This is the Ideal You Medical Dictionary. Please click on the letter below to search by alphabet or use the search function to lookup terms.

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Glossary Results:

High Lipline - Where the widest smile meets the gum tissue above the teeth.

Hair Loss Therapy - The most common cause of hair loss which is treatable by surgical procedures is male pattern baldness. Both heredity and hormonal factors play important roles in this type of hair loss. Women who carry this trait will sometimes have generalized thinning of the scalp hair and are usually not candidates for hair replacement surgery. Hair loss, resulting from scarring caused by burns, injury or diseases of the scalp, may sometimes be corrected in both men and women. There are several surgical procedures which a cosmetic surgeon can perform to help treat hair loss. Hair Transplantation This is the most widely used technique. Small grafts of healthy, hairbearing skin are removed from the sides and back of the scalp and transplanted into the areas of baldness. These grafts may vary in size from one single hair up to 30 hairs in standard graft, measuring one-fifth of an inch in diameter. Multiple hair transplant sessions are necessary since these grafts, commonly referred to as plugs, are spaced far enough apart to allow sufficient blood circulation, ensuring healthy growth of the hair. The transplanted hairs go into a temporary resting phase and will usually appear in approximately three months. These grafts continue to produce hair on a permanent basis. Scalp Reduction This is a procedure which is often combined with either hair transplantation or scalp flap procedures. The bald scalp on the top and crown of the head is removed surgically and the adjacent skin, which has healthy growing hair, is stretched to diminish the baldness. Several sessions are usually necessary. This method may completely cover the bald area of the crown or diminish the area significantly so that less hair transplantation is necessary to correct the baldness. Scalp Flaps This procedure moves large sections of hair-bearing skin from the side and back of the scalp into the bald area. There are several different flaps which are presently available. An advantage of this procedure is that there is no temporary hair loss, therefore, existence of healthy growing hair in the newly constructed hair line is immediate. As with the two previous procedures, usually several scalp flaps are necessary to correct significant baldness. These surgical procedures can be performed on an outpatient basis, in the hospital or an ambulatory surgical suite under either general or local anesthesia. What Are the Risks? There are risks in any surgical procedure. You should discuss all the benefits and risks with your cosmetic surgeon. The Cost? Fees vary from one geographic area to another. Your doctor and staff will discuss all financial arrangements with you prior to surgery.

Hair Replacement - Hair Replacement Surgery is used to correct the hair loss in either men or women. Aging, change in hormones, and a family history of baldness are the most common causes of hair loss. Certain medications, burns and trauma can also result in hair loss. All hair replacement techniques are based on finding the most efficient use of your existing hair. Grafts or flaps are taken from the healthy hair growth at the back and sides of the head. There are several techniques for hair replacement. Hair transplant techniques using grafts are the most common and can take a long time to complete, up to two years. Flaps, tissue-expansion and scalp-reduction procedures are more extensive procedures but they produce dramatic change in a shorter time. In hair transplantation small pieces of hair-bearing scalp grafts are taken from a donor site and relocated into a bald or thinning area. There are different kinds of grafts depending on their size and shape. Punch grafts (about 10-15 hairs.);mini-graft (about two to four hairs); the micro-graft (one to two hairs.); slit grafts; (4 to10 hairs ); and strip grafts (30-40 hairs.) The smaller the number of hairs in the graft the more natural look it will produce. In tissue expansion technique, a balloon-like device is inserted beneath hair-bearing scalp and the device is gradually inflated with salt water over a period of weeks. This allows the gradual expansion of the skin and the growth of new skin cells. The expanded skin is used in another procedure to cover the bald area. Flap surgery: This procedure is used to quickly cover large areas of baldness. After cutting out a section of the bald scalp, a flap of the hair bearing part of the scalp is lifted of the surface while still attached at one end and brought into the new position and sewn into place. The attached end of the flap supply the blood supply to the new area. Scalp reduction: This technique is used to cover the bald areas at the top and back of the head. In this procedure a segment of bald scalp is removed under local anesthesia. The hair bearing skin surrounding the cut-out area is then loosened and pulled together to close the defect. Combining scalp reduction with tissue expansion and flap surgery can sometimes be used to achieve the best results. Although hair replacement surgery is normally safe, as with any surgical procedure, there are some risks which should be discussed with your surgeon. Hair replacement surgery is usually performed as an outpatient procedure in a physician's office, in an outpatient surgery center, or a hospital. It is usually performed using local anesthesia. Cases involving tissue expansion, scalp reduction or flaps may need general anesthesia.

Hair Transplants-Restoration - Strips or patches of hair are taken from the back of the head. Hair from this area is less likely to thin, regardless of where it is transplanted. Hair removal from this area is also virtually undetectable. As much as half of the hair in this area can be taken without producing a noticeable difference. The removed patches, or strips, are cut into smaller pieces, which are then planted in the balding area. This transplanted hair continues to grow just as it did before. It will not thin or die unless hair in the region of the head from which it was taken also thins or dies. There are two common methods used for removing hair to be transplanted. Hair can be removed in small circular areas (plugs), each containing between eight and twelve hairs. Or, hair may also be removed in long strips along the sides or near the bottom of the hairline. The advantage of the second method is that it provides the physician with more hair to cut and mold into different-sized plugs and/or grafts. Thousands of grafts can be created from one strip of hair, each containing as few as 1-2 hairs. Next, incisions slightly smaller than the plugs are made in the balding area. For grafts, even smaller incisions are made with a tiny scalpel, or even a needle. Your doctor may use a laser to make these tiny cuts. (Despite marketing claims, a laser in this situation has no special advantage over other incisioning tools.) The plugs/grafts are carefully spaced in order to allow adequate blood supply and produce a natural angle, growth direction and appearance. Sutures are applied to close the area where the grafts or plugs were taken from. The skin will naturally stretch to cover a wider area. No sutures are required in the area where the plugs and grafts have been placed. The bodys natural fluids will bond the plugs and grafts to the head.