Have you been thinking about having a hair transplant, and don’t really know what is entirely involved in the procedure?
Here is our step-by-step Hair Transplant Procedure
Step 1: Harvesting
This first step is the longest and gruelling during the procedure. Firstly, your donor area (the area of the scalp that will be used to extract hair follicles) will be shaven. This allows for the density of the hair to be seen easier and extracted accordingly. Following this, the donor area is then anaesthetised, and each hair follicle from your donor area is harvested using a handheld FUE (follicular unit extraction) machine. In this part of the procedure, there is little to no pain.
Once your hair grafts have been harvested, they are placed in a chilled holding solution that enables the grafts to be preserved and kept fresh for planting.
A topical antiseptic is applied to your donor area and covered with a sterilised dressing to keep the harvesting holes clean throughout the rest of the procedure.
Step 2: Incisions
The second step involves making the incisions for the recipient sites. Local anaesthetic is applied to block the front of the head, and the chosen areas for planting. Small incisions are then made in the areas where the client wishes to have the hair planted. This step takes roughly 45 minutes to an hour or more, depending on the number of grafts. It is an easy stage for the client, as the client is sitting upright and can be entertained by watching television in the surgery room.
Step 3: Planting
The final stage of the Hair Transplant is the planting. The planting is done by one, or a team of technicians, depending on the size of the case. The grafts are categorised into single haired graft, and two and three haired grafts. The grafts are planted according to where the client prefers most density. Typically, the hairline is planted with one haired graft to maintain a natural hairline, while the rest of the scalp is planted with denser hair grafts to achieve the look of thick, full hair.
This stage takes approximately 2-4 hours, also depending on the number of grafts to be planted.
Once the procedure is done, you’ll be given a prescription for medication to aid you during your healing process. Following the procedure, the scalp tends to swell, so you are often given a take-home icepack to help reduce the swelling. For the first 7 days, it is highly recommended that clients take extra care of their grafts. Special Post-Operative instructions will be given by the doctor.
Results can be seen from as little as 4 to 6 months, however, full results can be seen between 6-12 months.
