Hair Transplants: Candidates, Costs, and Customized Treatment Options
Who could Hair Transplant Benefit?
Your success with hair transplant surgery greatly depends on the stage and type of hair loss you’re experiencing. For this reason, your interest in hair transplant should be met with a consultation with your board-certified dermatologist and medical hair loss expert. Your initial consultation should involve determining which of the >20 types of hair loss conditions is your accurate diagnosis and developing a treatment plan. Specific diagnoses require different types of treatmens and hair tranplant is not an appropriate treatment for every hair loss conditoin.
Those experiencing male pattern balding (MPB) or female pattern hair loss (FPHL) also known as androgenic alopecia are suffering from hair changes caused by higher DHT levels or follicle sensitivity to this hormone. Initial consultation should focus on creating your personalized prophylactic regimen in order to prevent further miniatruization from DHT before considering hair transplant. Once the follicles are stabilized and hair loss has ceased or slowed, you will be an adequate cadidate for hair transplants.
Another factor to consider is the degree or stage of hair loss. Those at stage 3 of the Norwood Diagnostic Scale (pictured above) may be appropriate hair transplant candidates as other treatments are less likely to bring success at this point due to follicular atrophy. Those with hair loss due to tramas such as burns and scars may be a candidate since hair is less likely to regrow if the follicle was destroyed. Once you’ve received an accurate diagnosis and understanding of your hair loss condition and ensured it is controlled, your hair tranplant doctor can discuss hair transplants. A few questions commonly asked are as follows:
How Does Hair Transplant Work?
Today, surgeons use much more effective methods to bring better results to those looking to correct their hair loss. During a hair transplant procedure, the scalp is numbed as well as eased with oral medications to make you comfortable. The process can take up to 8 hours depending on the amount of grafts needed and the size of the team. Two common hair transplant techniques are Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) aka strip method, and Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) aka follicular extraction. These methods have a couple key distinctions for consideration when choosing the procedure that is right for you.
Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) removes a linear stripof healthy scalp and hair from a donor site on the scalp (typically posterior scalp). From this strip, your surgeon and team will dissect out your follicular units (grafts) to analyse and place into the hair loss (recipient) site. The donor site, where skin and hair were removed, is sutured close to fom a thin line. This may require some recovery time and may potentially leave behind a small scar. Individuals with tightly curled hair and candidates requiring a high number of grafts are candidates for this procedure.
Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) may offer patients less recovery time and minimal scarring. With the FUE method, each follicular unit (as a single follicle as well as groups of two, three, four+ hair grafts) is removed individually using a manual or motorized punch tool. Small circular sites are allowed to heal over the next 1-2 weeks. A few weeks post hair transplant surgery, the transplanted hairs themselves may cycle through a normal shed cycle, but within a few months, new hairs will grow.
What Does Hair Transplant Cost?
The cost of hair transplants can run anywhere from $4000 and up varying greatly by individual conditions, staging, and methods. The FUT and FUE procedures are very complex requiring surgeons to devote several hours and their specialized expertise for each session. A consultation will help reveal your chances of success with hair transplant for your individual condition. If costs still outweigh predicted success of the procedure for your hair loss case, your surgeon can discuss other highly effective, less expensive treatment options including Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) injections, Scalp Micropigmentation (SMP), topical prescriptions, dietary supplements, and/or Low-Light Laser Therapy (LLLT). Some of these treatments can also be used in combination with hair tranplants to achieve your optimal outcome.
Dr. Nikki Hill is currently offering FREE Hair Transplant Consultations. She also offers numerous treatment options for her current hair loss patients. You can book your hair transplant consultation or a new patient appointment online today at www.socahcenter.com or through our office at (404) 474-2301.
