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Hair Transplants For Transgender Patients

Are you looking for hair transplant for transgender patients? According to The New York Times, it is estimated that there are about 1.4 million transgender people living in the United States. To be a transgender person is more prevalent today than ever, especially in children and adolescents.

There is an increasing awareness of transgender issues that continues to be an important part of our society. This is due in part to the graceful high-profile celebrities who have spoken out about the topic. People such as activist Jazz Jennings, Caitlyn Jenner, and Orange Is the New Black star Laverne Cox to name a few.

In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association eliminated the term “Gender Identity Disorder” from its diagnostic manual. Instead, it reintroduced the more accepted term “Gender Dysphoria.” To clarify this distinction, people who have gender dysphoria are called transgender in clinical terms. These people are defined as feeling discomfort that their gender identity doesn’t match their physical anatomy. It is not a psychological disorder, but it is in fact the perception of a healthy individual who is trying to navigate the labels we have in place in our modern society in regards to physique, gender roles, and other expectations.

Gender dysphoria, also called simply “GD” points to a definition that relates to a “phoria” based term, which means a condition or state. In this case of dysphoria, it indicates that a person is conflicted between his or her physical gender and the gender he or she identifies with. It is this mismatch between someone’s sex and gender identity that can lead to a distressing and uncomfortable feeling called “dysphoria.”

A person at any stage of their life, whether they are a child, adolescent, or even an adult can experience gender dysphoria. These feelings involve strong dissatisfaction and anxiety due to their perception that they are “stuck in the wrong body.” It can lead to depression, self-harm, isolation, lack of confidence, and a whole array of psychological conditions. Often times, these people experience social stigma and feel like they cannot be open about their feelings.

People often succumb to loneliness and dive deep into bottled feelings that they think they cannot do much about. Sometimes, people who experience gender identity crises can start to live a double-life and find themselves feeling guilty because of the deception they are living in. It can have a snowball effect that can create a series of negative events in their lives and even violence against them.

However, not all transgender people suffer from feelings of gender dysphoria. This is an important distinction to make. In this case, these types of patients are identified as gender non-conforming, which truly has a positive connotation. To better understand those with gender non-conformity or gender dysphoria, we must realize that these individuals do not wish to be the opposite gender. Instead, they believe and insist with a strong conviction that they are, in fact, the gender that they say they are. The human being is a complex creature. This topic is fairly new in the health care arena and is being studied further to understand this unique group of people.

Fortunately, our society is taking more interest and showing more acceptance for the condition. After all, we are all humans looking to live our best life. Therapies for these individuals is booming currently and transgender hair transplant is one way medicine is helping people to feel great about their bodies. This brings a lot of psychological health to the individual and a sense of overall wellbeing. Thus, it is an important field.

Hair Transplant for Transgenders

To be transgender means that a person’s gender identity is the opposite of their assigned sex at birth. As transgender activist Jazz Jennings describes it, she is a girl trapped in a boy’s body. When these sex hormones are blocked, the body does not undergo the changes associated with the gender assigned at birth, which is the ultimate goal for those who are transgender.

What may greatly surprise you, is that women produce testosterone as well. Women produce increased amounts of testosterone during puberty, found in the ovaries and adrenal glands. Men, on the other hand, produce testosterone in the testes. Research has shown, however, that testosterone production is substantially lower in women than it is in men. This means that women produce just a fraction of the amount of testosterone each day compared to what men produce. In a healthy individual, levels of testosterone peak for women in their early 20s, and by the time a woman has reached menopause, she will have only about half (50 percent) of the testosterone she once had.

Testosterone is responsible for traits such as body hair, muscle mass, and strength. Men with low levels of testosterone might notice a reduction in these traits, while too much testosterone in women can cause these traits to be more pronounced. However, testosterone in women has many other important functions. It is essential for bone strength and the development of lean muscle mass and power. Testosterone also contributes to the overall sense of well-being and appropriate energy levels. It is best known for its crucial role in a woman’s sex drive also known as her libido.

Why is Transgender Hair Transplant Performed?

In the case of a male to female transition in a transgender person, the patient wants to avoid growing facial hair. They are born as men with high testosterone levels and display hair on the face, chest, back, and an overall heavier population of hair all over the body. The hair is also thicker and sometimes darker than in women. Conversely, for a female to male transition, the person wants to stop the growth of breasts and other female traits as well as perhaps grow more hair on the face and chest.

Due to transitioning therapies involving hormones, transgender people sometimes tend to be prone to hair loss. It is commonly believed that Male Pattern Baldness (MPB) is caused by low levels of testosterone. In fact, hair loss for males is actually caused by dihydrotestosterone, a hormone that is built out of testosterone by the actions of an enzyme called the 5-alpha reductase enzyme.

Among healthy women, this enzyme is present only at very low levels (Low-T), which is why women don’t suffer from baldness as often as men do.

If you are transitioning from male to female, your 5-alpha enzyme levels will fall, so any hair loss or thinning caused by dihydrotestosterone will immediately slow down. It is important to note, however, that other conditions or factors such as stress and genetics, can often be the cause of hair loss. Nutrition for instance can be a direct cause of lack of healthy and abundant hair. One must take a holistic approach and examine the whole person before determining the cause of their hair loss.

If you are transitioning from female to male, your risk of hair loss will increase. This is because your body will go through the equivalent of menopause, the amount of 5-alpha enzyme will increase in the body, along with testosterone, the reason also why some women’s hair starts to thin out. If males in your family are bald or starting to become bald at an early age, the chances are strong that you will experience the same susceptibility to the same problem.

Transgender hair replacement can play a very important role, aesthetically and psychologically, for people who are undertaking this transformation. At MAXIM Hair Restoration, we offer hair transplant procedures for transgender people that come in with all types of various scenarios. We perform the following therapies to restore the hair:

The Strip technique:

Our physicians take a strip of hair from the back and sides of the head, called the donor area. This strip of hair is then divided into small grafts or units of hair. To be more specific, one to three hair follicles on each strip. This procedure is called the strip technique. After the strip is harvested, each follicular unit or graft is implanted in the thinning and balding areas, known as recipient sites. Following this straightforward procedure, the donor area will have a scar, but the patient must not be concerned as it is eventually covered by hair and it is not visible.

The Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE):

This procedure is a new and advanced technique that takes individual grafts or follicular units from the donor areas of the patient’s head and transfers each graft individually to the needed sites. This technique does not leave any scars in the donor areas. It is a very simple technique for transgender hair restoration.

If you are unsure as to what is causing your hair loss, we recommend you consult a hair loss specialist for a personal assessment. Contact MAXIM today to find out if you are a good candidate for a hair transplant whether you’re transgender or not.

We have clinics in the following cities:

Future locations are under development in the following markets: 

  • Austin, Texas
  • San Antonio, Texas
  • Seattle, Washington
  • San Diego, California
  • Atlanta, Georgia
  • Miami, Florida
  • New Orleans, Louisiana
  • and other markets. 

To learn if you are a candidate for a hair transplant, Contact MAXIM today for a consultation.

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