In today’s world, a person’s aesthetics are something they really care for. It is so important that different aspects of life like your career, your personal life and social life can all be affected by it. Given the stress and anxiety that everyone undergoes with their day to day activities, it has caused the problem of hair fall in many individuals.There can also be a variety of reasons for hair fall like heredity, hormonal changes, medical conditions or normal ageing.But in cases where the hair fall has gone beyond repair by traditional methods, there comes hair transplant to save the day.
The hair transplant procedure is a surgical one which involves the removal of your own hair follicles from one part of the body and transfer it to the other. The part from which the hair follicles are extracted from is the “donor site” and the area in which the hair follicles will be implanted is called as the “recipient site”. The hair transplant procedure is usually used to treat male or female pattern baldness and this procedure can be used to restore one’s eyelashes, eyebrows, beard, chest hair, pubic hair and head hair. This procedure is also used for people who have had scars from accidents and this procedure helps cover those patches with hair. If you are looking to undergo the procedure it is suggested that you get it done from an experienced hair transplant surgeon who is well versed in the procedure. Apart from that, you should look for getting the hair transplant procedure done by surgeons in major metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad to ensure that you are treated with the latest technology.
But before you decide to go for the procedure, it is natural that you might have a lot of questions regarding hair transplant. So, for this purpose we got in contact with Dr. Manas S N, one of the renowned dermatologists who performs hair transplant in Mysore. In his 5 years of experience, he has performed over 1000 hair transplant procedures and has had excellent results. Dr. Manas will answer the most frequently asked questions related to hair transplant.
Who can undergo a hair transplant?
Both men and women are facing problems with hair loss due to the various reasons mentioned above. The reasons can be genetic, injuries from accidents, ageing or medical disorders like alopecia that cause hair loss.
“Hair transplant can only be performed if the patient is above the age of 25 and if they have ample amount of hair in the donor area.” – Dr. Manas S N
Are Hair Transplants a painful procedure?
During the hair transplant, you will be under local anesthesia which will numb the donor and recipient areas. A small amount of pain is experienced during the extraction and implantation of the hair follicles. Dr. Manas suggests that, if you do experience a lot of pain while undergoing the procedure, do tell your doctor about it. It may happen that the donor or recipient areas may not be properly anesthetized.
From where are the hair taken for the hair transplant?
In this procedure, the hair follicles can be taken from any body parts. If you have a good donor area at he back of your head, then the hair will be taken from there. In other cases when the donor area doesn’t have enough hair then hair from the arms, chest, beard, arm pits or pubic area is taken.
What is the success rate of a hair transplant?
If the procedure is done correctly by an experienced surgeon, then the success rate of hair transplant is remarkably high. As mentioned, if the procedure is done by an experienced surgeon, he/she will take care of the proper spacing between implanted hair, the correct angle and correct density.
What are the different methods of Hair Transplant used?
The two main methods used are – Follicular Unit Transplant (FUT) or the Strip Method and the second is Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE). You might have heard of two other methods i.e. DHI and Robotic hair transplant, and they are basically modified versions of the FUE method.
a) Follicular Unit Transplant (FUT):
In this hair restoration technique, which is also known as the strip method, a small strip of hair is surgically removed from the donor area (usually the back of head). The follicular units which contain 1-3 hair will be extracted from the strip and then implanted on the recipient area.
This technique is used less often compared to its successor, the FUE technique. This technique causes the formation of a scar on the back of head which is not desirable.
b) Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE):
In this method, the doctor/technician will manually remove hair follicles from the patient’s donor area (usually the back of the head). Once extracted the hair follicles are then implanted to the recipient area or where the patient is experiencing thinning of hair or baldness.
This is the technique which does not have a large scar like the FUT does. But, due to the process being a manual one it becomes time consuming and the number of grafts that can be implanted in one session is lesser than that of FUT.
c) Direct Hair Implantation (DHI):
Direct Hair Implantation is a simpler, modified version of Follicular Unit Extraction. During this procedure they use specialized pen shaped tools that can do both extraction and implantation of the follicles.
d) Robotic Hair Transplant:
This hair restoration technique will be performed by the ARTAS robotic hair transplant robot. This robot uses advanced digital imaging and algorithms to improve the speed, accuracy, and consistency of manual hair transplants.
After the procedure, do the transplanted hair fall out?
After the hair transplant, the transplanted hair is shed within a few weeks following the procedure. This is normal and the lost hair will grow again 3-4 months later. The hair will regain its characteristics after they grow back. The hair loss may persist progressively after the hair transplant. But, if any unnatural look appears, then another session would be required after your doctor decides.
