any treatments. If the balding spots of alopecia (hair loss) don‚Äôt disappear in a few months the medical treatment might be necessary. See Dr. Mohebi’s article on treatment of alopecia areata.

Treatment of alopecia areata is different than medical treatment of patterned hair loss.  Local injection of steroids may help in some cases. Other medication are also recommended such as topical steroids in form of creams or lotions, but are not as effective as steroid injections. Local immuno-suppressive medications have also been tried with some success in more severe forms of alopecia areata. Minoxidil is proven to be effective in some cases and is the only over the counter medication for alopecia areata and could be sued in more extensive diseases. You need to see a doctor to confirm the diagnosis of alopecia areata (AA) and to get started on some sort of treatment if it is really bothering you.

Alopecia areata could be progressed and beyond its typical patchy characteristics. If hair loss involves whole scalp, it is called alopecia Capitis and if hair loss seen everywhere in the body; it is called alopecia universalis.