Monday, January 30, 2012

Hair Root

The root of hair ends in an enlargement (referred to as a hair bulb) that is whiter in color and softer in texture than the shaft of hair. The hair root is lodged in the hair follicle.

Image courtesy 20th US edition of Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body.

Hair is composed of a strong structural protein called keratin. This is the same kind of protein that makes up the nails and outer layer of the skin. 

Hair root captured using the Jenoptik C14+ microscope camera.

Hair transplant surgeons place a high importance on the integrity of naturally occurring hair follicle units to find improved methods of hair graft harvesting, dissection, grading and transplantation. Studies have concluded that there is a measured increase in the yield of follicular unit grafts and the total amount of hair harvested from the donor strips when technicians use dissecting microscopes as compared to magnifying loupes with trans-illumination. You can view hair transplant dissecting microscopes here.