Category: Cosmetic Health

Why Are Some People Better Candidates for Hair Transplant Surgery?

Why Are Some People Better Candidates for Hair Transplant Surgery?

Just when you think you have found the solution to your problems with balding, you might discover that hair transplant surgery is not for everyone. It is discouraging, but do not give up hope until you investigate to find out if you are a possible candidate. You may be surprised.

The most important thing to remember is that you need hair for the hair transplant to your balding areas. The hair has to come from somewhere on your body. Wherever you take the hair from is called the donor site. There can be different donor sites for different people.

The most common donor site for hair transplant surgery is on the head. If the sides and back of your head have full lustrous hair, you are in luck. This hair can be used as donor hair to replace hair you have lost on your balding spots. If your hair in these areas is not healthy, you face a difficult problem – where does the surgeon get the hair?

A new procedure allows doctors to use donor hair from other parts of the body. For example, if a man has a particularly hairy chest, some hair can be used from that area as donor hair for the head. This hair transplant procedure requires a surgeon skilled in the latest techniques in order to keep scarring to a minimum.

Another aspect of choosing donor sites is the color of the hair being used in the hair transplant. If it does not match the area around the balding area, it will look unnatural. The texture should be even as well as the waviness or curliness of the donor hair and the area of hair around the balding area.

If you have lost your hair due to genetics, or a family history, you will likely be a good candidate for hair transplant surgery. Men who have hair loss in their families usually have a good idea of the way the baldness pattern will play out.

Your relatives may have had hair that went bald into a horseshoe pattern and held at that stage. If this is the case, your surgeon will know what to expect. Then, he can take “bald-proof” hair from the sides and back of your head as donor hair and perform the hair transplant.

If you have lost your hair because of some kind of trauma or burns, you will also make a good candidate for hair transplant surgery. This is because the hair you still have will probably still be healthy. It will provide good donor hair for your hair transplant. The most likely situation is that you will have enough hair to make this possible. However, if you have lost too much hair, a hair transplant may not be possible.

You can benefit greatly from hair transplant surgery if it is right for you. Do not give up on it until you talk to a surgeon. If your surgeon says that you are not a good candidate for hair transplant surgery, you may want to get a second opinion. However, if you are a good candidate for the procedure, it is nice to know that there is a good reason you are being accepted. It will make you more confident in your surgeon.

What to Do About Bad Hair Transplants

If you had a hair transplant operation during past decades, you might not be happy with the result. You may have the type of hair transplant called hair plugs. These make the hair stick up out of your head like the bristles of a toothbrush. If you want to take advantage of modern methods, it is not too late to have more natural-looking hair.

The first thing you need to do is to find a hair transplant surgeon who has done many hair transplant repair surgeries. Fixing bad hair transplants is somewhat of a specialty for certain doctors.

Your own primary care physician may know of a surgeon who is involved in this sort of work. Otherwise, you can look for ads in the yellow pages to start your search. Contacting professional organizations is also a good idea.

Once you have found a doctor or doctors to consider, make sure they let you see examples of their work. It will not be enough to see what they can do with a virgin scalp. You need to see how successful they have been in dealing with problems such as the ones you have. If you cannot see the patients directly, at least ask for a look at some photos.

Talk to the surgeon about what can be done to fix your inferior hair transplant job. If you have large hair plugs, ask if the doctor will be removing the plugs. The surgeon may want to take them out, break them up into smaller units, and reinsert them. If your plugs are smaller, he may just want to add some new donor hair to lessen the effect of the doll head look.

If cost is an issue with you, discuss it with your surgeon. Cost is a very real problem for many who want to have bad hair transplants fixed. It may be more expensive to do the correction than an original surgery would cost. If you do not have the cash, your doctor can usually point you to several different financing methods. That way, you do not have to come up with the money all at once.

Discuss healing with your hair transplant surgeon. Because you may be having plugs removed, you have more healing to do than someone who is having a routine hair transplant. You need to let the plug sites heal as well as the new insertion sites and possible new donor sites. It may take special post-operative care and longer down-time.

Ask your doctor if she expects you to have more than one surgery session. You may need to have the plugs removed in one session and allow that to heal before going on to the next phase. Your doctor may not know the answer to this until after she sees how your first surgery has gone. In any case, it is wise to go in expecting that you probably will need more than one hair transplant surgery.

Getting a bad hair transplant result is difficult to live with for years as many have done. The fact that there are surgeries that can correct these problems is music to their ears. It is hope they may have never dreamed possible.

What Is Hair Transplant Micro Grafting?

Hair transplant procedures have changed in the decades since they were first done. The earlier methods of using hair plugs were not satisfactory. People looked like they had doll’s heads, with hair sticking out of their hair in clumps. Now hair transplants are more natural looking because of a procedure called micro grafting.

Most hair transplant surgeries today involve micro grafting to some degree. Micro grafts hold about three or four hair follicles. Older style hair grafts often held more like a dozen hair roots. These new micro grafts are only possible because skilled surgeons have refined the methods of extracting them.

Micro grafts are useful in hair transplant surgery because they can give the hair a quite natural appearance. The hair emerges from the scalp in the most natural way, with the same number of hairs that nature intended. If the procedure is done correctly, no one can tell the difference.

Natural looking hairlines have been difficult to achieve with hair transplant surgery. Micro grafts make it possible for a brand-new hairline to be attained that does not call attention to itself in the least. This is quite an accomplishment after the stares that many people endured in the past because of bad hair plugs.

However unnoticeable and natural micro grafts appear, they do not give you a full, thick head of hair. For that, many hair transplant surgeons will use micro grafts for the hairline and the front and edges of the hair. Then, they will use mini grafts farther back on the scalp.

These mini grafts used in hair transplant surgery contain three to eight shafts of hair. They give the hair fullness in areas where they will not stand out as looking fake. It is a common circumstance to have the mini grafts in the central and crown of the scalp and micro grafts at the hairline and around the edges.

If a person had this arrangement after a hair transplant and then shaved the micro grafts, the mini grafts would look decidedly unnatural. However, with the micro grafts on the leading edges, they blend in and give the hair fullness. They serve an important function.

Previously, when hair plugs were used, doctors did the hair transplant surgeries much differently. They used an instrument called a trephine to cut circular grafts from 2mm to 5mm in diameter. These plugs were inserted into the balding area.

Now, a multi-bladed knife can be used to cut long thin strips of donor tissue. The strip of scalp will be about an inch wide and five inches long. Then, the hair transplant doctor pulls the skin together where this was taken out, and stitches it together.

Finally, the micro grafts will be finished by being divided into individual grafts by using a stereomicroscope. The surgical team will make a variety of grafts from eight-shaft mini grafts to one or two shaft micro grafts. These will be moved during hair transplant to the recipient sites so that the hair will have a natural hairline with fullness on top.

Hair transplant today would not be the same without the use of micro grafts. They make for more natural-looking results. Also, the pain factor goes down with the use of the smaller grafts. They have proven to be an excellent discovery.

What Are the Side Effects of Hair Transplant Surgery?

A person with balding problems can gain a great deal of confidence by having hair transplant surgery. The procedure is a fairly easy one for the patient. However, there are some minor complications or side effects that sometimes come with the surgery.

1. Thinning. If you have hair transplant surgery, you might be alarmed if you notice that the hair you already did have is getting thinner. This is a normal post-operative condition. The thickness comes back within a few months after surgery. It will be just as full as it ever was.

2. Bleeding. The hair transplant surgery will likely cause some bleeding. If you put pressure on the area, the bleeding will usually stop. In rare situations, the bleeding does not stop this way. In that case, it might be necessary for the surgeon to do some extra stitching to close the wounds.

3. Pain. There is actually very little pain with hair transplant surgery. About half of the people who have the procedure done will not need any pain relievers at all. Most others take a mild pain reliever such as Tylenol for a few days, and that seems to be enough for them.

4. Itching. It is not unusual for itching to occur on areas affected by hair transplant surgery. Yet, it should not last more than a few days. If you use shampoo and wash the hair every day, it helps with the problem.

5. Swelling. Almost everyone who has hair transplant surgery has swelling in the forehead and around the eyes. This lasts for only a few days, the worst being about the fourth day. Some people exhibit a black eye as a result.

6. Numbness. A hair transplant patient will feel numbness for several weeks after the surgery. It is almost a given. However, it is usually only temporary.

7. Hiccups. Interestingly enough, one side effect of hair transplant surgery is having the hiccups after the procedure. Only about 5% of the patients have this problem, but it can be troublesome if it lasts more than a few days. It can keep you from eating or sleeping properly. Doctors have medications they can prescribe to help with this.

8. Infections. Infections are rare with hair transplant surgery, but they can happen. One reason they do not happen more is that antibiotics are given before and after the procedure to prevent infections from even starting.

9. Cysts. Cysts can come up in the areas where the hair is being transplanted to, also called the recipient areas. The cysts do not usually last more than a few weeks and are rarely more than the size of small pimples.

10. Scarring. If you have keloid scarring after hair transplant surgery, it is probably because you are genetically inclined to have it. Very infrequently, patients have scarring that takes the form of ridges.

The side effects of hair transplant surgery are not particularly difficult for the person who has them. They are more like minor inconveniences for most people. The most important thing about them is that nearly all of them will be gone in just a few weeks.