6.  Harvey wants his vertex and frontal mid-section to be covered by hair.  Tell us the standard treatment plan to cover a patient with hair loss.  How many operations and transplants will he need?  Will he need further transplants as his baldness increases?  How much will the total plan cost?  How long will it take him to obtain full coverage?

Answer:
Three major methods of transplanting hair to bald areas of the scalp:
1) Composite hair bearing scalp flaps
    a) Punch
        i) round
        ii) square
    b) Strip grafts
2) Scalp flaps
    a) Rotation
    b) transposition
        i) temporo-parieto-occipital flaps
        ii) lateral scalp flaps
        iii) temporal vertical flaps
    c) bipedicled flaps
    d) multiple flaps
    e) microvascular free flaps
3) Scalp reduction
    a) fractional excision of alopecia
    b) excision of alopecia with the aid of scalp expanders

Depending of the age of the patient, he may need further transplants as his baldness increases.

The total plan will cost thousands of dollars.

If we use punch grafts, the procedure will be done in the office. On average 50-75 punches will be taken per session. At least 4 months or more will elapse between sessions.  Hence I would expect the whole procedure to take about 1 year.
 

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