Dense beautiful hair, be it in a male or female enhances the looks and improves the overall confidence of a person. Hair loss can be due to a number of reasons including genetics, diet, hormonal influences, stress, disease etc. Hair loss can significantly disturb a person’s self-image and confidence. Though some of the patients might be helped with conservative measures like lifestyle and dietary modifications or with medical management, hair transplant still remains the standard for attaining good, predictable results. Hair transplant is considered an art as it is not just about taking hair from one place and putting at another but also about giving natural results and which suits the patient’s age, body habitus etc.

About the procedure

Surgical hair transplant can broadly be carried out in one of the two ways- FUT or FUE. FUT or Follicular Unit Transplantation or the strip procedure where a strip of skin from the back side of the head is cut and each follicle is separated and transplanted into the new area. The area from where the strip is taken is closed with very fine sutures so that practically no scar is visible at the donor site.

FUE or Follicular Unit Extraction procedure is the more popular and more commonly performed procedure nowadays. In this technique each graft is punched out individually and transplanted to a new area. The more commonly performed sites for hair transplant are scalp, beard and eyebrows.

The procedure is performed under local anesthesia, where a cocktail of drugs is injected into the donor and the recipient sites while the patient is fully awake and comfortable throughout the procedure

Candidates for the Procedure

Patients can have hair loss due to a number of causes and a consultation is thereby mandated to rule out and correct any reversible causes of hair loss prior to making a decision to undergo Hair Transplant. A number of medical and adjunctive therapies are being promoted in the market ,but not all of these are of proven efficacy. A thorough history and medical work-up may be required in certain patients to choose the best possible treatment regimen. Also, patients with areas of hair loss due to trauma or burns require proper planning prior to the procedure.

After the procedure

Most patients are comfortable during and after the procedure and can go back home the same day; though they are not allowed to drive back themselves. Instructions are given to patients on how to take care of the hair donor and recipient sites, when and how to take bath and wash the transplanted area etc. The results start becoming visible from 4-6 months but till 12 months of hair transplant few follicles can grow so the actual result assessment of hair transplant is by 1 year. Some patients may require a second sitting depending on the amount of hair loss. Most patients are encouraged to follow a regimen of adjunctive therapies after the procedure to improve the results.