Are You The Right Candidate for Hair Transplant?

Gone are the days when hair fall or hair problems were primarily associated with old age. In today's world, the environmental pollution, stress, health problems have made hair loss a common problem. People in their early 20's and 30's are suffering from severe hair loss. The hair fall, thinning scalp, baldness in both men and women (often an outcome of Alopecia) brings about endless humiliation and mockery. With self-confidence gone for a toss, hair fall also affects the overall appearance of a person (makes a person look aged and unattractive). For people dealing with severe hair loss (often permanent), hair transplant surgery comes as a savior that can put an end to their misery.

What is Hair Transplantation?
In hair transplantation, we have a donor site and a recipient site. The donor site contains the healthy hair follicles that can be used for the hair transplantation. The recipient site, on the other hand, is the site where the transplantation is to take place. Thus, a hair transplantation in simple terms is a procedure that involves the transplantation of hair follicles from the donor site (can be from the sides or the back of the head) into the recipient site for permanent hair restoration. In this regard, it is important to mention about the two widely used hair transplantation techniques- the Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) and the Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE).

Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT):

1. Also known as the Strip Method, in FUT, a strip of tissue is obtained from the donor site.
2. The next step involves extraction of the hair follicles (using stereomicroscope dissection) of the preferred size (from the obtained tissue strip).
3. To carry out the grafting of the extracted hair follicles, the surgeon uses instruments with fine needle points to mark the recipient site.

Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE):

1. For the hair transplantation, the follicular units (from the donor site) need to be isolated from the neighboring tissues.
2. For the segregation, tiny incisions (circular cuts of about 1mm) are carried out in the skin comprising of the follicular unit.
3. The follicular units thus obtained are then grafted into the recipient site.

When compared between the two (FUE and FUT), FUE being less invasive with a quick healing time is the more preferred hair transplantation technique. 

The eligibility criteria for a hair transplantation
Not everyone with a hair fall problem is eligible for a hair transplantation. For a person (irrespective of their sexes) to undergo the hair restoration procedure

1. People with medical conditions such as Diabetes, Chronic liver or kidney ailments, Hypertension, HIV, need a proper medical consultation and evaluation before opting for the hair transplantation.
2. People with Diffuse Unpatterned Alopecia should refrain from the hair transplantation surgery.
3. There is no age limit for hair transplantation. However, in patients below 18 years, one needs to be careful as their pattern of hair loss is still not clearly established.

In case you have a concern or query you can always consult an expert & get answers to your questions!