Hair Transplant Surgery | Facts about How Long Does it Lasts?
It’s been a long time, I have not published any new article. So, my today’s article will be on Hair Transplant Surgery. We all know that in this modern world, people consider their health and lifestyle. There are many things included in a person’s lifestyle that makes him or her gorgeous and stylish. Nowadays the youth and other ages are mostly attracted to hairstyles and look as well.
As we all know, the hairs mean a lot to every person, so everyone takes care of their hairs as well. But there are a lot of cases of hair loss that we can see around us randomly. The hair loss is the worrisome condition for many people, and they take it very seriously as they use different kinds of cosmetic and hair products such as serum, shampoo, oils, and soaps to stop the hair fall.
Anyhow, in most cases the individual is not able to stop or cure his or her hair fall problem. In that case, they visit a hair expert who may prescribe the individual some medications but, the last option to get the new and permanent hairs is a hair transplant.
Hair transplant is bit costly, but it can bring back the individual’s confidence and good looks. If you are losing your hairs regularly and going near the baldness, you can choose a hair transplant surgery, but first, you should visit a competent and experienced hair transplant expert and consult about your expectations. And, you must know about the effects on your physical health after a hair transplant surgery.
What is a Hair Transplant?
The hair transplant is a surgical procedure. This moves and fills the hairs in the area where the hairs are thin or no hairs. Hair experts have been doing hair transplant surgeries since 1945s, but methods and techniques have changed with the time and become more modern and resultful. Mostly a hair transplant surgery has done in the doctor’s office. First, the surgery expert cleanses some unusual thing from your head such as scalp, dust or other waste particles and then injects medicines to numb the back side of your head. Your hair transplant expert can use one of two hair transplant methods: Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) or Follicular Unit Strip Surgery.
Follicular Unit Strip Surgery (FUSS)
With Follicular Unit Strip Surgery Method, the doctor removes a 5- to 10-inch strip or part of the skin from the back of your head where the surgeon injected the medicines to numb the area. Then the doctor or hair transplant expert set it at its right place and sew close to the scalp. That area will immediately hide by the hairs around.
After that, the doctor or surgeon’s team contribute the strip of scalp that removed from the backside of your head into 1000 to 2500 tiny grafts with your hairs. The type and number of graft that you get may also depend on your hair color, quality, size and type of the area where you should need to transplant hairs.
Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE)
If your hair expert is using the follicular unit extraction method of hair transplant, then the team of the surgeon will shave the back side of your scalp. After shaving, your surgeon will carefully remove the hair follicles one by one from the scalp. Some small dots on the scalp heals the area, and your existing hairs will cover that small dots area.
After this process, both surgery’s procedure is the same. After preparing the grafts by your doctor, the doctor’s team will numb and cleans the area where the hair will come out. And then, the doctor uses needle or scalpel to create slits or holes in the transplant area and carefully place every graft in holes. The doctor can take help from his or her team members while planting the grafts.
The duration of surgery will depend on the size of the area of transplant you are getting. Mostly the standard duration of any hair transplant is 4 to 8 hours. After the hair transplant surgery, if you still losing hair or want thicker hair; you may need another procedure to choose.
Expectations and Recovery
After the hair transplant surgery, the newly fixed scalp on your head can be very tender, and you may need to take pain-killer medications for some days. Your surgeon will advise you to wear bandages over the scalp for at least two days. Your surgeon can also prescribe you to take some anti-inflammatory or antibiotic medications for several days. In most cases, the individual completely recovers and can go to work after a week of surgery.
Your transplanted hair will fall out within 2 or 3 weeks after the surgery, but you can notice new hair growth after some weeks. You will see 50% of hair growth after 3 or 4 months. Some surgeons also prescribe the hair-growing drug, Minoxidil, to boost the hair growth after the hair transplant surgery.
Read my another article on 15 Best Hair Oils for Faster Hair Growth.
Costs & Risks of Hair Transplant Surgery
A hair transplant’s cost will depend on the amount of hair you want to move. Generally it costs $5,000 to $15,000. Some insurance plans don’t cover it.
There are many risks after having a hair transplant surgery such as infection and bleeding. There are some chances of unnatural-looking of new hair growth and scarring. In some cases, the individual has an infection or an inflammation of the hair follicles. This hair inflammation or infection of hair follicles called folliculitis. Some compresses or antibiotics can cure the problem.
There are some chances of having shock-loss. Shock-loss is a condition in which the individual suddenly lose the original hair in the area where he or she got the new strains by hair transplant surgery. But, the shock-loss condition is not permanent. You should talk with your surgeon about the risks and improvements after having a hair transplant surgery. The doctor can help you decide that hair transplant is good or not for you.
How Long Does A Hair Transplant Last?
This is a thing to wonder commonly and mostly by an individual who needs a hair transplant. It is hard and costly decision to take by an individual who wants to choose the hair transplant. Everyone who wants to take a hair transplant procedure wants this to be permanent as it is too costly and laborious. The lasting results of a hair transplant depend on some factors and the method of hair transplant.
Follicular Unit Extraction
The FUE procedure is a conventional method that is taken by most hair transplant experts. In FUE procedure, the individual wonder that how long does this method’s result will last. In FUE transplant procedure, your surgeon takes hair follicles from the scalp on the backside of your head and transport the follicles to your head’s bare area. There are many chances that many follicles will provide and take a full of hair head look but there are some chances of minor sheddings in some first weeks after having a hair transplant.
The back and sides of your scalp are known as the safe zone due to its permanent nature of the hair roots. The back of your scalp is DHT resistant and provide excellent donor follicles. The donor follicles are mostly found on the sides and back of your scalp than other areas. Although, it is approved that the FUE hair transplant method’s results are permanent and long lasting the results will get low with the age as it is natural in other individuals too. There are some other questions an individual may have before taking a hair transplant that include:
What is DHT?
DHT is a natural and powerful metabolite and also know as Dihydrotesterone. The DHT metabolite can be found in the human body that causes hair loss in women and men. The reason behind the DHT resistance back scalp is that it stops the androgen hormones from acting. The androgen hormone’s reactions are responsible for your hair loss.
Why are the Hair Follicles Permanent?
The follicles may easily attach to the cells around the necessary part of your scalp and nourish the scalp with regular blood flow after transplanting as they were flowing before the transplanting to other parts of the scalp. The transplanted follicles will grow as natural hairs and take weeks to grow and become visible.
After few days of transplanting you can experience the condition called, shock-loss in which your hair will fall out with shock. Post the shock-loss, you will lose the hair from the transplanted scalp area, but the follicles remain and grow. After few weeks the follicle’s growth will change into the visible hair. You must be patient after the transplant and during the follicle’s growth to see the hair transplant surgery’s results. You will surely get the best result and a head full of hard and natural hair.
How Long Does the FUE Hair Transplant Last?
According to experts, the FUE hair transplant procedure is the most believed and common method to get hair that long lasts. Some surveys also show that the results of FUE transplant are permanent. In some cases, it could not be able to show the best results because of the individual’s genetic problems, but the number of these certain cases are very low. You must visit an experienced and approved hair transplant surgeon to consult and tell him or her your expectations. You may ask the hair expert to conduct some tests that will let you know about the hair transplant’s results such as blood tests, genetics-related tests, scalp tests and follicle tests.
Does the FUE hair transplant hurt?
According to some individuals who have gone through the FUE hair transplant, the transplant is more uncomfortable rather than painful. There is a length of period that is uncomfortable to face for the individual. During the transplant, a local anesthetic is given to individual’s recipient and donor area.
Follicular Unit Strip Surgery
The follicular unit strip surgery can ultimately be sorted as the best hair transplantation that took your hairs from the back of your scalp and transfers it to other areas of the scalp. This allows growing hairs in the affected area of the scalp or the previously balding area. It can also grow thicker hair in the scalp area which is producing thin hairs.
Process of FUSS
While your hair expert surgeon using the follicular unit strip surgery as hair transplant method, he or she will take a strip of the scalp with hair follicles from the back of your head which is also called one area. The donor area of your scalp is rarely affected by hair loss. After taking the scalp strip, your surgeon will dissect it into smaller plugs and transplant them to the needed or balded area of your head. Post transplanting the plugs into the balded area of your head, it may take 3 to 5 weeks to show the natural results. After 5 to 6 weeks, the area where the follicles were transplanted, starts producing natural and thicker hair. The FUSS hair transplant method is a quick and popular procedure of hair transplanting.
Some Complications that can arise from FUSS
• Scarring: After the FUSS surgery, it may leave a scar at the donor area of an individual. The scar can be in liner appearance. The scar at the donor area might become more apparent if the follicle donor was extensive wide or lengthy. The closure of the donor wound can cause the problem of taking too much tension by the individual. The wound closing with increasing tension may lead to a more lengthy donor scar that can be cosmetically acceptable.
• Necrosis: Having necrosis after taking a hair transplant by FUSS is rare, but there are some chances of having it. The tissues separation from blood supply for a long period can lead to necrosis. The necrosis can spread if not removed. Click here to know more about Necrosis.
• Infection: if your surgeon is cutting the scalp too frequently or deeply while using the FUSS transplant method, it can lead to a serious infection in the exposed tissues.
When should you not take a FUSS hair transplant?
An experienced hair transplant surgeon will advise you not to take the FUSS hair transplant when there is not a weighty percentage of livable hair in the donor scalp area available. There are some conditions like diffuse unpatterned alopecia will leave hair unusable in the donor scalp area due to unpredictable but expected thinning. FUSS hair transplant may become ineffective and result-less if there is a little hair in the donor scalp area.
How long does FUSS hair transplant last?
Although, there are a high number of successful and long-lasting results cases there are also certain cases in which the individual face an excessive hair loss and the transplanted scalp could not be able to produce hair again. In the case of an individual having hair loss after a FUSS hair transplant, the surgeon advises taking another hair transplant surgery. The second surgery can show the predictable and expected results. The FUSS hair transplant’s results last longer with age and, as the natural behavior of hair, while aging, the transplanted hairs will also lose and get thinner.
Things to Consider before taking a Hair Transplant Surgery
• Method of surgery:
As I already mentioned, there are two methods of hair transplant surgery, Follicular Unit Extraction, and Follicular Unit Strip Surgery. Listen and consult with your hair transplant surgery expert carefully and know that which method of hair transplant will work best for you. Also, consult about the results and your expectations to your doctor.
• Cost of hair transplant surgery:
The hair transplant surgeries are often expensive or high of a cost. As the hair transplant is a complicated procedure, you may be sure about the results while you are spending a high cost. You should not take the cost of the surgery as a sole factor.
• Skin, hair and ethnicity type
Whether you are African, American or Asian in the race, you should know where you belong and know the difference. You should choose an experienced hair transplant surgeon who has done the hair transplantation with the race of your kind.
• Risks and complications
As you take a hair transplant procedure, you already put yourself in a condition where you can become a subject to certain risks and complications. You should wisely consult or ask your doctor to be assured of some risks and complications that you may face after hair transplant surgery. There is another option to be sure such as researching carefully about it online. There are many online forums where you can find experiences and stories of the former patients. They can help you to know about the risks of taking a hair transplant procedure.
• Choosing an experienced and approved surgeon
Your hair transplant surgery’s results and progress also depends on your hair transplant surgeon. You should find a right and experienced surgeon before taking a hair transplant surgery. You should find out some former patients, and according to the results of their hair transplant, you can easily find a good hair transplant surgeon.
• Medical care and preparations
You should use some precautions before, during and after a hair transplant. Because you can put yourself in some adverse conditions while not using precautions. You should ask your consultant about the things to avoid. Most surgeons will advise you to avoid smoking, alcoholic drinks, eating spicy food and excessive sweating due to an exercise or workout.
