Hair loss not only affects a person’s appearance, but also brings great psychological barriers to patients. Hair transplantation is the application of hair transplantation technology to remove healthy hair follicles from the donor area (such as the occipital area) and transplant them to the location of hair loss on the head or other parts of the body. Generally speaking, once the transplanted tissue survives, its effect can usually be maintained for a long time. Moreover, the transplanted hair can maintain the original hair growth characteristics and continue to grow in the new transplant area to achieve the effect of improving appearance.
Hair loss not only affects a person’s appearance, but also brings great psychological barriers to patients. Hair transplantation is the application of hair transplantation technology to remove healthy hair follicles from the donor area (such as the occipital area) and transplant them to the location of hair loss on the head or other parts of the body. Generally speaking, once the transplanted tissue survives, its effect can usually be maintained for a long time. Moreover, the transplanted hair can maintain the original hair growth characteristics and continue to grow in the new transplant area to achieve the effect of improving appearance.
Applicable people
Hair transplantation is suitable for those with thinning hair, alopecia areata, or a high hairline. It can also improve the appearance of missing or sparse eyebrows, missing, sparse, or short eyelashes, and thinning hair in other areas, such as the perineum, sideburns, and beard.
Taboo group
1. People with trichotillomania.
2. The donor area has insufficient hair quantity or poor hair quality.
3. There are acute or chronic infections in the donor or recipient area.
4. Those suffering from severe heart, liver, or kidney diseases, or those suffering from diabetes, hypertension, and hemorrhagic diseases.
5. Those suffering from other serious psychological and mental illnesses.
6. Those who have unrealistic expectations for postoperative results.
7. People with allergic constitution or severe scarring.
8. Women who are breastfeeding, menstruating or pregnant.
Technical/surgical risks
1. Nausea and vomiting: They are mostly caused by the use of local anesthetics and generally do not require special treatment.
2. Hair failure: Severe follicular damage, severe infection, or poor blood supply to the transplanted area during hair follicle separation can cause partial or complete necrosis of the transplanted hair. Patients seeking cosmetic surgery should seek treatment at a reputable plastic surgery institution. Standardized surgical procedures can effectively prevent complications.
3. Infection: The head has abundant blood circulation. As long as strict disinfection and routine operation are performed, the probability of infection is low. However, if the disinfection is not thorough or the routine operation process is violated, abnormal conditions such as excessive bleeding and prolonged exposure may occur. In addition, secondary hematoma and decreased resistance may occur after the operation, thus causing infection. Once infection occurs, the patient must go to the hospital for active treatment.
4. Scars: They are mainly related to the patient’s physical condition and the surgical procedure. Scars on the scalp are usually not obvious and generally do not require special treatment.
5. Bleeding: Due to the rich blood supply of the scalp, bleeding is easy to occur after injury, or incomplete hemostasis during surgery may cause bleeding. However, as long as the operation is strictly followed, heavy bleeding will generally not occur.
6. Ingrown hair and foreign body reaction: During the preparation of the hair embryo, the part of the hair shaft below the epidermis is cut off. After the hair embryo is transplanted, the hair loses the channel for outward growth and is forced to grow into the subcutaneous tissue, forming a foreign body reaction.
7. Transient hair loss: Some patients will experience hair loss around the transplanted area 2 to 4 weeks after the operation, but this is only temporary. Generally, the hair will grow again after 2 to 3 months.
8. Local transient scalp numbness: The superficial nerves will inevitably be damaged during the operation, so during the wound healing process, it is normal to experience sensory insensitivity and numbness, which usually heals itself within a few months to a year. However, some patients may experience permanent local sensory impairment.
9. Unnatural hair growth: This may be caused by unreasonable preoperative design, improper intraoperative operation, too large or too small incision in the affected area, resulting in graft shedding or excessive squeezing. If the patient is too concerned about this, re-implantation is possible.
Postoperative Care
Taking follicular unit extraction (FUE) as an example, attention should be paid to local care, medication management, diet conditioning and lifestyle behavior management after the operation.
1. Local care: Keep the surgical site clean and dry to prevent infection; do not rub the wound hard to avoid damage.
2. Medication management: Use antibiotics as directed by your doctor after surgery to prevent infection.
3. Diet adjustment: During the postoperative recovery period, do not drink alcohol and avoid spicy and irritating foods.
4. Lifestyle management: Wear loose clothing as much as possible after the operation to avoid scratching the transplanted hair follicles; avoid strenuous exercise and pay attention to sun protection; if you feel any discomfort, please go to the hospital for follow-up in time.
Preoperative precautions
1. Communicate with the doctor before the operation to understand the specific process, related risks, plan design, etc. of hair transplantation, and be mentally prepared.
2. If necessary, complete relevant examinations (such as cardiopulmonary, blood, etc.) to confirm that there is no serious systemic disease and no allergy to anesthetic drugs.
3. If there is a history of surgical trauma, use of special drugs or repair with other cosmetic materials on the head or other related parts, you need to inform the doctor in advance.
4. Patients who use special medications (such as the antiplatelet drug aspirin) should communicate with their doctors in advance. Generally, they should stop taking the medication 1 to 2 weeks before the operation as ordered by the doctor.
5. Avoid menstruation, lactation and pregnancy periods.
6. Patients with special medical histories such as local skin infections, acute or chronic inflammation, etc. should follow the doctor’s advice to delay surgery.
7. It is recommended to eat a light diet before surgery and avoid spicy, stimulating and greasy foods.
8. Correct bad living habits and refrain from smoking and drinking before surgery.
9. Clean your head before surgery.
Surgical Procedure
Hair transplantation requires the application of hair transplantation technology, which can be divided into follicular unit transplantation (FUT) and follicular unit extraction (FUE). Among them, FUT is a surgical method to cut part of the scalp of the patient’s donor area (such as the occipital area), and process it according to the natural growth state of the hair follicles. After separating them into single transplant units, the hair follicles are implanted in the hair loss area. It is suitable for patients with large-scale hair loss; FUE is a manual or electric follicular unit extractor. The superficial layer of the scalp is dispersedly drilled in the patient’s donor area (such as the occipital area), and then a single follicular unit is extracted with a needle. Finally, the hair follicles are implanted in the hair loss area. It is suitable for patients with small-area hair loss. The doctor will choose the appropriate hair transplantation method according to the patient’s hair loss. Here, FUE hairline transplantation is taken as an example. The surgical process mainly includes preoperative design, donor area skin preparation and local anesthesia, hair follicle extraction, and transplantation.