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This is a type of surgery that’s called surgical hair restoration too. In this procedure, hair from an area of your head (or even your body) that is much less prone to long term hair loss, is harvested, and placed in areas of hair loss. This is a surgical procedure and will be done in our operating suite. Depending on the degree of your hair loss, your donor concentration and quality of your hair, you will need a certain number of donor hair, usually from the back of your head.
This number will be determined during your consultation.
What should be known is that the number of hairs on your head before hair loss, are approximately 100 thousand. By the time you have significant hair loss and you are ready for hair transplant, you have lost a significant number of this pool. Trying to restore a natural look of “full head of hair” at this point may not be a reasonable or feasible expectation (as we would be trying to transfer viable hairs from your donor pool to the recipient area , trying to replace many thousands of lost hairs with just a few thousands). Also results may vary among different individuals, depending on your genetics, smoking, nutritional status, further progressive hair loss, maintenance of hair loss medications after surgery, etc. We strongly advise that, at a minimum, you stay on minoxidil for at least 6 weeks before your surgery. We often combine minoxidil with other modalities as either your final treatment or to get you ready for your surgery. It is also necessary that you stay on your non-surgical treatment after surgery for as long as needed for prevention of future progressive hair loss.
Your surgery can be either with a surgical (strip harvesting method from the back of your head or FUT method), or minimally invasive ( but more expensive) follicular harvesting method or FUE, again mostly from the back of your head. These are both surgical procedures, partly dependent on which method YOU choose according to your budget, and partly dependent on determination of superiority of one method over the other for your particular situation. In both methods you will need to take certain medications before and after surgery, and have the donor area numbed up before and during the surgery. These surgeries will not be under general anesthesia, but you will be given medications to relax you during the surgery. In other words, you will be awake during most of the procedure, with frequent bathroom/snack/lunch breaks. We will offer you food and drinks on the day of your surgery. You may also relax in our massage chair, watch TV and DVDs, and use the internet on your breaks. The post-operative discomfort is minimal to none. You will need to come in for preoperative consultation for more information/evaluation/pictures, and also after the surgery is done. You will need to be ready to spend one full day at our center for your surgery. Detailed written instructions for preoperative and post-operative period will be given to you.
For the operative/surgical (strip harvesting/FUT) method, we use either a “hidden-stitch” closure which does not need suture removal later (with slightly higher cost), or stitching over the skin (which needs suture removal about two weeks later, either at our clinic or at the place of your choice). Financing is available for your surgery.