What About Surgery?

When people are desperate - as alopecia victims often are - the field is wide open for commercial firms to cash in. But no matter how depressed you are by the lack of medical help available, beware the high-street salon which offers a "miracle" answer. There are no miracle cures.

Transplant surgery has been around for many year, and has helped many men who needed to look presentable for the sake of their jobs - salesmen, actors, TV presenters - but the cost is high and the operation must be performed by a reputable doctor. Please don't get involved with the Sunday paper ads and the discreetly lit upmarket city salon. You need the advice of your own doctor and a dermatologist. With any luck he or she will be able to assess whether your baldness is seriously affecting you - whether you are depressed by it, whether it has become a serious handicap in your life.

It is, ofcourse, usually the man with common or male pattern baldness who can be helped by a surgical transplant. In men or women with alopecia areata or general thinning this type of surgery is not normally feasible as the thinning is not confined to one area. This surgery is controversial, anyway. Mr John Firmage of the Institute of Trichologists says: "The effect on the scalp of many of these procedures can be horrific. I have seend scarring and infections. Be very careful".