Hair transplant is the latest craze not just for those that have lost their hair to untimely fall but even for those who want to change their hairlines or acquire a beautiful mane. It is getting popular especially among youngsters.” Says Dr. Deepesh Goyal who is known for the best hair transplant in Jaipur.
But are hair transplants really safe and successful? Is it an enduring process or does this procedure end in unwarranted tissue changes in the body? Well, let’s try to understand the process first & then we will look into the facts of hair transplant surgery. To explain the process of hair transplant, we have Dr. Ankur Singhal who is one of the best hair transplant surgeon in India.
It’s an operation that involves the removal of hair follicles from any site within the body like the face or legs and planting them on the hairless portion. This process is additionally utilized in transplanting hair in lashes and brows. The newest techniques are permanent and they usually pick up follicular clusters of hair. This process is named Follicular Hair Transplantation (FUT) which may be classified into two categories, strip harvesting and follicular unit extraction (FUE).
In strip harvesting, skin strips with higher hair growth are transplanted on balding areas and in follicular unit extraction hair clusters with their roots are manually removed and planted at the hairless site. Strip harvesting is what the surgeons are mostly adopting lately. It leaves a scar at the donor site and promises recovery within a fortnight.
FUE is a manual and time taking process but gives very natural results and leaves behind no marks. However, it’s not a price effective process and is time-consuming both for the doctor and therefore the patient. However, the use of robotics has reduced the time during this process and simplified it immensely.
In the initial step of the Hair Transplant Surgery, hair follicles from the rear of the head are removed and relocated to the balding areas.
Before the surgery is started, the hair within the donor area is trimmed. It is done to figure out the exact density which helps to decide the number of follicles to be extracted.
Once the hair within the donor area is trimmed, local anesthesia is injected to numb the area so that you don’t feel any pain during the extraction.
Tissue within the donor area is removed and therefore the donor area is sutured. The tissue within the donor area that contains the bald resistant hair follicles is removed surgically and the donor area is sutured mostly using self dissolvable suture.
The sutures within the donor area are hidden from the patient’s hair that is combed over them. These sutures are usually removed almost 10-15 days after the hair transplant surgery. Nowadays self dissolvable suture technique is also available.
Microscopes are then used by the specialist to look at the donor tissue for dissecting and preparing follicular units hair grafts.
Once the local anesthesia is given to the patient, the balding recipient area is ready for the operation No trimming/ removal of hair is required at the top of the recipient area as the density of hair is already less.
Follicular Unit Grafts are placed within the tiny incisions that are made in an irregular pattern in the recipient area.
The smallest grafts (one and two) are placed ahead of the hairline and three and 4 (denser than one and two) are usually placed behind.
After the successful hair transplant surgery, tiny incisions with short hair would be visible on the patients’ recipient area.
The incision marks heal naturally and therefore the redness within the recipient area vanishes itself within one or two weeks.
Hair transplant is a non-invasive or minimally invasive procedure and is usually done on an outpatient basis. Most patients are allowed to shampoo after two-three days although the scalp must be shielded from sun and infections for a short duration after the surgery. The patients are usually placed on antibiotics for a couple of days.