The technique of hair transplantation involves moving skin containing hair follicles from one part of the body to the balding parts.

It is mainly used to treat male pattern baldness in which grafts that contain hair follicles resistant to balding are transplanted to bald scalp. It is also used to restore eyelashes, eyebrows and scars caused by accidents.

Hair transplantation is different from hair grafting. In skin grafting the grafts contain most of the epidermis and dermis surrounding the hair follicle and many other minute grafts are transplanted rather than a single strip of skin.

The natural hair growth grows in follicles which contain groupings of 1 to 4 hair, therefore the most advanced technique of hair transplant today implants these naturally growing 'follicular units' in their natural grouping.

Modern hair transplantation can hence mimic hair for hair. The present procedure of hair transplant is called 'Follicular Unit Transplantation'.

The modern era of hair transplantation began in 1950s when the New York dermatologist Norman Orentreich began to experiment with free donor grafts in patients with male pattern baldness.

It was earlier thought that the transplanted hair will also not survive like the original hair but it was found that the new hair grew just as they would have grown at the original site.

On an average the scalp has about 100,000 hairs that sit in follicles beneath the skin. Each of these hairs has its own growing and shedding cycle which is totally dependent of the hairs around it.