Indian Express
12 July 2010
By Rajni Shaleen Chopra
Chandigarh, India

ties or below 35. “Older Indian men are comfortable with baldness. The concept of a transplant here is common only among men who are in the entertainment industry, or those who are in the age group of 25–35. Hairfall is hereditary, and the tendency is aggravated by a stressful life,”he said.

Men tend to lose hair only in the front, caused by Di–Hydro Testosterone (DHT), the by–product of the male hormone testosterone. Fortunately, DHT does not act on hair at the back. “There are 100–120 hair roots per square centimetre. We can comfortably pick out almost half the hair roots from the back and use them on the front. These hair then take root and are lifelong,”said Dr Sohi.

Thanks to medical science, follically–challenged men can not only wave goodbye to a bald pate, but also opt for a rich growth of hair. For men who want such a dense look, hair from the chest or the back are taken. Since natural head hair tend to grow better, body hair are kept in the ratio of 1:4 only.

Men can even choose the hairline they want. Specialists transplant the hair accordingly, though a hairline curving at the temples is generally recommended, since it looks natural.

It takes three to four months for the hair to start growing again, but the results are highly gratifying. Interestingly, doctors say that they get many queries from women too.

“Women tend to panic really fast if they have a slight hairfall.

We get many queries from them, but their hairfall is a temporary phase. Only about one to two per cent women actually need a hair transplant surgery,”said Dr Sohi.

THE term ‘Follicular Unit Extraction’might sound alien to most of us, but it has proved to be a saviour for many folicallychallenged men. It is actually the technical name of a ‘hair transplant’, which is fast emerging as the most popular cosmetic surgery in the tricity.

With a ready domestic and NRI clientele, cosmetic surgeons in the city are reaping rich dividends. In this latest technique in the field of cosmetic surgery, hair roots are drawn from the back of the head and transplanted in the front. The result: within a few months you have a head full of hair...and that too at a cost that varies between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1.5 lakh, depending on the extent of baldness and how ‘dense’a look the person wants.

The demand is so high that Dr Prabdeep Sohi, who completed his MCh in plastic surgery from PGI four years ago and did a course in hair transplant in the US. Now, he has a flourishing practice. “I handle about 25 cases a month. The procedure takes six to eight hours, since each hair root has to be patiently extracted and transplanted. Only one patient can be operated upon in a day; and now, I have a waiting list of three months,” he said. Approximately 75 per cent of his clients are NRIs or foreign nationals, for whom age is no bar.

Dr V D Singh, a senior plastic surgeon of the city, agrees that on the domestic front, most men who want a hair transplant are either celebri