A doctor’s comment regarding the paper “Pre-making recipient sites to increase graft survival in manual and robotic FUE procedures.”
Q: While I was lying awake last night your approach of making sites the day before implantation came to mind. It takes guts to have spearheaded that! I am not aware that that precedent has been set in hair transplant surgery. I would have been timid about infection; it’s a lot like closing a wound with a foreign body in it the next day. As with most things, I am a little slow to jump on board something new so I’m glad you’ve paved the way. Do you have any hesitance about this or do you have enough experience that you no longer hesitate? I would be concerned that variations of the local flora might make a difference and that, accordingly, a large sample size would be necessary to get comfortable. Glad for all of us that you are still blazing trails. — S.S., Shanghai, China
A: Thanks for your kind words. No hesitancy whatsoever. We find no increased risk. Think of it as if you did a hair transplant and ran out of grafts. The remaining sites don’t get infected, they just close up. In the process, all those chemotactic factors involved in the healing process move toward the wounds, so if a graft is placed into them, they would be less likely to get infected than a graft placed into a fresh (non-primed) wound, not more. It is like applying the surgical dressing Duoderm to a wound that helps it auto-sterilize. Putting the speculative science aside, we have not seen one single issue with it. Give it a try with an FUE or FUT procedure. Make the sites, have the patient takes his normal shower that night and you will be pleasantly surprised how little bleeding there is the next day and how easy it is to place the grafts.
Read a summary of the article on pre-making recipient sites
Read the full article as it was published in the Hair Transplant Forum International
Posted by on 2012-08-28 Updated on 2017-12-11Rare Complication Of A Hair Transplant: Necrosis In The Recipient Area
Q: What is the most common cause of necrosis (death of tissue) in the recipient area? — A.Q., Los Altos Hills, C.A.
A: Recipient site necrosis is one of the worst complications of a hair transplant and results in skin ulceration and scarring. Usually it is caused by a combination of a few or many factors. Each by itself should not present a risk. Read on for the list of risk factors.
Posted by on 2012-07-03 Updated on 2017-12-01Preventing Shock Hair Loss After Hair Transplant
Q: Can shock loss be eliminated by using special surgical techniques? — R.P., Short Hills, NJ
A: Although there have been no scientific studies proving this, shock hair loss can most likely be minimized by keeping the recipient sites parallel to the hair follicles, by not creating a transplanted density too great in areas of existing hair, and by using minimal epinephrine (adrenaline) in the anesthetic. We implement all of these techniques. Finasteride may also decrease shock hair loss, or at least help any (miniaturized) hair that is lost to re-grow. That said, some shock hair loss from a hair transplant is unavoidable regardless of the technique as it is a normal physiologic response to stress.
Posted by on 2012-05-22 Updated on 2017-12-01How Long Between Hair Transplant Procedures?
Q: If I wanted a second procedure what is the typical time that I should wait after the first hair transplant? — P.L, Queens, NY
A: It takes about a year to see the full results of a hair transplant, so it is generally best to wait at least this time before considering a second -– since you may not need one.
Posted by on 2012-03-01 Updated on 2018-01-09What Does Hair Transplant Procedure Do To Existing Hair?
Q: What does the hair transplantation process do to your existing hair? — R.V., London, UK
A: When we perform hair transplant surgery, we transplant into an area that is either bald or has some existing hair. The hair that is existing is undergoing a process called miniaturization. What this means is that the hairs are continuing to decrease in size – both in diameter and in length. When we perform a hair transplant, we don’t transplant around the existing miniaturized hair on your scalp, we transplant through it. And the reason why we do that is because the miniaturized hair, the fine hair that is being affected by DHT, is eventually going to disappear, so you don’t want there to be any gaps.
Posted by on 2011-10-13 Updated on 2017-10-18Can I Tell If I Will Be A Candidate For A Hair Transplant?
Q: Can I tell before I start to bald if I will be a candidate for a hair transplant? — T.E., New York, NY
A: Usually not. The main reason one is either a candidate or not is the stability (permanency) of the hair in the back and sides of ones scalp – the donor area. Since the top of the scalp usually thins first, if the top has not started to thin, the donor area will always appear to be OK. It is only when you have significant thinning on the front or top of your scalp can we actually begin to assess the stability of the donor area with any degree of accuracy.
Posted by on 2011-08-31 Updated on 2017-12-19How Do You Make Recipient Sites in a Hair Transplant?
Q: How do you make the recipient sites in a hair transplant? — N.P., New Delhi, India
A: I make the recipient sites using 19-, 20-, 21- and 22-gauge needles. The higher the number, the finer the needle. The hairline is done with a 21-gauge, which is really very tiny. Eyebrow sites are created with a 22-. When one draws blood in a routine blood test, an 18-g needle is used and, of course, there are no residual marks. The instruments we use are significantly finer than this.
Posted by on 2011-01-20 Updated on 2013-06-06How Will Hair Transplant Look If Donor Area Hair Is Dark And Recipient Area Hair Is Gray?
Q: If a person is graying on the top and sides and you do a hair transplant from the back, will the top look darker after the hair restoration? — W.C., Houston, TX
A: The hair is taken from the back and sides of the scalp and the follicular units, once dissected from the donor strip, are randomly inserted into the recipient area. That way, the color of the harvested hair will be mixed and will match perfectly.
Usually, people’s hair is lighter on the top because of the sun, so when you move the hair from the back and sides to the top, it will actually lighten to match the surrounding hair, if it didn’t match already.
Posted by on 2011-01-18 Updated on 2015-12-15How Are Follicular Unit Grafts Distributed in a Hair Transplant?
Q: How are grafts distributed in a hair transplant? Are they distributed evenly? — B.V., Jersey City, NJ
A: Actually, we don’t make the transplanted hair evenly distributed. It is usually front weighted, so that the hair restoration will look most full when looking at the person head on.
Framing the face is the most important part of the restoration. Covering the top is the next most important region and, if the patient has enough donor supply, then hair can be added to the crown.
Posted by on 2011-01-16 Updated on 2019-05-02Do I Need a Hair Cut Before My Hair Transplant?
Q: I am considering having a hair transplant. Does my hair need to be cut? — I.S., New York, NY
A: In all hair transplant procedures, we are able to transplant into areas of existing hair without it having to be cut. The question of whether hair needs to be cut in the donor area depends upon the way the donor hair is obtained (harvested).
With a Follicular Unit Hair Transplant procedure using single strip harvesting method (FUT), only the strip of hair that is removed needs to be cut. When the procedure is finished, the hair above the incision lays down over the sutured area and it becomes undetectable.
In Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE), particularly in sessions over 600 grafts, large areas of the donor area must be clipped short (to about 1-2mm in length) in order to obtain enough donor hair.
Posted by on 2011-01-14 Updated on 2017-01-17Does Body Hair Transplant Leave Scarring?
Q: I heard that it is possible to transplant body hair to the scalp. Does it leave any scarring? — V.P., Cherry Hill, NJ
A: Unfortunately, it does leave scarring. And since the hair is generally of poor quality, it is usually not worth the trade-off. View the full post to see an example of the typical scarring seen in a BHT procedure.
Posted by on 2010-11-15 Updated on 2015-05-22How Long Does Hair Transplant Surgery Take?
Q: Is it correct that the hair transplant surgery lasts about eight hours or if there is a range, what is that generally? — M.R., Montclair, NJ
A: The range is about 5 to 8 hours. For a completely bald person, it would be in the higher range. Keep in mind that the person is just relaxing, watching TV or dozing off. The time goes by quickly for the patient. Since there is no general anesthesia, there is no medical risk for this relatively long procedure.
To review the procedure in more detail, please visit our Overview of FUT Hair Transplant Procedure section; which includes details for before, during, and after the hair transplant. View the Overview of FUE Hair Transplant Procedure section for details on the follicular unit extraction procedure.
Posted by on 2010-09-21 Updated on 2013-06-07What Length Is Hair After Transplant?
Q: Is transplanted hair the same length as existing hair? — G.E., Buckinghamshire, UK
A: The hair is first clipped to about 1-mm before it is transplanted. The transplanted hair will look like stubble for the first few weeks after the hair restoration procedure. It is then shed and the newly transplanted follicles go into a resting phase for about two months.
Posted by on 2010-08-25 Updated on 2017-12-01Can A Hair Transplant Cause Thinning?
Q: If you transplant grafts in between the thinned out areas, is there a risk of cutting previously normal roots, even if one is cautious? — J.S., Upper Saddle River, N.J.
A: Healthy hair can be temporarily shocked from a hair transplant and then shed (the process is called telogen effluvium) but it will not be permanently damaged.
Any healthy hair that is lost in this shedding process should re-grow.
Posted by on 2010-03-05 Updated on 2017-12-01When Should Hair Transplant Be Considered For Thinning Area?
Q: At what level of thinning should the hair transplant be done? — V.K., London, UK
A: A hair transplant should be considered in an area of thinning when:
- The area has not responded to medical therapy (finasteride 1mg a day orally and minoxidil 5% topically for one year).
- The thinning is significant enough that it can’t be disguised with simple grooming (i.e. is a cosmetic problem even when the hair is combed well).
Other factors that are important include:
- the age of the patient
- the donor supply
- whether the thinning is in the front of the scalp or in the crown
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