Does Hair Transplant Surgery Really Work?
Hair transplantation is an increasingly popular treatment for hair loss. In recent years, close to 85% of patients who have received hair transplants were men, while 15% were women. With requests for hair transplants on the rise, over 400,000 such procedures are performed yearly.
Most hair loss is due to genetics. If your parents and grandparents were prone to thinning hair or male-pattern baldness, the likelihood is you may have this problem too. Other factors can sometimes be involved in hair loss. These include diet, stress, illness, and medications.
What is a hair transplant?
A hair transplant is a surgical procedure performed to move hair follicles from one part of the patient’s head to another. The plastic surgeon usually removes some of the hair from the back or side of the head where it is thicker and long-lasting and transplants those follicles to the front or top where the hair is receding or thinning.
Dr. Ganchi will normally perform a hair transplant in an outpatient setting with the patient under local anesthesia.
Who is a good candidate for a hair transplant?
- The patient must be in good general health
- Men or women who have lost hair due to scalp injury or burns
- Men with male pattern baldness or hair loss
- Men or women with thinning hair
- Men or women who want to help reverse the signs of aging exhibited by thinning hair
- Patients who have had hair loss due to other cosmetic procedures, such as facelifts
Part of being a good candidate for hair transplant surgery is having realistic expectations. This is why it’s so important to talk with your surgeon about your own goals with regard to your hair transplant.
What are the benefits of getting a hair transplant?
Permanent Solution: Unlike other remedies for thinning hair and baldness, hair transplant surgery is a permanent solution. Topical or holistic treatments may or may not work, but neither claim to be a permanent ‘fix’ for thinning hair. With a hair transplant, the hair follicles placed in your scalp are your own and serve as a permanent and natural solution.
Hair transplants create a natural appearance: Thanks to improvements in technology and techniques, cosmetic surgeons have been able to perfect hair transplanting procedures and are now producing hair transplant results that are so natural, many people would not suspect any procedure had been done at all.
Hair transplants offer a cost-effective solution to hair loss: Since hair transplant surgery is a permanent solution, there is no need for the patient to experiment by spending money on treatments that don’t last or don’t work.
Minimal scarring: While older hair transplant methods frequently left observable scarring, newer techniques, such as the NeoGraft Hair Restoration System utilized by Dr. Ganchi, have solved this problem, leaving behind no visible scars.
Why would a hair transplant not be a good option?
- Women with a widespread pattern of hair loss throughout the scalp may not be good candidates for a hair transplant procedure
- Patients who don’t have enough hair in ‘donor’ areas from which to gather follicles to be used in the transplant
- Patients who tend to form thick, fibrous (keloid) scars after injury or surgery
- Patients whose hair loss is due to certain kinds of medication (such as some chemotherapy drugs)
Basic Hair Transplant Surgery Procedure
The NeoGraft hair restoration procedure used by Dr. Ganchi is done under local anesthetic. This makes the procedure painless.
After preparing the scalp in both the donor and recipient areas the plastic surgeon uses the NeoGraft and its gentle pneumatic pressure to extract and implant small clusters of hair follicles. The procedure is called follicular unit extraction (FUE) and is far different from older “strip” methods. Since NeoGraft uses the exact amount of pressure needed, patients can expect a shorter recovery time and an overall less invasive procedure.
This hair transplant procedure can produce as many as 2,500 hair follicles in one session. This high output capability makes it the ideal hair transplant method for any person seeking a hair transplant, from patients with mild to those with moderate or severe hair loss.
Once the patient’s scalp has healed, the results for a hair transplant procedure are permanent and the hair can be combed, styled, or even dyed without worry. You treat it just as you would any other hair on your head.
Patients find recovery from hair transplant surgery quick and relatively painless. Walking and other very mild physical activity can be resumed immediately after the procedure. However, patients should wait a few days before washing their hair. Hair can be washed with direct water stream contact to the scalp after two weeks. More strenuous physical activity, like working out at the gym, can be resumed in three weeks.
More information is available on our NeoGraft Hair Transplant Page.
Common side effects of hair transplant surgery are:
- Pain
- Swelling
- Bleeding
- Numbness
Rare side effects can include:
- Infection
- Nerve Damage
- Loss of Transplanted Hairs
For most people, hair transplants are a safe and viable option for hair loss and receding hairlines.
It’s vital to choose a doctor who has a great deal of experience performing this surgery and has, as well, an aesthetic sense. There are many subtle aspects to achieving a natural-looking result in hair transplantation. The surgeon must decide on the optimum distribution of the transplanted hairs, the design of the new hairline, and the natural angle of growth of the transplants. All of these factors are important to get the best final result.
If you are considering doing something about hair loss or thinning hair, the best idea is to come in for a consultation. An experienced plastic surgeon, such as Dr. Ganchi, will be able to advise you on whether a hair transplant is a good option for you.
Dr. Ganchi has trained at Harvard, Princeton, and Duke Universities. He is trained in both general surgery and plastic surgery. Dr. Ganchi is a member of numerous associations and societies including the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS). He has received many special honors, including being selected as one of New Jersey’s and the New York Area’s Top Plastic Surgeons by the prestigious research firm, Castle Connolly.