Hair Restoration : Treatment, Procedure, Cost And Side Effects

Hair loss and receding hairline has become one of the most common problems that most of the people go through especially the youth. Due to stress, lack of vitamin E, dry scalp, dandruff and many other such deficiencies and reasons, hair loss comes in our way and disrupts our appearance as well as our self-confidence that falls with our falling hair follicles. According to the hair experts hair does falls every day and that is to about 70 to 80 strands of hair that is subsequently balanced with the regrowth of new hair strands. However, if the number of falling hair goes more than 100 strands i.e. to about 200 to 300 without any subsequent regrowth of hair follicles then that is the case of hair thinning or hair falling that needs special attention and treatment to prevent the problem to get bigger. Many of such treatments are there that helps in both preventing any more hair loss as well as growing new hair follicles in order to restore the health of our hair. Hair transplantation is one of the treatments. It includes treatment of permanent hair loss through the different hair transplant methods such as micro grafting, slit grafting, punch grafting etc. as well as by scalp reduction.

On the other hand, Rogaine and Propecia are the only two medications that are approved by the FDA to treat pattern baldness i.e. hair loss which happens due to hereditary pattern. There are also different kinds of oil present in the market to treat hair fall naturally at home like by using argon oil, castor oil etc. which are rich in Vitamin E that is good for hair and thus reduces hair fall followed by growth of new hair. However, it takes a comparatively longer time to get the results through these natural methods and so hair transplantation is a much faster way as well as is quite effective in its performance.

Based on the condition the dermatologist may recommend Rogaine and Propecia medication for the patient or may ask the patient to undergo hair transplantation procedure. In order to perform the hair transplantation procedure, the dermatologist surgeon firstly removes a portion of hair bearing scalp from the back of the head followed by cutting of the same removed scalp into various segments with different amount of hair in each graft which is transplanted into the balding area and provides a very thickening as well as natural kind of a look.

Each session goes with the transplantation of about 50 or more hair segments or grafts. The place from where the grafts are taken out i.e. the donor site is stitched and concealed by the surrounding hair. Once this grafting part is done, the scalp is cleaned up and covered with a bandage or a gauze. Thus, this is the main procedure of hair transplantation. It is to be noted that the treatment for different hair fall causes and different hair types is different based on varying symptoms and criteria. Also the hair grafts in micro hair grafting contains only 1 to 2 hair strands per graft but on the other hand, slit grafts contains 4 to 10 and punch grafts with about 10 to 15 hair strands.

On the other hand, the scalp reduction procedure is done starting from injection of local anaesthesia followed by removal of the bald area of the scalp. Then the surrounding skin is loosened and stretched so that the hair bearing area of scalp could be brought together and sealed with stitches. The procedure can also be done together with the grafting procedure.

In order to get the hair transplantation process done, anybody with a hair fall pattern or baldness pattern is eligible. To be a little more specific men with male-pattern baldness, female with hereditary or patterned baldness, people with fallen hair due to any sort of scalp injuries and everyone who have been through recent hair fall problems due to various reasons and were unable to treat it with natural remedies are eligible for the procedure. Thus if medications, oiling and other precautionary steps to fight hair fall and restore the healthy scalp is not effective can resort to the particular grafting treatment that can be very helpful for the proposed problem.

The treatment as you know is based on the idea of using grafts of hair from the donor site of your head to transplant it on the bald side. However if anybody has lack of that particular donor site or hair bearing scalp area then that person cannot go for this particular procedure. Moreover, females with a diffuse or a widespread pattern of hair fall can also not go for the particular procedure. Similarly, people with keloid scars resulting from any kind of injury, surgery etc. can also not go for the hair transplantation procedure.

There certainly are certain side effects relating to the particular procedure however, they do get over in two to three weeks post the grafting procedure. Some of these side effects includes swelling or bruising around the eyes, the donor area as well as the receiving are suffering crusting, lack of sensation on both the sites and areas as well as itching on the areas of grafting. These side effects are not very severe and does go after a few weeks of post the treatment. One of the side effects of scalp reduction process is that there is comparatively more pain than in the grafting or punch grafting process and can relieved with non-aspirin painkillers.

There are certain post treatment guidelines related to the hair transplant procedure that suggests not having any aspirin containing products post-surgery or drinking alcohol for about 3 to 5 days. While doing shampoo the recipient area should not be straightaway splattered with water but it should be done gently by using a cup to wash that area for about 4 to 5 days. For pain relief non-aspirin, painkillers can be taken. Hair dryers and all hair colouring, styling and cutting can be done once the crusts falls. Apart from this, in any kind of other emergency the physician can be contacted. In order to fight the side effects a full guide of steps or ways are instructed by the doctors themselves.

The treatment recovery time varies from the patient condition to condition and differs from the mode of the treatment opted for the patient. The full recovery from the treatment takes about 3 to 7 days that is a week and the person can gradually move back to their normal day structure once the crust has fallen. However, in order to see the effective result of the hair treatment procedure, it might take as long as 18 to 20 months for the same.

The cost of hair transplantation in India can vary greatly depending on the location and the hair transplant clinic chosen. With a much more reputed and advanced clinic chosen for the procedure to be done, the price certainly goes higher. Besides it, also a very difficult task to choose the right transplant surgeon and clinic for the same since a little mistake can make you pay for it for all your life. Thus based on city average cost, for Mumbai it is INR45, 000 to INR1, 35,000, for Bangalore it varies from INR35, 000 to INR1, 15,000 and so. However, generally, a free PRP session is provided by any reputed transplant clinic and for sessions, the cost is about INR3, 000 to INR10, 000 per session.

The hair transplantation can become a permanent solution for baldness based on the fact that it might not prevent the hair follicles from falling but it can be witnessed with regrowth of new hair follicles from the transplanted site. However, it solely depends on the type of care, the person provides for his or her hair and scalp. Moreover, the hair will fall due to the regular cell cycle but new hair does grow from the transplanted site that is witnessed in a period of time.

Medications such as Rogaine and Propecia are eligible to be taken as an alternative to fight hair fall. On the other hand, many hair supplements, oils and other hair products are also capable of providing some effective results for the problem. In addition, hair spa therapies are also effective in fighting hair fall and helping in nourishing the dead scalp for regrowth of hair. There are many home remedies for controlling hair fall which have been proven to be very effective. Some of them are using aloe vera, onion skin etc. along with oils like castor oil, almond oil etc. Apart from that there are auryvedic treatments to control the hair fall and thus maintain good hair count.