The Science Behind Hair Transplants: Understanding the Procedure and Results
Have you experienced hair loss? One solution you may have considered is getting a hair transplant. As it’s a surgical procedure, it isn’t a decision to make with haste. Instead, you should put some serious thought into it, particularly when it comes to understanding the procedure and its results.
Of course, like with any cosmetic surgery, you will have a consultation beforehand with a qualified surgeon. The surgeon can examine your hair and talk you through the procedure, explaining everything that will happen and what to expect from the results. To find a qualified provider in your area, you can head to trusted platforms like Hairy.co.uk if you reside in the UK, for instance, to find the best fit for your needs and to access detailed guides and resources on the process.
A Brief History of Hair Transplants
Some forms of hair transplants took place all the way back in the 19th century. However, the first documented successful hair transplant for male pattern baldness was performed by Dr Norman Orentreich in New York in 1952. This type of surgery was commonly named ‘hair plugs.’
Hair plugs were popular throughout the second half of the 20th century. Due to their unnatural results, they became almost obsolete by the early 2000s. In its place, there were more refined, natural-looking hair transplant surgeries, including the FUT, FUE, and DHI methods.
The Science Behind Hair Transplants
Hair grows all over the human body from hair follicles. The hair goes through a hair growth cycle, forming, growing, and falling out before new hair grows. This is natural. However, circumstances such as stress, medical conditions, age, and genetics make it so that the hair follicles stop growing hair altogether. This is more common in men but can happen to anyone.
A hair transplant aims to place healthy hair follicles in the area where hair has become thinning or has stopped growing altogether. The surgery takes healthy hair follicles from the scalp and inserting them into the thinning section. Over time, hair will start growing from there. There are three popular methods for this: FUE, FUT, and DHI.
FUE Hair Transplants
Follicular unit extractions are one of the most popular hair transplant methods and are favored by many people thanks to their natural-looking results. The surgery involves manually grafting individual follicles from healthy sections of the scalp one at a time, ensuring minimal scarring. After the extraction, the surgeon uses a microblade at the thinning area to make small incisions, into which the healthy follicles get placed. It’s a meticulous surgery, and only the most experienced and talented surgeons perform it. If you’re interested in finding an expert surgeon for the FUE method, hshairclinic.co.uk has two of the best hair transplant surgeons in the world.
DHI Hair Transplants
DHI – direct hair transplant – is a newer method that’s very similar to DHI. The main difference is that instead of the surgeon manually extracting the hair follicle, they instead use a small pen device. DHI is typically only recommended for younger patients with minimal hair loss.
FUT Hair Transplants
The follicular unit transplant became popular and widespread during the early 2000s. It involves cutting a 1-1.5cm strip of skin from the scalp to extract a handful of follicles and then implanting those into the balding area. This method allows surgeons to extract more follicles at a time and is usually only used for patients who need more hair coverage.
The Results
FUE and DHI provide the most natural-looking results as they only transfer one follicle at a time. Results typically are present six months after surgery. However, it can take up to eighteen months for patients to see full results.
