Most people have as many as 100,000 hairs on their head, shedding 50 to 100 hairs daily. Each hair on your head grows for about 2 to 6 years, with scalp hair growing about one-half inch a month. Approximately 90 percent of the hair on your scalp grows continually, with about 10 percent of your hair in a resting phase lasting 2 to 3 months. As you age, the rate of hair growth slows.

Causes of hair loss may include:

• Aging
• Changes in hormones
• Illness
• Family history of baldness
• Burns and trauma
• Ringworm
• Vitamin deficiencies

Northwestern Medicine specialists offer advanced treatment for hair loss by performing surgical and non-surgical hair replacement procedures, including:

• Hair transplant surgery: In this procedure, the surgeon removes patches of skin containing hair to balding or thinning areas.
• Tissue expansion: Tissue expansion involves hair-bearing skin being stretched to cover balding areas.
• Flap surgery: In this surgery, a portion of balding skin is removed and replaced with a flap of hair-bearing skin.
• Scalp reduction: Sections of bald scalp are removed and the hair-bearing parts of the scalp are pulled together to fill in the area.
• Non-surgical options: Non-surgical treatment options include finasteride, a pill for treating baldness that blocks the enzyme responsible for hair loss, and over-the-counter topical solutions such as minoxidil (Rogaine®).