What Is Hair Transplant?

Like we regard our health and youth, most of us take our locks for granted until they are gone. Many patients find that a hair transplant helps them to regain what looks to be a complete head of hair, or at least one that is fuller. Having the surgery if losing your hair or thinning on top really helps you to feel more confident about your appearance. Still, first go over with your doctor what to expect both during and after the operation.

What is Hair Transplant?

Under this type of surgery, your existing hair is relocated to cover bald or sparse areas. Doctors in the United States have been doing these transplants since the 1950s, but techniques have just altered drastically. Usually, the treatment takes place at the doctor's office. First cleaning your scalp, the surgeon will numb the back of your head using anesthetic. Your doctor will either execute the transplant using follicular unit extraction (FUE) or follicular unit strip surgery (FUSS). During FUSS, the surgeon removes a 6–to 10-inch strip of skin from the back of your head. Sewing closed the scalp and set it aside. The hair all surrounding it quickly hides this mark. The surgical team next divides the 500 to 2,000 tiny grafts—each carrying one or a few hairs—from the excised strip of scalp. Your hair type, quality, and color as well as the size of the area being transplanted define the kind and number of grafts you get. If you are having FUE done, the surgical team will shave the rear of your scalp. The doctor will next separately remove every hair follicle from that point. Your natural hair will cover the minute traces of healing skin. After then, both systems are exactly the same. After numbing and cleaning the area where the hair will grow, the surgeon uses a scalpel or needle to create holes or slits and carefully places each transplant into one of the prepared holes. They most likely will also receive help from other team members in order to place the grafts. The length of the operation depends depend on the magnitude of the transplant you are undergoing—four to eight hours. You might need another operation if you keep losing hair or decide you want thicker hair going forward.

Resilience and Expectations

Your scalp could be extremely tender after the procedure. You might need to take painkillers for a few days. For a minimum of a day or two, your surgeon will order you to wear bandages over your scalp. They can also advise you to take an antibiotic or an anti-inflammatory medication for a few days. Most patients can go back to work 2 to 5 days after the procedure. The transplanted hair will fall out 2 to 3 weeks following surgery, but you should start to see new growth in 3 to 6 months. After 6 to 9 months, the majority of people will notice 60% of new hair growth. Although its effectiveness is unknown, some surgeons recommend the hair-growing medication minoxidil (Rogaine) to boost hair growth following transplantation.

How Painful is a Hair Transplant?

This is a common question someone considering a FUE hair transplant has. Some may believe the procedure is quite painful. Many who get hair transplants, however, claim not feeling anything during the actual operation. After a local anesthetic is injected into the intended scalp site, a patient should not be uncomfortable. Usually, recuperating causes you not much suffering. You should follow your aftercare and recovery rules and strive to take enough time off—often 4–5 days—to thoroughly recuperate. A patient should have a mostly pain-free recovery phase; any discomfort can be quickly addressed with paracetamol or Ibuprofen. Antibiotics will assist ward against infection; should you develop post-operative edema, you will be treated for it.

For Whom are Hair Transplants Appropriate?

Let's talk about if someone qualifies right now for a hair transplant. Generally speaking, candidates for a hair transplant should be in good health and have healthy hair follicles that would keep growing after the surgery. Male pattern baldness sufferers who have stabilised their hair loss either naturally with ageing or with medication will gain from the treatment. A hair transplant could also be a choice for men and women whose burns, trauma, or other unusual illness causes their hair loss.

Baldness According to the Male Pattern

Male pattern baldness, sometimes referred to as androgenic alopecia, affects more than half of all males aged 50 or above. It's among the most often used excuses for a hair transplant. Men with male pattern baldness could find their crown thinned and their hairline recedes. Usually showing as hair loss at the temple and top of the head, male pattern baldness may finally leave a "horseshoe" of leftover hair. Hair lost from the front of the hairline moves the hairline back over time. The offender underlying male pattern baldness is Dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a derivative of testosterone. DHT can over time reduce sensitive hair follicles. The affected hair follicles become smaller, therefore reducing the lifetime of the hair. This continues until the compromised follicles quit producing hair. Studies show that male pattern baldness is usually inherited; over 80% of individuals who suffered significant hair loss also had balding fathers.

Stages of Hair Loss (Norwood Scale)

Analyze your hair loss always under the direction of a licensed hair transplant physician. Whether surgical or non-surgical, they can evaluate your hair loss and recommend the best line of action. Male hair loss is classified on the Norwood Scale, which provides graphic representations of the several balding phases. Some doctors and surgeons may use an other classification scheme, thus be advised.The seven steps of the Norwood Scale are described as follows:

Stage 1: There is no noticeable hair loss or hairline regression

Stage 2: The hairline around the temples is slightly receding. Another name for this is an adult or mature hairline.

Stage 3: The onset of baldness that is clinically significant. At both temples, the hairline gets sharply receded and resembles an M, U, or V. The recessed areas have no hair at all or very little hair.

Third-stage vertex The hairline remains at stage 2, but the top of the scalp experiences substantial hair loss (the vertex)

Stage 4: The hairline recession is more pronounced than in stage 2, and the vertex has little to no hair. A strip of hair that connects to the hair still present on the sides of the scalp divides the two areas of hair loss.

Stage 5: Compared to stage 4, the two areas of hair loss are greater. They are still apart, but there is a smaller, sparser strip of hair between them.

Stage 6: The bald spots at the vertex and the bald spots at the temples merge. There is no more or only a thin strip of hair over the top of the head.

Stage 7: The most advanced stage of hair loss, where just a band of hair encircling the head's sides is left. Typically thin and fine, this hair is usually not dense.

The Norwood Scale can be used as a standard to identify the degree of baldness, offer the best course of therapy, and assess the efficacy of that course of treatment. The scale is also used to estimate how many grafts a patient could need to have their hair covered after surgery.

The Process of Rehabilitation and Aftercare

This part covers your last phase of your hair transplant journey—that which begins when you leave the clinic and ends with a full head of healthy hair. Following a hair transplant is imperative to carefully care for the hair grafts so they may become secure and the follicles may grow normally. You have to avoid exercising for the first few weeks following the treatment if you want to reduce scarring. A bandage is usually worn for 24 hours; so, you should not wash your hair until about day five when you can gently suds it with shampoo (take a read of our hair washing tips post-surgery article for more information). Following a FUT hair transplant, non-dissolvable stitches can generally be removed two weeks later.

Following are some quick aftercare ideas:

Do

After day five, wash your hair to promote healing.

the use of painkillers as necessary

Wear a cap when outside.

Don't

Scratch your scalp

Rub your hair with a cloth towel after washing it;

Engage in any strenuous physical activity for 14 days following the operation.