If you are a guy, chances are at some point in your life you are going to lose at least some of your hair. Even if you don’t have male pattern baldness, the loss of testosterone as you age is more than likely to mean some degree of thinning hair. By age 35, about two-thirds of men have some degree of hair loss, and by age 50, about 85% of men have significant hair loss.

Many men embrace their loss of hair, and the shaved look has become common, especially among younger men who only have a little bit of hair loss. But for men who can’t stand the thought of going bald, as well as those who realize how bad a combover looks, a hair transplant is an option.

The way hair transplant surgery works is that a hair loss specialist will harvest healthy hair follicles from somewhere on your body, usually the back of your head. This can be done by removing a small strip of skin, called follicular unit strip surgery, or by follicular unit extraction, in which individual follicle groupings are harvested one at a time with a small punch in the scalp.

The type of procedure is often left up to the patient, although the doctor doing the transplant may have a preference. There are some advantages to the FUE hair transplant. It is less invasive and has a lower complication rate. The procedure also takes less time, about four hours on average, versus as much as eight hours for the FUSS procedure. The FUE hair transplant cost also is less.

Though hair transplants can be painful, the worst part for many people can be the waiting. The initial transplants may actually fall out, and it can take several months before noticeable hair starts to grow. although it may grow faster with a FUE transplant versus a FUSS one. After about six to nine months, most patients should see asignificant new hair growth.

Though FUE treatments are less expensive, hair transplant surgery is a fairly expensive procedure, costing several thousand dollars at a minimum, and most health insurance plans won’t cover it. Being a cosmetic procedure, it’s definitely something you need to think long and hard about and consider whether the risks and costs are worth it.