What Is Hair Transplantation?
Hair transplantation or hair restoration surgery is a surgical procedure in which hair follicles are extracted from one part of the body (the donor site) and planted where hair is scanty and more hair volume is desired (the recipient site). The procedure can only be performed by a trained trichologist within a sterile area.
What Are The Benefits Of Hair Transplantation?
People with low hair volume or localized baldness can greatly benefit from this surgical method. Here’s how:
- It gives you permanent hair that looks and behaves natural.
- It enhances your look and boosts your confidence.
- It has a very high success rate of 90-95% with only a minor risk of complications.
- It doesn’t require extra maintenance with products, grooming, or medicine. You can maintain it just like natural hair.
How Is Hair Transplantation Done?
After a period of 12 hours of fasting, you arrive at the clinic for your procedure. The doctor will administer local anesthesia to make the experience comfortable. As per the pre-devised plan, he will move ahead with Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) or Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT: For FUT he will harvest a strip containing multiple hair follicles, or for FUE, he will punch out a single hair follicle. The harvested graft will then be planted in the recipient site. At this point, the surgeon will ensure that the plantation is done at the correct angle so that when the hair grows, it blends right with your existing hair.
Post surgery, you can go back home the same day and resume normal life after 24 hours of rest. Keep the affected areas clean, avoid stringing activities, and use the prescribed medication religiously. In a week, you should be completely back to normal. However, you will see your hair fall out. But this is expected. The transplanted hair will fall out and new hair will go in the same place. You can see the final results in 6-12 months depending on the speed of hair growth.
Who Is A Good Candidate For Hair Transplantation?
People who experience well-defined pattern baldness or have hair-free scar tissues are most benefitted from this procedure. People who want extra volume in their hair, eyebrow, or beard can also benefit from this surgery. As long as you have sufficient hair in the donor area, extracting and planting the hair follicles shouldn’t be an issue.
However, if you have hypertension, diabetes, heart condition, or any other chronic disease or if you are on blood thinners, it is crucial that you discuss these issues with your trichologist and other specialty doctors beforehand. In those cases, your healthcare experts will have to devise a customized plan to manage all these factors and simplify your recovery process.