5 Steps to Hair Transplant Surgery

When an aging population lives in a society that is determinednot to grow old, people will push the limits to appear youngerthan they are. For example, 30, even 20 years ago a proceduresuch as hair transplant surgery would have seemed bazaar atbest, ludicrous at worse. However, today it is a fairlymainstream way for people, mostly men, to retain some of theyouthful appearance they hold dear. While this procedure is agrowing trend, there are still a great many people who do notknow how it is done, the following information will explain theprocedure and answer some questions.1- As a man ages, he looses hair. There is not much that can bedone to stop this from happening. There are topical and oraldrugs that can be taken to slow the process, but if they arestopped, the hair loss resumes. A person can use cover ups suchas toupees or hair weaves, but they really do not look verynatural. Enter the hair transplant surgery. This surgeryutilizes hair from the body (normally the back of the head) thatis not programmed to fall out to replace the missing follicles.But how do they do it?2- The first step involved in a hair transplant is for thesurgeon to draw a replacement hairline for the patient. Then thescalp is numbed and the donor hairs, usually from the back ofthe head, are shaved. Once this is completed, the skin that thedonor hairs are attached to is removed from the head.3- The scalp then gets sutured or stapled together and the donorhairs are given to technicians. The technicians remove eachindividual hair follicle and place them into a saline solutionwhere they will await transplant. In the mean time, the surgeonis busy cutting small incisions into the front of the headwithin the hairline that was drawn earlier. There needs to be aseparate incision for every follicle that is to be transplanted.This number can be as high as 2,000 per transplant. 4- Once the surgeon has all of the cuts made, it is time toinsert each hair follicle. This is done on an individual basis,very carefully, to ensure that the follicles are inserted in theright direction allowing the hair to grow straight. The doctorthen examines the work that has been completed, when the desiredresult has been obtained, the hair transplant is finished. 5- In about a week or so, the incisions have started to heal,the scabs have fallen off, however, it will take up to a yearfor real hair growth to appear. In order to avoid further hairtransplant procedures from needing to be performed, it isrecommended that the patient use a drug such as Propecia. Thecontinued use of this drug will help to minimize the need foranother surgery.