What is a hair transplant?
A hair transplant is a procedure that involves restoring hair to areas of the body that are bald or have thinning hair. There are a variety of types of hair transplants in addition to hair transplantation surgeries, including flap surgery, tissue expansion of the scalp and scalp reduction surgery. One or a combination of these treatment options may be administered to optimize the patient’s hair replacement outcome.
A hair transplantation involves removing a small area of hair bearing scalp from a donor area on the patient’s body and grafting it onto the balding or thinning area. A hair transplant requires a high level of artistry and skill, so finding the right surgeon is important to a successful surgery. A hair transplant involves taking scalp grafts, which are hair follicles, scalp tissue and skin, from the back of the head and transplanting it to balding or thinning hair areas.
It is important to consider that each scalp is unique and will react differently to hair transplant surgery. First, coarse hair grafts more easily than thin hair and requires less grafts because fine hair is less dense, which gives less coverage. Second, naturally straight hair provides less coverage than curly or wavy hair, which gives superior results because it has more volume.
Finally, light colored hair grafts better than very dark hair. This is because there is less contrast between the hair color and skin color, therefore, a light hair transplant creates the illusion of more coverage. Therefore, the amount of coverage, in part, depends on the texture and color of your hair. Hair loss is most notably caused by aging, changes in hormones and genetics (a family history of balding). Another important consideration is the risk involved and the fact that some transplants do not always take. There is risk for infection, bleeding and scarring.
Being informed about your hair transplant and the procedure and risks involved is the most important part to having a successful surgery. It may take several years to achieve desired results.
The Procedure:
Step 1 – Good candidates should have hair growth in some areas of their scalp (the back and sides of the head) to be the donor areas.
Step 2 – Small, round grafts are collected from the back and sides of the scalp to collect donor tissue
Step 3 – The grafted skin is stretched and transplanted on the balding or thinning areas of the scalp.
Step 4 – Several surgical procedures are needed to achieve full-coverage
