First and foremost, it is important to seek the advice of your GP before taking any action. It is also vital to source a reputable, qualified hair loss expert who can provide careful assessment and facilitate transplant surgery via a successful surgeon.
In order to be considered for transplant surgery, you must have a significant amount very good quality existing or ‘donor’ hair. Serious hair loss which occurs inside a area e.g. the crown is planning to be suitable for hair transplantation. Unfortunately large areas of total hair loss are not deemed suitable for transplantation as the rate of success of re-growth is minimal.
You must also be in general health and well-being. Hair transplant is major surgery, performed under local anaesthetic with an associated recovery period. Make sure the surgery as a success, you in order to be fit and healthy and ideally you won’t suffer any other major medical sicknesses.
There are also age constraints related to hair transplant surgery. Candidates should be over 18 but many experienced surgeons will not perform a hair surgery on young people. This is because genetic or natural hair loss is yet to happen and will affect what transplanted hair. Conveniently in your late 20s or early 30s, hair loss can still occur. This means if you undergo surgery, fresh hair could drop out altogether and it’s a total waste of your investment!
It’s worth noting that there are new surgical techniques involved in hair transplants. One option is FUE – Follicular Unit Extraction – which means that hairs are individually extracted from the back of the head and re-planted across the location. This is a lengthy, pain-staking process but the effect can result in minimal scarring too very natural-looking hair line. The other main technique employed in hair transplantation is FUT – Follicular Unit Transplantation. This technique involves taking a more impressive area or ‘strip’ of hair off the back of the head, dividing it into smaller units and then re-planting those units on the desired area of hair loss. Scarring can be slightly more conspicuous at the back of the head as being a larger area recently been removed but skilled surgeon will minimise incision marks to ensure rapid healing.
Hair transplants do of course utilise your own natural hair and re-growth can be expected within 4 weeks of surgery. Great care must be utilized during your recovery period to protect the newly-transplanted hair. However, once it is deemed safe to resume normal activities, the results could be life-transforming. A successful hair transplant is permanent and can restore confidence and self-esteem.
International Hair Institute – Hair Transplant Chicago
50 E Washington St Suite 200, Chicago, IL 60602
(312) 854-3899