Androgenetic alopecia

• Androgenetic alopecia or “male pattern baldness” is the most common form of alopecia.
• It usually starts with a receding hairline from the lateral sides of the forehead, which progressively advances to thin the crown of the head or vertex. Sometimes hair loss first occurs in the occipital region (tonsure area), and then extends forward into the the frontoparietal and frontal areas.
• The onset of hair loss may be early and sudden or otherwise settle gradually over several years.
• The plastic surgeon will consider different factors (topography, course of the condition, psychological profile of the patient) to suggest one or more techniques that are effective in correcting androgenetic alopecia.
• Indeed, several therapeutic techniques are available to treat androgenetic alopecia, the most frequently used of which, which also yields the most natural outcome, involves “follicular units” transplantation or “hair by hair” transplantation.
• If scalp reduction proves to be a satisfactorily adjunctive procedure, scalp flaps and scalp expansion techniques are rarely used nowadays. It is possible to correct androgenetic alopecia, even at an advanced stage, in one surgical session performed under local anesthesia.
• The more natural aspect of the results obtained explains why these techniques are more and more used.