In our grandparents’ time, hair loss was often a permanent, irreversible condition that one would simply need to learn to live with. However, thanks to incredible scientific and technological advancements in the field of cosmetic medicine, today we can enjoy a variety of treatments which promise to restore our hair to its days of youthful glory with no pain and minimal side effects. Below are some of the cutting edge hair restoration technologies according to experts at the Wimpole Clinic in 2021:
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Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) Hair Transplant
This hair transplant procedure is quickly becoming the gold standard in the hair restoration industry, due to its precision, natural-looking results and high success rates. It involves harvesting individual hair follicles from a donor area, where there are dense and thick strands and reimplanting them in the balding areas. While significantly longer and more laborious than the other very popular transplant method, Follicular Unit Transplant (FUT), it leaves no scars, has almost no unwanted side effects and allows for better accuracy and careful positioning of each hair, giving the end result a natural, youthful vibe.
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Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) Treatments for Hair Loss
This virtually side-effect-free therapy has been successfully used in treating a range of other conditions before, from joint pain to erectile dysfunction. However, its benefits for preventing hair loss were only recently discovered. The procedure is simple, natural and painless: a few drops of your blood are extracted and placed in a special centrifuge to separate the nutrient-rich plasma from the other blood cells. This plasma is injected in the balding areas of your scalp or eyebrows, where it uses your body’s own regenerative powers to nourish the hair follicles and promote their growth.
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Automated NeoGraft Hair Transplant
This technique significantly improves on the classical FUE hair harvesting, where each follicle needed to be extracted individually, making the process painstaking. In NeoGraft Hair Transplants, a wand-like instrument which creates suction is used to collect individual follicles from the donor area and also to reimplant them into the problem area where more hair is desired. The process is automatized and removes the need for making separate incisions for harvesting.
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BioGraft for Hair Restoration
An improvement on classical hair transplantation methods (FUE, FUT), this technique relies on performing the transplant and then using a technology called Xstrands+ to blend existing hair with the newly implanted one. Using medical grade adhesive and styling, specialists ensure that there is no visible difference in texture or shade between the two sets of hair and that they move and curl in the same way, reaching a perfectly natural look.
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Stem cell Hair Transplant (Hair Cloning)
This procedure is so cutting edge that it is still considered experimental. It involves harvesting some of your healthy hair follicles and multiplying them in laboratory settings, in a procedure similar to cloning. After several such viable follicles are obtained, they are reimplanted in the scalp, using the same technique as the more common FUE method. There, they are expected to grow normally, increasing hair density and quality in your balding areas.
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ARTAS iX
This doesn’t represent a specific hair restoration technique in itself, but is a combination of AI software and robotic technology to fully automate the tedious harvesting of hair for transplants. Similar to the NeoGraft, it is very precise and accurate and requires very little human intervention in performing high-quality extractions and reimplantations of hair follicles to the problem areas. It works in a clean and precise fashion, reducing risk of scarring or infection to a minimum and providing highly successful outcomes.
