Hair Transplant: Answers To Basic Questions

2024 Author: Josephine Shorter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-07 17:49

Hair transplant: answers to basic questions

How do I know if a hair transplant can solve my problem?

Hair transplant may be the only solution in the case of androgenic alopecia, as it can help restore the amount of hair in problem areas even when drugs and folk remedies are ineffective.

Let's consider the main situations in which it is necessary to prescribe a hair transplant:

• A transplant is sometimes necessary when the phenomenon of hair loss in women, as a result of which hair density is lost in different parts of the head.
• A hair transplant from the back of the head helps restore hair density in men with age-related baldness.
• Hair transplant restores the normal shape of the eyebrows, mustache and beard, where hair has fallen out due to scars.
• The transplant allows you to restore hair growth at the site of the scar and mechanical damage to the scalp tissue.

What questions to ask the doctor?

• Which method (FUT or FUE) will be used for hair transplant?
• What procedures and medications will be needed after the operation, how long should I take the medications?
• What is your doctor's experience and prognosis for your situation?
• Complications that may arise during the operation?
• How long does the procedure take and how many sessions are sufficient for a satisfactory result? This usually depends on the amount of hair to be transplanted to the patient.

Patients are often interested in the question of whether the transplant operation will be in vain. After all, hair transplanted by surgery can fall out in the same way as your own, and the operation itself takes a lot of time and is not cheap.

Androgenetic alopecia is one of the most common serious and difficult to treat causes of hair loss. Its cause is considered to be a violation of the metabolism of androgens - male hormones, as a result of which dihydrotestosterone is formed, which has a bad effect on the function of the hair follicle. Dihydrotestosterone is produced more in the parietal and frontal parts of the head, respectively, and baldness usually begins in these areas.

Hair transplantation from the back of the head can help restore the amount of hair, since hair from this area is more resistant to the action of DHT. Thus, the transplanted hair takes root and remains in place for many years, for this phenomenon there is a medical term "donor dominance".

The transplant can effectively solve the problem of the so-called cicatricial alopecia, it helps to quickly restore the hair at the site of the scar, but only if its area is not larger than that of a woman's palm.

To stop further loss of your own hair located in the frontal and parietal regions, it is recommended to constantly use Minoxidil and preparations similar in action.

Content:

• When is hair transplant ineffective?
• What hair restoration methods exist
• Where do hair transplant come from?
• Hair transplant preparation
• How is hair transplant surgery performed?
• Hair transplant - does it hurt?
• When the results start to show
• What complications can arise after
• Additional treatment after transplant

When is hair transplant ineffective?

• When baldness becomes focal, hair begins to fall out on any part of the head or body, bald patches with smooth edges are formed. In this case, an attempt to restore hair using the transplant method is considered ineffective, since an exacerbation of the disease can destroy the results of the operation.
• When the cause of hair loss has not been reliably identified, and doctors cannot say that hair loss is caused precisely by androgenic alopecia. The results of transplant treatment in this case will be unpredictable.
• If the hair loss is due to radiation sickness or chemotherapy, the transplant operation is useless - the weakened hair will still fall out.
• Rapidly progressing androgenic alopecia is almost impossible to treat with hair transplant.
• There is no reason to undergo a hair transplant if the patient has too few hairs left on other parts of the head
• Systemic diseases, diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension may be contraindications for hair transplant surgery.

What other hair restoration methods are there besides transplant?

There are several methods used in modern medicine for the regeneration of lost hair. The choice of the most effective is made due to loss. With seasonal hair loss, taking vitamins can help; with androgenic alopecia, Minoxidil is recommended in the form of a foam or lotion.

Medical cosmetics in the form of ampoules, masks and shampoos or tablet preparations are also used to restore hair. If the cause of hair loss is not weakened follicles, but their dryness and brittleness, then topical agents help to solve the problem without surgery and pills. In some cases, when hair loss is caused by parasitic invasion or systemic diseases, the hairline is restored after the root cause of baldness is eliminated.

Good results are obtained by procedures aimed at restoring microcirculation in superficial tissues. These are scalp massage, folk recipes based on pepper tincture, darsonvalization salon procedures. In areas where hair loss is caused by insufficient blood supply to the follicles, even a transplant may be ineffective.

Hair transplantation is necessary when all other methods have been used and have failed.

Where does hair transplant come from? Can body hair be used?

For hair transplantation, the patient's own hair from the back of the head is used, if it is preserved. The hair of other people cannot be used for transplantation, as it is rejected by the body.

It is not recommended to use hair from other parts of the body for hair transplantation, since even if the operation was successful, the hair will retain its previous appearance - color, structure and length and bears little resemblance to the natural scalp.

Hair transplant preparation

Preparation for the operation begins six months before its implementation and consists of the following stages:

• Therapy of androgenic alopecia with Minoxidil - exacerbation of the disease can nullify the results of the transplant;
• Stop using Minoxidil 14 days before surgery to reduce bleeding during the transplant;
• A week before the operation, smoking and taking medications that affect blood clotting are limited;
• A few days before the operation, it is necessary to completely abandon alcohol and pass a number of tests: for the level of hemoglobin, glucose, syphilis, hepatitis, determination of blood clotting. If the operation is performed using the FUE method, the doctor may prescribe a FOX test - it helps to study the anatomical features of the patient's skin, how difficult it will be to extract donor hair. To do this, under local anesthesia, grafts containing up to 100 hairs are selected, they are examined under a microscope and in case of difficulties in extracting hair during the operation, the FUT technique is used.
• On the day of surgery or earlier, hair from the area used for transplantation is cut short to 2-3 mm.

Hair transplants have been shown to have good results in the treatment of androgenic and age-related alopecia, which are among the most common causes of hair loss in men. Women need to undergo a number of additional tests, since the range of diseases that can cause the cause of baldness is quite wide, and androgenic alopecia is relatively rare in women.

Tests required to determine the cause of hair loss:

• A general blood test for the level of hemoglobin and ferrin proteins, as well as the concentration of zinc;
• Analysis of the level of the most important sex hormones and some thyroid hormones;
• Checking blood for adrenal hormones with the determination of testosterone levels;
• Assessment of the condition of the scalp and hair with the subsequent localization of the foci of alopecia;
• Trichoscopy, a microscopic examination of hair, is sometimes used.

How is hair transplant surgery performed? Are there non-surgical methods?

Hair transplant surgery has no serious complications, is well tolerated by patients and is one of the most popular and effective treatments for alopecia. Modern surgical instruments and techniques allow for androgynous transplantation of fragments consisting of 1-4 hairs, which increases the accuracy of the procedure and ensures their engraftment in a new place.

A completely non-surgical hair transplant method has not yet been developed. The operation uses two methods that differ in the method of donor hair collection - FUT and FUE.

What are FUT and FUE? Which method is better?

FUT is a hair transplantation technology with strips that are cut from the back of the head, crushed into separate fragments of skin with hair and implanted into the bald spot, where the doctor pre-makes small holes.

This technique has a significant drawback - noticeable scars remain at the place where the hair is taken for transplantation, which worsens the appearance of the patient's head. If the hairstyle hides the back of the head, then the scars are invisible to others. However, this is usually not a problem, since 3 months after a successful hair transplant operation, new hair grows at the site of the scar, and it becomes difficult to find it even for a hairdresser.

FUE is a technology in which hair transplantation occurs one at a time, less traumatic for the scalp, but more time-consuming and laborious. The selection of hair for transplantation takes place with the help of special instruments, after which they are transplanted in the same way as with the FUT technology. This transplant method minimizes the chance of scarring as it does not require stitches. The recovery process after surgery is less than with a FUT transplant. Another significant plus of this method is the ability to transplant hair to bald spots not only from the head, but also from other areas of the body.

Hair transplant - does it hurt?

The hair transplant operation is painlessly tolerated by the patient; local anesthesia with lidocaine or xylocaine is sufficient for its implementation. During the hair transplant, the patient is conscious and feels in which part of the head the doctors are manipulating, but there is no pain.

When do the results start to show?

In order for the results of treatment to become obvious to the patient and others, it is necessary to carry out therapy from 8 months to a year, during this time the amount of hair and their density are restored, bald patches and bald patches disappear on the head areas affected by alopecia.

Three months after hair transplant, noticeable changes in the area of the bald spot are noticeable - new hair grows, and the area of the bald patch becomes almost indistinguishable from areas with normal hair. The transplanted hair has its own genetic information and is more resistant to the effects of dihydrotestosterone, which provokes androgenic alopecia. Therefore, you can count on no need for a second operation, and hair loss in this area will stop.

What complications can arise after hair transplant?

A common postoperative phenomenon is swelling and soreness of the scalp at the site of surgery. This is how the tissues respond to the saline solution that is injected during hair transplant. Compresses with ice help to remove swelling and soreness. It is observed no more than three days after the operation. Full recovery occurs two weeks after surgery.

Among the rare and dangerous complications after hair transplantation, there may be scars, infectious and inflammatory processes, and seam divergence.

Additional treatment after hair transplant

After a successful hair transplant, patients with androgenic alopecia require additional drug therapy to prevent hair from falling out again. Men are prescribed Finasteride and Minoxidil tablets for external use, while women, in most cases, have enough topical Minoxidil drugs.

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The author of the article: German Olga Leonidovna, trichologist, specially for the website ayzdorov.ru