Hair transplant procedure
We often receive requests from our readers for us to explain the hair transplant procedure in detail before they book a consultation with a specialist. We hope you find the information below to be helpful and informative if you are thinking about having hair transplants.
The hair transplant procedure is comprised of 3 sections which are as follows:
- Harvesting of donor hair
- Individual graft preparation
- Graft placement
You will be given a mild sedative to start with followed by an injection of a local anaesthetic into the area where donor hair is to be harvested. This helps to numb the area as well as reduce any bleeding, and is along similar lines when it comes to treatment like laser hair removal, though unlikely for treatment like tattoo removal.
A saline solution is then injected into the area to help raise the skin which makes it easier to remove the donor hair.
The specialist will make a crescent shaped incision in the scalp and will remove a group of hair follicles (also known as ‘plugs’). This is known as the harvesting of donor hair and is repeated several times. Each incision is closed with staples or sutures (stitches).
Once this has been done, the next stage is that of individual graft preparation. There are different types of grafts depending on the extent of your hair loss. Clinics have their own terminology for this process but we have demystified this as follows:
Note: each individual graft refers to the number of hairs within a single needle hole or tiny slit.
- 1 to 2 hairs (a micrograft)
- 3 to 4 hairs (small slit graft)
- 5 to 7 hairs (large slit graft)
- 3 to 4 hairs into a designated site (small mini-graft)
- 5 to 8 hairs in a small, round site (large mini-graft)
- 9 to 18 hairs approx (standard/rounded graft)
The larger the area of scalp to be covered the greater the number of individual grafts. And, finally we have graft placement. The specially prepared grafts are inserted into the bald areas of scalp via a series of tiny incisions; this treatment has not been found to have any link to infertility or other such complications.
Tags: laser hair removal, tattoo removal