What is Hair Transplant?
Hair transplant is a permanent and natural restoration procedure against hair loss and baldness in which hair follicles are moved to place them into the microchannels. This process is the transfer of hair follicles taken from the donor region to the recipient zone with the help of microsurgical methods.
Hair plugs, which is becoming a popular and preferred method day by day, is the most important and effective treatment method that has been developed and continues to be developed until today. In this sense, it requires some specific steps.
First of all, it is necessary to determine suitable hair implant technique for the person. The aim is that the follicles can easily adapt to the scalp and come out of it in a healthy way. For this reason, a personalized and appropriate implanting plan should be prepared. The medical doctor comes into play at this stage, analyzes the scalp and follicles and determines the most appropriate and effective hair transplant technique.
What are the Points to Consider in Hair Transplant?
The first and most important issue to be applied in hair restoration is the necessity of a completely personalized and appropriate hair follicles analysis. Because the donor and recipient region vary from person to person. Therefore, it is wrong to plan a standard implanting.
It is important to select the necessary method and the appropriate region in a way that will give a natural and structural appearance. The plan and framework that a specialist doctor reveals and prepares in the pre-operative examination achieves 99% success in hair transplant.
Dr. Fatih Köroğlu acts within the rules listed below and offers a special approach to his patients.
Designed hairline should be flawless, as each individual has a different head structure, face shape and natural lines. Correct determination of the hairline and the creation of appropriate criteria will give a natural appearance after the operation.
Incorrect planning in hair transplant prevents a natural appearance. In this respect, trying to distribute follicles to the large area in a single step without a plan causes the hair to look sparse.
Implanting hair at wrong angles causes both follicles to grow weakly and a natural appearance to disappear. Just like combing the hair to the wrong side, it creates an unpleasant image.
Removing more follicles than necessary from the donor area in hair transplant will cause problems in the extraction site. It can cause irreversible problems as well as leave an undesirable image.
Any Risk in Hair Transplant?
In the hair surgery, some side effects and problems may be encountered, just as in other surgical interventions. But these effects are not permanent and are part of the recovery process.
So there is no need to worry about these problems. In any other case, our doctor applies the necessary instructions. All risks are minimized when working with an experienced doctor. The problems encountered in general are as follows;
- Burning Sensation
- Itching
- Pain and Edema
- Swelling
- Infection
- Bleeding and Scarring
- Loss of sensation in treated zones
Who Aren’t Suitable Candidates For Hair Transplant?
- Individuals with hepatitis C / HIV
- Those with excessive hair loss in the donor area
- People with serious chronic diseases
- Persons under 18 years of age
- People with heart disease, diabetes, liver failure, high blood pressure and kidney failure (Doctor’s approval should be obtained)
Recovery After Hair Transplant
The recovery of a capillary graft, either with one procedure or another, can take between several hours or several days. It all depends on the amount of transplanted hair. What is certain is that the patient can go home the same day as the transplant.
Once the graft is complete, the surgeon carefully removes all bandages. The area may be swollen, so it is likely that some product will have to be injected to reduce the inflammation. It is also possible that the patient feels some pain in the area of the transplant, hence the surgeon prescribes medication to relieve this symptom.
The Effectiveness of Hair Transplant
The first hair transplant surgery is performed in Japan in 1939 with hair from the scalp. In the decades that followed, medical specialists developed various hair implanting techniques up to the advanced methods of today.
It is true that hair replacement does not work in the same way for everyone. It is usually used mainly to restore hair in those people who are going bald or their hair is too fragile. Most transplants are done with existing hair, so they may not work as well for many people.
It is estimated that between 10% and 90% of the transplanted hair will grow back completely in an estimated time of 6-10 months.
Do I have to take any medication after a hair transplant?
Although this procedure is not invasive, there is a risk of inflammation and even infection in the grafted follicles. For this reason, we will normally have to take antibiotics and anti-inflammatories for a period of 3 days after the hair implant, in order to prevent infections from occurring.
Also, in cases where there is active alopecia, it may be necessary to do a treatment to help control it. This will result in greater treatment efficiency, and we will avoid any inconvenience that may arise.
How to know if a capillary graft has seized?
One of the great concerns when we have a hair transplant is to know if it has been successful. To know if it has been, we will have to observe the number of hair follicles that have survived the entire process.
It is considered that the capillary graft has been successful if we have a high survival rate of the follicles. This means that, if around 95% of the follicles that have been grafted survive. If the survival rate is very low, it is likely that we will have to repeat the treatment, and look for the reason why it has not been successful.
Do you have to shave your hair for hair surgery?
When we go to do the treatment, we will have to know that the area of the donor follicles must be shaved. However, it is not always necessary to shave the entire head, but only a small area will be shaved, especially in cases where the patient has slightly long hair.
For patients who have hair between 4 or 5 centimeters, it will not be necessary to shave the entire head. In these cases, extraction windows can be made, with which it will not be noticed that you have performed the capillary graft.
How is the donor area after a hair transplant?
When the FUE technique is applied, the extraction of follicles is normally done in a well-distributed way. Thus, a bald area will not be generated in the extraction area, leaving it as if nothing had happened.
For the extraction, a punch will be used, which is a cylindrical scalpel that is very fine, with a thickness of only 0.75 to 0.8 mm. In this way, nothing will be noticeable at all when the follicles are extracted for a hair graft.
When do hair graft scabs fall off?
Due to the normal healing process of the skin, scabs will be generated during the first days when the capillary graft is performed. Normally these scabs will fall off within 7 to 10 days, and your scalp will be as good as new.
The formation of scabs is completely normal, and will not affect the hair grafts at all, being a normal part of the recovery process.
How to wash the head after a hair transplant?
The first thing we must consider is that the washing of our head after a hair plug must be very gentle. In this way, you will avoid exerting too much force on the follicles, and causing inconveniences when doing the hair graft.
To do this, most clinics offer a special shampoo so you can wash it off, which will allow a much faster healing process. We must bear in mind that it is not advisable to wash our scalp until at least 48 hours have passed since the transplant. Likewise, we must have specific care in our own home, which will allow us to have a faster recovery.
When can I cut my hair after surgery?
This is a question that is quite common, especially because we always want to take care of our image. The period that we must wait after a hair plugs to get a haircut must be at least 20 days.
Once the 20 days have elapsed, we can get a haircut, but we must be very careful when doing it. The cut should be made as smoothly as possible so that no damage is caused to the follicles that were grafted.
How to sleep after a hair transplant?
At bedtime, it is essential that we avoid supporting the area where the graft was made on the pillow. For this reason, it is best to sleep on your back with a travel pillow, which offers greater stability to both the neck and the head.
In this way, the friction that can be had in the implanted area will be avoided, to avoid hurting the follicles. This must be done in this way during the first 3 to 4 days of treatment, in order to avoid any type of inconvenience.
When can I play sports after a hair transplant?
Once we have a hair implants, we will not be able to do sports immediately. This is because perspiration can prevent the follicles from attaching correctly to the area where they were grafted.
For this reason, if we have a hair restoration, we will have to wait a period of at least 15 days to resume our sports activities. Otherwise, we could negatively affect our hair graft.
When can I wear a cap after a hair transplant?
Ideally, when we do a hair replacement, we do not use any type of cap on our head so that the fixation of the follicles is much better. However, if you like to wear a cap or any type of hat, we must wait at least 1 week from the graft.
Additionally, we will have to be very careful when putting on and taking off the cap, to avoid a very strong friction in the grafted area. If strong friction occurs, this could negatively affect the follicles, so whenever we are going to wear a cap we will have to do it with the maximum possible precaution.
When can I drink alcohol after a hair transplant?
Alcohol consumption is completely prohibited during the first days of the hair transplant, so we will have to wait a reasonable time. Ideally, do not consume alcoholic beverages for a period of 1 week.
This will help us to ensure that the fixation of the hair grafts is carried out without any inconvenience, and that they are well fixed.
When can you sunbathe after hair transplant?
Hair grafts are very sensitive to sunlight, so we will have to avoid direct sun exposure. This will be at least during the first month that we will not be able to sunbathe because this could negatively affect the hair grafts.
For this reason, it is recommended that if you are going to go out or do any type of outdoor activity, you always use a good parasol. If the skin where the follicle has been grafted is burned, it could end up dying and there will be no inconvenience.
