In the past few years, the hair transplant procedure has achieved tremendous popularity worldwide. Even various high-profile celebrities have undertaken hair transplant treatment to address the issue of hair loss/baldness for example actor James Nesbitt, Soccer star Wayne Rooney, and reality TV star Calum Best and many more. So, this hair transplant procedure really this effective as we all have heard? In order to answer this question let’s have a quick look at the ‘comprehensive guide to hair transplant’ curated just to address all your queries:
1.What is Hair Transplant?
Hair transplant is a sophisticated surgical procedure during which the doctor/surgeon first harvests the ‘donor’ follicles from one part of the scalp, generally from the back of the head, and then plants them to the site of hair loss known as the ‘recipient’ site’.
2. What is the difference between the male pattern of hair loss and the female pattern of hair loss?
- Male-pattern hair loss
Male pattern baldness is caused by the attack of Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) on the hair follicles, resulting in thinning of hairs and hair loss. Subsequently, the thicker hairs start to fall out and are replaced by the weak hairs which worsen the situation.
- Female hair loss
Hair loss among women can be caused due to numerous factors, like hormonal changes, the decline of female hormones, and escalation in the male hormones. This type of hair loss in females can occur at any time but is most likely to occur after the menopause, since around this time the testosterone starts converting into DHT affecting the production of hair leading to fewer hairs.
3. FUT Vs. FUE Hair Transplant Surgery
Hair transplant techniques are mainly of two types namely Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) and Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE).
FUT is also known as ‘strip surgery’. During this method of surgery first, a small patch of skin is being harvested, after this, the surgeon divides this portion of skin into smaller units and then graft these pieces of skin on the recipient area with the help of small incisions. Then the wounds are closed with the help of sutures and are left to heal on their own.
On the other hand during FUE hair transplantation individual hair follicles are being planted at the recipient site using a small surgical tool. FUE method of surgery is considered less painful and invasive in comparison to FUT.
4. What are the new hair transplant techniques in the market?
a. Platelet Rich Plasma therapy: In this technique, the hair loss is treated with the plasma extracted from the blood of the patient via the process of centrifugation with separate the plasma from blood cells. PRP is then injected on the scalp to stimulate hair growth.
b. Scalp Micropigmentation (SMP)/hair Tattooing:It is a technique of disguise in which small dots are tattooed on the scalp of the patient, providing an appearance of “crew cut”.
5. Who Can Have a Hair Transplant?
Generally, anyone can choose to go for hair transplantation as a preferred method of hair loss treatment. However, there are a few exceptions to this. The people who are suffering from alopecia, extensive hair loss, have a very few donor hairs available on the donor site might not get the desired results.
Therefore the doctors will first assess your hair loss situation with the help of Norwood scale.
6. Are there any side effects of hair transplantation?
After the completion of the treatment, some kind of swelling, bruising, tenderness, pain, and red dots might be noticed at the site of the procedure. But all these symptoms are temporary and reside after some time on their own. You might witness ‘shock loss’ during which the donor’s hair starts to fall after the completion of the operation. However, it’s completely normal and does not mean the procedure has failed.
7. What are the signs of a good hair transplant clinic?
A good hair transplant clinic will have an official website where one can check all the essential information regarding the treatment. A good clinic will readily provide all the required information regarding the hair clinic/surgeon, methods provided by them to its customers.
The online presence of a hair transplant clinic is a positive sign because here one can check out the photographs, and check facts and figures of the results of the previous cases handled by the doctor/surgeon. A reputed hair transplant clinic have surgeons with proper qualifications who are certified with the International Alliance of Hair Restoration Surgeons (IAHRS).
There are numerous hair transplant surgeons in India but Dr. Jai Bansal is considered as the best hair transplant doctor in India who runs Dr. Hair India clinic known as one of the best hair transplant clinics in Jaipur.
8. Is a hair transplant surgery painful?
No, before beginning a hair transplantation process the patient is administered with a local anesthetic this makes this operation a painless one.
However, you might face some sort of uneasiness during the process of healing.
9. Does hair transplantation leave a scar?
FUE method of surgery generally doesn’t leave a scar; however, there are chances of some scars at the donor site which fade away after some time automatically.
10. How long does a hair transplant procedure take?
It depends on the type of operation and the number of hair follicles needs to be transplanted, but generally, it takes about eight hours to complete the hair restoration process.
11. How much does the Hair Transplant Costs?
The cost of hair transplant depends on numerous factors such as place of surgery, number of sessions, the type of surgery, etc.
Normally the cost of hair restoration in India amounts to around 30,000 – 1,50,000 Rs. approximately.
12. How many procedures does it take to complete the process?
In most cases, the answer is only one. But in some specific situations, it can lead to more than one process to completely cover the affected hair loss area.
13. How successful is a hair transplant?
The success of hair transplant depends on the quality of the hair follicles the person has on the donor site and the size of the recipient needed to be covered.
14. Is a hair transplant permanent?
Off-Course the transplanted hairs act and behave just like the natural hair. They not only grow but also last for a long time.
15. Can women also opt for a hair transplant?
Yes, although in the case of women performing the surgery is more difficult since there are very few candidates than men among women. The pattern of hair loss in women is also more widespread resulting in less good donor sites.
16. Is it possible for a hair transplant surgery to fail?
Yes, in some rare cases the body can reject the new hair follicles inserted throughhair transplantation resulting in a failed surgery. But the possibility of this occurring is very slim.
We have tried our best to cover all the areas of doubts a person can have before going for a hair transplant, in our comprehensive guide above. This comprehensive guide is surely going to help you chose better in the future.
