PATIENT RESOURCE
Full information of what you should do
before and after the procedure
We at Tandonz , the cosmetic clinic, are regularly Performing FUE hair transplants.
Dr Rahul Tandon, plastic and hair transplantation surgeon at TANDONZ is an expert FUE hair transplantation surgeon having trained in India and overseas.
A brief description of hair transplantation follows.
Hair transplantation is a commonly done surgical technique in which individual hair follicles are transferred from a part of the body called the ‘donor site’ to bald or balding part of the body known as the ‘recipient site’. It is primarily used to treat male pattern baldness.
IN THIS CONDITION, GRAFTS CONTAINING HAIR FOLLICLES THAT ARE GENETICALLY RESISTANT (THE BACK OF THE HEAD ) ARE TRANSPLANTED TO BALD SCALP.
The hair follicles commonly known as follicular grafts are individual grafts obtained from the back of scalp either by strip method or few method. each GRAFT CONTAINS A single hair, two hairs or three hairs. hair transplantation is always counted by the number of follicular grafts transplanted and not the individual hairs. that means if a person has undergone 2000 grafts he has got between 3000 – 4000 hairs transplanted.
TECNIQUES OF HAIR TRASNPLANTATION
Whatever the method of harvesting the graft, the procedure of implanting them into the bald area is the same.
FUE Technique
Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) is a method of extracting, or “harvesting,” donor hair in a follicular unit hair transplantation procedure. In FUE hair transplant surgery, an instrument is used to make a small, circular incision in the skin around a follicular unit, separating it from the surrounding tissue. The unit is then extracted (pulled) directly from the scalp, leaving a small open hole. Commonly used are the 0.7 mm, 0.8mm and 0.9 mm punches.
This process is repeated until the hair transplantation surgeon has harvested enough follicular units for the planned hair restoration. This process can take one or more hours and in large sessions, may be accomplished over two consecutive days. The donor wounds, approximately 1-mm in size, completely heal over the course of seven to ten days, leaving tiny white scars buried in the hair in the back and sides of the scalp.
FOLLICULAR UNIT TRANSECTION (STRIP METHOD)
This method of donor harvesting, removing follicular units one-by-one directly from the scalp, is what differentiates the FUE hair transplantation from a traditional Follicular Unit transplantation (FUT), where the donor hair is removed from the scalp in one thin, long strip and then subsequently dissected into individual follicular units using a stereo-microscope.
All of our hair restoration procedures are performed under local anesthesia. Hair transplantation sessions that use thousands of follicular unit grafts may take a whole day; however, the time goes by quickly. During the procedure, patients rest comfortably and can watch TV or a movie, take a nap, or chat with the staff.
Dr. Rahul Tandon in most of the cases is following with FUE hair transplantation but in few selected cases goes on to perform strip method as required by the patient.
Creating the Recipient Sites
Recipient sites are made by the hair transplantation surgeon using a fine instrument the size of 21- and 19- gauge hypodermic needles. For most procedures, we use lateral (perpendicular slits) for the recipient sites. The creation of the recipient sites determines much of the aesthetic look of the transplantation -– it sets the angle at which the new hair grows and determines the distribution and density of the grafts.
Graft Insertion
Once all of the recipient sites are made, the surgical team begins to place the follicular unit grafts into these pre-made sites. One-hair follicular units are used in the frontal hair line to give a soft, natural appearance and 3- and 4-hair grafts are used in the central forelock area to achieve maximum fullness. Placing is the most time-consuming part of the hair loss surgery. Graft placement is an exacting process and during this period you will be asked to keep your head relatively still. Watching movies, TV or sleeping, will make the time go by quickly and, of course, you make take breaks as needed to go to the restroom, stretch or eat.
POST-OPERATIVE CARE
Patients are allowed to go home after the surgery as everything is done under local anaesthesia. They are given mild pain killers and are advised to wear a head band to prevent swelling over the eyes. Shampoo of hairs can be done after 5 days.
HOW MANY GRAFTS DO I NEED?
This is the most common question we hear from my patients now a days.
Let’s calculate how many grafts are required for a good density for any hair transplantation . We have a normal density of 70-100 grafts per sq.cm.Looking at this we may have 50-75000 grafts (not hairs) in the entire scalp. Let’s assume that you have lost ZONE 1(first 2cm of front hair line) and ZONE 2 (next 5 cm of hair line).
To calculate the number of grafts needed you have to know the area which is empty. To calculate the hair line density for first two cms measure the area from left to right of the hair line. Usually it’s between 14-18 cms. If we take a average of 16 cms the area becomes (16×2) ie 32 sq cms. Now look at the density which you need. I recommend 50-70 grafts per sq cm for hair line including temple closure as that’s what will decide your hair transplantation results. So a good dense hairline will need somewhere between 1900-2200(density neededx32) grafts.
Now look at the ZONE 2 which is another 5 cms behind it. We usually don’t need a density of 60-70 grafts per sq cm in zone 2.But even a density of35- 40 grafts per sq cms will consume 1500 -2000 grafts. So even you have hair loss in front two zones you will need somewhere between 3500-4000 grafts for good density.
Creating good density is also and an art and will vary from surgeon to surgeon.Angles at which grafts are placed, distribution of grafts; placement density will all decide the final results.