Hair transplant surgery is all about improving the state of baldness through surgery. This surgery involves taking hair follicles, cells and tissues from a thickly grown hair area and placing them on the bald area.
Most of the hair loss procedures involve hair restoration surgery under anesthesia. Patients do feel some pain during this surgery as it involves plucking of tissues, and then transplanting them to another portion of skin that lacks hair. Small needles are used in this procedure where the scalp is thoroughly cleaned before performing the operation.
Tiny holes are created on a patient's scalp so that the hair follicles can be transplanted firmly. These holes will help the re-growth of hair on the scalp after the tissues, cells and the follicles are transplanted. This procedure is very delicate and may involve transplanting hundreds and thousands of hair follicles, usually the bald head.
This hair transplant surgery is a very delicate procedure and involves hundreds and thousands of hair follicle in this area.
How does a hair loss transplant work?
Even baldest men have a small ring of hair around the back and side of their heads. In hair transplantation surgery a piece of this skin containing hair follicles is removed. The follicles are then extracted from the surrounding tissue and then are reinserted into the balding areas of the scalp.
Since the follicles are not affected by hormone DHT, they continue to grow hair even after they have been moved from one spot on the head to the other.
Unless patients use a drug like Propecia after having a transplant, they will continue to see an increase in hair loss in areas where there are no transplants. In this case additional transplant procedures may be performed to increase the density. Due to the limited amount of skin that can be removed at one time, 2,500 grafts is usually the most that can be done at one time.
It is impossible to have the same density that existed before the hair loss. However, with careful placement of the follicles by the doctor, an illusion of a full head of hair can be created.
Who is the right candidate for a hair transplant?
Youngsters, who are around the age of 18 to 25 are not the right candidates as they have just temporary hair loss, which most probably will not continue in the future. Getting a hair transplant done so early will result in the incorrect distribution of donor hair. The doctor can never exactly guess the exact amount of future hair loss. This might lead to the person being disappointed with the results.
Men have specified areas in which there is thinning and hair loss, while women have diffused thinning around the entire head. Women are not good candidates if there is diffused thinning. But, some women also have localized loss of hair, which make them ideal candidates. The amount of hair loss, hair type, density and scalp laxity all affect in choosing the right candidate for hair loss restoration.
Going with a Doc
Following questions should help in choosing a hair restoration specialist doctor:
How long have you been doing this procedure?
How many patients have you performed it on?
May I see pictures of your patients, apart from those in the brochures?
Are you board certified and which board certified you?
How many and what kind of procedures has the patient in the brochure had?
How long after surgery was the picture taken?
How many grafts are usually done in a session?
How many sessions will I need to achieve the look I want?
How much will the entire procedure cost?
Describe the procedure.
What risks are associated with this kind of procedure?
Are you board certified and which board certified you?
What is your specialty?
What part of the surgery do you yourself perform and what part is performed by your technicians?
How many surgeries do you perform a day?
Do you currently have any pending lawsuits against you by unhappy patients?
