If you suffer from a condition that causes hair loss, you know how much it can affect your self-confidence.
Whether it’s male pattern baldness, alopecia, or pregnancy, it can consume your thoughts and you may feel you can’t truly move past it without somehow resolving it.
Thankfully, there are solutions available to you. The most popular treatments for baldness are hair plugs and hair transplants.
But what is the difference between the two? And which is better for you? Find out what is good and bad about hair plugs vs transplant here.
What Are Hair Plugs?
Hair plugs, by definition, are actually a form of hair transplant. The procedure involves taking hair from one part of the body, and “plugging” them into another.
The method, however, is one that is quite outdated due to advancements in technology and technique in the field.
A small grouping of skin with hairs is extracted from the scalp with a “punch” and is then plugged into an area of balding skin.
The method was popular for a few decades even though the results looked unnatural, especially in comparison to more modern techniques.
Recovery was also a struggle due to the method being invasive.
Hair plugs are certainly a fading form of treatment—it seems the unnatural look was more favorable than balding to those who got hair plugs. But with better solutions available, the outdated method seems to be fading into obscurity.
What Is a Hair Transplant?
Hair transplant is a broader term than hair plugs, but we’ll look at the most popular methods of hair transplant here.
These methods are Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) and Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT).
Follicular Unit Extraction
This time consuming but effective method of hair transplant involves extracting individual hairs and relocating them to the new site.
The benefit of FUE is that it is the most effective and least noticeable method of hair transplant. In fact, if you don’t tell anyone that you’ve had an FUE transplant, it’s highly likely that nobody will notice.
An impressive development within FUE is the robotic hair transplant. This method helps create an even more natural look due to the intricacy and accuracy that is achieved.
Follicular Unit Transplantation
This method is simply an updated version of hair plugs. Rather than a “punch hole” of units being taken, a strip of hair-bearing skin is extracted.
The donor site is stitched or sealed, and the hairs are dissected from the strip before being transplanted onto the new site.
This allows a more natural look than traditional skin plugs.
Hair Plugs vs Transplant: Who Wins?
Ultimately, the decision is yours to make. The information in this article will hopefully have given you enough guidance to make an informed decision on which treatment is best for you.
While all surgery has risks, it appears that in the battle between hair plugs vs transplant, the new technologies in transplantation methods would suggest that it is the preferred method.
Check out the health section of our website for more advice and information on topics like this.
