There is medical treatment that can be advised for early cases, mesotherapy for more advanced cases or for those that do not want surgery and there is hair transplantation. Hair transplantation is done by taking a strip method or by FUE. Strip method is still the gold standard.

In strip method a narrow strip of hairy skin is removed from the back of the head; the defect is closed directly. This strip is now cut into numerous grafts by trained technicians. Each tiny graft may have 1-3 hairs with the roots. These grafts are then implanted into the bald areas by making small slits, much the same way as rice transplantation in fields. The grafts then take up new blood supply and start producing hairs after a gap of 3-4 months. By 6 months good growth can be expected. To improve density of hairs, a second session is usually necessary.

In the FUE method, small grafts are directly ‘extracted’ from the back of head and other areas and directly ‘implanted’ in the bald area. Although it sounds superior, there are many technical issues and there is still ongoing debate among experts about the merits of both methods. Strip method is still the gold standard however.