First and foremost, make sure you seek the advice of the GP before taking any pursuit. It is also vital to source a reputable, qualified hair loss expert who can provide careful assessment and facilitate transplant surgery via an experienced surgeon.
In order to be considered for transplant surgery, you must have a significant amount of excellent quality existing or ‘donor’ hair. Serious hair loss which occurs in one area e.g. the crown is more likely 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 be in general a sound body. Hair transplant is major surgery, performed under local anaesthetic with an associated recovery period. To make sure that the surgery to be a success, you ought to fit and healthy and ideally you won’t suffer any other major medical circumstances.
There are also age constraints related to hair transplant surgical operation. Candidates should be over 18 but many experienced surgeons won’t perform a hair transplant on young mature persons. This is because genetic or natural hair thinning is yet to occur and will affect what transplanted hair. Even if you are in your late 20s or early 30s, hair loss can still occur. This means if you undergo surgery, the new hair could fall out and it’s a total waste of your investment!
It’s worth noting that there are new surgical techniques involved in transplants. One option is FUE – Follicular Unit Extraction – which means that hairs are individually extracted from the rear of the head and re-planted across the location. This is a lengthy, pain-staking process but the result can be minimal scarring with a very natural-looking hairline. The other main technique employed in hair transplantation is FUT – Follicular Unit Transplantation. This technique involves taking a larger area or ‘strip’ of hair from the back of the head, dividing it into smaller units and then re-planting those units in the desired area of hair loss. Scarring can be better conspicuous at the rear of the head as the larger area been recently 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 look of your hair. However, once it is deemed safe to resume normal activities, the results can 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