What is Hair Transplant?
Hair transplantation is a painless scarless technique that moves individual hair follicles from the posterior part of the scalp the'donor site' to a bald or balding part of the scalp known as the 'recipient site'. It restores your naturally growing hair for life.
Today hair restoration surgery is a one day out-patient procedure requiring only local anesthesia
Hair transplants are remarkable and provide a very natural result when performed by an experienced surgeon who must either be a dermatologist or a plastic surgeon. These days the procedure is commonly performed by quacks. There should be awareness amongst the patients regarding who the treating doctor is.
How long does the procedure take ?
It depends on the total number of hair follicles required on the recipient site.
Traditionally, there are up to approximately 7000-8000 follicular units that can be harvested for transplant. That does not mean that all of these should be done in one session or at all. This depends on a number of factors including age and how thick or dense the donor hair is. Modern hairline design requires careful study of and planning for an individual patient to attain a natural result. Sometimes it is "safer" to break this up into 2 or more sessions.
What causes male-pattern hair loss?
Around one in three men experiences male-pattern baldness to varying degrees by the age of 30. Hair grows from follicles below the surface of the skin and a single hair will normally last between three and five years before it’s shed, and a new hair grows from that follicle. This cycle continues throughout life.
Male pattern baldness occurs when a modified form of testosterone, Dihydrotestosterone (DHT), begins to attack the hair follicles. This results in the follicles miniaturising and producing thinner and shorter hairs. As your thicker hairs fall out and are replaced by these weaker ones, you start to thin out on top.
Types of Hair Transplant Surgery:-
There are two main types of hair transplant procedure, Follicular Unit Extraction(FUE) and Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT), which work in a similar way. Because the hair follicles on the side and back of the head are more resistant to DHT, and therefore usually keep producing strong and healthy hairs when the follicles on top of the head are shrinking; those healthy follicles are taken from the back and sides and transplanted into the balding areas of the scalp.
FUE transplants are the gold standard procedure. Single follicles are removed from the donor area of the scalp with a specialised cutting tool. These individual follicles are then inserted into tiny cuts made into the recipient site where they bed down. The skilled surgeon ensures that the recipient cuts are angle to reproduce the natural direction of your normal hair. The follicles then grow strong and healthy hairs in the previously bald patch.
FUT hair transplant:
With FUT surgery, instead of taking individual follicles from the donor site on the scalp, your hair transplant surgeon cuts away a strip of them. This strip is then divided up into single follicles or small groups which are inserted as with the FUE procedure into the recipient area. Hence it's sometimes referred to as "strip harvesting".
What are the risks of hair transplant surgery? Are there side-effects?
FUT and FUE transplants are generally very safe, but as with any surgical procedure, complications are possible. There may be swelling, bruising or bleeding; the existing hairs in the recipient area can die due to the shock of the procedure (they will normally return, but not always); small cysts can form, though these usually soon disappear or can be treated quite easily.
How successful is a hair transplant?
With the normal caveat that everyone is different, most people who undergo FUE and FUT hair transplants are happy with the outcome. The success will largely depend on how many good follicles you have left, how big a recipient area you want to cover, and the skill of the hair transplant surgeon - which underlines how important it is to do your research on hair transplant clinics and getting their predictions for the outcome.
Is hair transplant permanent?
Because the transplanted hairs will behave just as they would have done if they had stayed in the donor area, a transplant isn't guaranteed to last forever. But it will probably last a very long time.