Gone are the days when there was no solution to baldness. All you could do is just live with it. In today’s time looking good or grooming oneself from head to toe to look presentable is of utmost priority. The advent of science and technology in this field has made things easier. A hair transplant is the one-stop solution for your balding of the scalp or thinning of hair. In this article, we will touch base on everything you need to know about the hair transplant.
What is Hair Transplant?
The answer to this question is pretty simple and if we were to explain in layman’s term, it is removing hair follicles from one part of the body and grafting them to the balding or thinning part of the scalp. This procedure of hair restoration is done through surgery. The part from where the hair is removed is called the ‘donor region’ and the bald part is the ‘recipient region’.
How does Hair Transplant work?
When a hair is removed from the donor region and transplanted to an area of thinning and baldness the hair will keep the characteristics of the area it is extracted from. This means that the newly transplanted hair will remain unaffected by the process of baldness and will stay on the patients head for the rest of their lives. No special medication or shampoo is needed to maintain transplanted hair. Local anesthesia is used during the hair transplant so the patient does not feel any pain during the process.
The hair removed from the donor region, each graft is individually prepared for transplantation. Small incisions are made in the recipient region where the new grafts are to be transplanted. Hair graft is a naturally occurring group of hairs that contains one to four hairs. As the hair transplant is permanent the design of every patient’s transplant should be well thought out to ensure it looks natural. The best hair transplant clinic in Gurgaon is carried over by qualified surgeons. This procedure takes around 6 to 10 hrs and can be carried out in a single day.
Types of Hair Transplant
There are two surgical methods of removing hair from a patient’s scalp. Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) and Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE). Regardless of which technique is used, the method of transplanting the grafts remains the same. One thing which one needs to take care of is the hair should be taken from a safe donor region.
FUT: In FUT transplant a thin strip of hair is removed from the donor region. There will be a linear scar left in the donor region after the surgery. For carrying out the FUT procedure a skilled surgeon is required and it also requires a big team.
FUE: In this procedure, each hair graft is removed individually from the donor region using a punch tool. This method of transplantation forms multiple circular scars spread over a large area. Many clinics promote FUE as it requires a smaller team to execute the process.
Advantages and disadvantages of FUT and FUE.
- In most cases, while performing FUE the full scalp should be shaved. But in a FUT only a strip of hair is removed. This allows the patient to return to their normal lives quickly without other people being aware of the transplantation.
- As the FUE technique allows hair graft to be removed from the safe region the yield of hair grafts is low. So many clinics are forced to go outside this zone which means with age it will result in thinning of the transplanted hair. It might also result in the visibility of circular scars with time.
- The survival rate of grafts in an FUE is low as the efficiency of the punch tool is lower than a technician using a microscope.
- FUT procedure requires a stitch to be used and the patient must return to get this removed in 7 to 10 days. In the FUE technique, no stitches are needed.
- People who like to keep their hair short can go for FUE as scars are less noticeable as often they are more spread out. In the latter stage if a patient wants to go for a 2nd transplant with FUT the surgeon can remove the previous scar thus leaving the patient with just one scar. This is not possible in the FUE procedure.
FUT techniques are suitable for larger transplants as the results are superior. FUE is suitable for smaller transplants and transplants of scars and eyebrows.