Transplants are the most popular and common form of surgical hair restoration.  Transplants have been around for many years and have advantages and disadvantages compared to other surgical options.   Unlike some of the more radical surgical options, transplantation is a relatively minor procedure with few complications.  It has been practiced for so many years that many doctors believe that the techniques involved have gone about as far as they are going to go in advancement.  Due to increased competition, prices are generally decreasing as well.

What Are Hair Transplants

Hair transplants are really a very simple idea and process.  It is simply the removal of hair at the back and sides of the head where hair is very dense and surgically implanting them into the balding area of the scalp. 

A transplant is a permanent operation, so you should research your doctor well to assure you get good results and the best price!  Here are some tips for finding a good transplant surgeon.

The procedure is preceded by a series of anesthetic injections to the scalp to null any pain.  This is actually the most painful part of the operation and depends on the individuals.  Some people have found it pretty painful and said that doctors underplayed this.  After the anesthetic sets in, there is no pain.

First, a small area of the scalp is selected as the donor area.  The amount of hair you can transplant depends on how thickly this hair grows.  This area is removed and the open area is stitched together so that it can heal.  Scarring is generally minimal but depends on how easily you heal from scars and the skill of your surgeon.  The hair near the scars overlaps the scar and therefore hides it.  This flap of scalp containing the hairs to be transplanted is then taken and cut and divided into the hairs or groups of hairs to be transplanted.

The hairs are then grafted into position by the surgeon.  This is the most critical part of the operation as far as results are concerned, since the hairs must be placed properly in order for the hair to have a natural appearance.  This is why many doctors stress the need for your surgeon to have an artistic ability when creating hairlines and to see many examples of his work.  A good surgeon can be the difference between a hairline that looks natural and one that makes it obvious you had a transplant.   How you look afterward is obviously a concern.  The above picture demonstrates how grafts often look after hairs have been transplanted before the slits for the graft have healed (source: Dr. Stephen Cotlar).

One problem with transplants is the matter of progression of hair loss after the transplant.  For many, it is easy to get a good result for how your hair looks now.  But how about later when your hair loss has progressed more?  A good doctor will evaluate your eventual loss and plan for how to proceed should further loss occur.  Don't think this is a concern?  Check out these photos of a person who had micrografts and then later experienced loss behind the hairline.  His initial grafts look great but check what happened later.

So you're thinking:  "Great, I do this operation and then in a couple of weeks I'll have a full head of hair!"  Hold on, partner.  It'd be nice if it worked that way, but just as with medicinal treatments, hair growth takes time.  Generally after a transplant operation, most of the hairs fall out and enter a resting phase before regrowing in their new location.   For this reason it takes about three to six months for transplanted hairs to grow back in, and even up to a few more months to see the full results.  One company called ProCyte that is working on a hair regrowth treatment is also using the same type of treatment to prevent transplanted hairs from going into resting phase.  Their treatment, GraftCyte, has been approved by the FDA as a medical device for doing this.  The treatment consists of many dressings soaked in the treatment that are placed on the newly transplanted area immediately after the surgery and for the next few days.  The dressings are replaced every few hours and provide a moist, safe environment to heal the wounds in as well as the treatment which prevents hairs from falling out and going into their resting phase.   The dressings themselves are only sold through transplant doctors, but the accesory treatments including a mist spray and soon shampoos are available from ProCyte directly or through a couple of other mail order stores.

When you consider transplants, you have to consider results.  While most doctors are skilled and can perform natural looking mini and micrografts, there are still some quacks out there who just shouldn't be practicing.  Look out for a doctor who wants to perform plugs and not micro or minigrafts.  You don't want to end up looking like these patients did.  Check out photos and if possible meet some of his previous patients.   Be sure and check with your local better business bureau to see if this doctor has had problems in the past (or presently!)

After that, it's mostly a matter of waiting.   Depending on the amount of hairs transplanted and how much hair was needed, followup transplants are often needed to achieve the desired density, although many doctors are performing "megasessions" that transplant large numbers of hairs in one session so that further operations are often unnecessary.

Want to relate your transplant experience?  We will be adding a new section with peoples' experiences soon once we get a few.   Please contact us using the link at the bottom of this page .

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