Hair Replacement FAQ's
Hair Replacement/Transplants for Men and Women
Should I have a hair transplant? Will it look natural? What advances have been made with hair restoration? If these are the questions that you are asking yourself then read on, we can help you!
I have hair loss, am I a good candidate for a hair transplant?
There are certain medical conditions that might make you not be a good candidate for treatment of your hair loss with a hair transplant. To determine this, come to a consultation and we can discuss your personal medical issues and history. More than likely to affect whether or not you are a good candidate for treatment of your hair loss with a hair transplant is your genetic profile.
If you are "programmed" to lose most of your hair then hair transplantation/hair restoration at a young age is probably not a good long-term solution. We therefore will go over in detail with you your family history of hair loss in your consultation. We will try to determine to the best of our ability the probable progression of your hair loss pattern with time. We can often infer this from relatives and your current pattern of hair loss in comparison to them. We will try to help you make the best decision you can make about whether or not embarking down the road of medical hair restoration with hair transplantation is the solution for you. There are some inflammatory and hormonal influences that may affect hair restoration as well.
Hair transplants - how do they work?
We tend to lose our hair in the temporal recessions and on the crown or the vertex of our scalp. The hair loss pattern that you will have is genetically programmed into each individual hair follicle.
It's not where it goes to but where it comes from.
Every hair has a genetic program to grow and eventually stop growing and/or fall out at some predetermined time based upon its individual genetic makeup. If we take hairs that are programmed to grow your entire lifetime, therefore, and move them to areas where hairs have been programmed to fall out prematurely, then the hairs that are programmed to grow for a lifetime will continue to grow in that area, if they take.
The idea therefore is to continue hair growth in areas that are more important to you than our donor sites on the back of the head.
Where can I get donor hair for my hair transplants/hair restoration?
The best place for donor hair is where the hair is thick and genetically programmed to last your lifetime. We therefore will take it low on the "fringe" usually on the back of the head approximately at the level of the ears or below. This hair has the best chance for lasting the longest period of time.
Will my hair restoration/hair transplants look natural?
Hair transplants were very noticeable in the 1970s and 1980s. They were actually "plugs" of hair that were taken from the same donor site we use today on the back of the head. These plugs were transferred directly without separating the hairs into smaller groups of hairs. Hair therefore grew in small clumps of 12-20 hairs and the spaces between them were barren of hair. This patchy appearance is what made the older hair plugs much more obvious. Now we use smaller mini grafts and micro grafts of 1, 2, and 3 hairs to make the hair growth look as natural as possible. We try to place single hairs in the very front since they have the most natural appearance and groups of 2 or 3 behind the singles to give more thickness and density.
If I have a hair transplant, how much hair can I get with my medical hair restoration?
In our office we feel comfortable giving 1000-3000 grafts in a session. We believe you want as much hair in as little time as possible and we will therefore do the best we can to give you the most hair as efficiently and as economically as possible in the least amount of time. We therefore avoid doing transplants of less than 1000 grafts.
If I have 1000 hair transplants in my medical hair restoration, is it 1000 hairs?
No, 1000 grafts are 1000 follicular units. Many of them are singles but many are also doubles and triples. Therefore, a 1000 grafts can be anywhere from 1000 hairs in singles to 3000 hairs in triples. Three thousand grafts is therefore anywhere from 3000-9000 hairs that will be transferred.
How long does hair transplantation/medical hair restoration take?
It takes approximately 3-4 hours for 1000 grafts in our office from beginning to end. When will my hair transplants begin to grow? Hairs don't begin to grow after medical hair restoration for 3-6 months. Then each transplant will come out of its dormant phase and begin the process of growth. They then grow approximately 1 cm a month. Your therefore should wait approximately six months before expecting hair growth that is noticeable from most of the grafts.
What do I need to do following hair transplants?
There is very little that you need to worry about following your hair transplant session.
The hair transplants will be placed into their new recipient beds and will not require a dressing. We ask you to leave them alone and not scratch them. Most of our patients will tell us that they only notice after 1000-1500 grafts, between 3 and 5 grafts that fall out in the first week. We try to avoid placing a dressing on the donor site as well. The donor site is closed with stapes, which are hidden under the hairline on the back of your head somewhere approximately the level of your ears. These clips need to be cleaned with some peroxide twice a day and have antibiotic ointment applied. The grafts themselves don't need any care. After 2-4 days we let you take some warm water with a small amount of baby shampoo mixed in and pour it gently over the grafts. We don't want you massaging the grafts at this time. We ask you to just rinse them off and then rinse off the soap with a few cups of warm soap-less water as well.
How do the grafts stay in?
Your body seals them in with its own healing processes. A clot forms around the graft, which acts as your own tissue glue and holds the grafts in place. We then wait for the hair follicles to survive by having your body regenerate a blood supply to the hair follicle itself. This process of healing and new blood vessel growth occurs over the first week and seals the grafts in place.
When will the hair start growing?
The hairs will actually fall out soon after they have been transplanted. The follicles should stay in place but the hairs themselves will leave the bulbs and reside in a dormant phase until they begin to grow again in approximately three months.
