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    The Blog How Does a Hair Transplant Work?

    Hair today, gone tomorrow… and back again! Hair loss does not have to be the final word for your appearance – a full head of hair CAN be yours, even after substantial thinning or partial balding. 

    If you’ve regarded your diminishing locks as a permanent departure made by your hair, and you’ve given up on expecting it to return, or you feel like your premature balding is a cruel joke played on you by your genetics, you’ll be pleased to know it’s not something you have to resign to living with! 

    Take back control over your hair growth and restore what’s rightfully yours, with hair transplant surgery – a safe, highly effective procedure that’s completed in one day. 

    Hair transplantation is minimally invasive, and it’s been proven long-term for its efficacy, natural-looking results, and success in restoring full, lush and youthfully strong hair growth for balding areas of the scalp. 

    It involves relocating hairs from a donor site (usually located at the back of the scalp) to wherever they are needed. Precise placement of these relocated hairs is designed to achieve your desired aesthetic outcome – whether that’s restoring a hairline or filling in areas of thinning or baldness. You can expect an entirely natural result, and with that, patients report having a newly confident outlook. 

    The most common reasons that people pursue a hair transplant are to: 

    • Strengthen and restore a receding hairline 
    • Add visual density to the body of hair 
    • Create or fortify a beard or moustache 
    • Change to feminine or masculine hairline for gender reassignment 

    Sound like science fiction? Well, scientific it is, but the efficacy of this procedure is fact. Hair transplant surgery has been proven for decades to be a long-term solution to hair loss, with real evidence, results and practical success to back up its theory. Not only that but technique and technology is ever evolving and improving. 

    Here we’ll explain exactly what makes hair transplant surgery a scientifically proven and reliable treatment option for restoring and fortifying natural hair growth. 

    How Do Hair Transplants Work, Exactly?

    Essentially, hair transplant surgery is the process of taking existing hairs from your own body and moving them to the area needing hair, where they integrate into their new location. These transplanted hairs are referred to as being ‘harvested’ from the donor area. 

    In most cases, the hair at the back and sides of the head are used for harvesting. This is because these areas are significantly less vulnerable to hair loss, so taking hairs from these zones will not create new hair loss issues. 

    Transplanted hairs go through phases of adapting to the transplant zone; first they are small, short hairs in the follicles, then they enter a ‘shedding’ phase and fall out, and then they grow back in as naturally growing hairs. These hairs continue to thicken and strengthen over time. 

    It’s a process that requires a bit of patience, but the payoff of a hair transplant is worth it. Hair transplant surgery is a commonly practised surgical procedure that is safe, effective, scientifically proven and can achieve dramatic yet natural looking results. 

    Although many men turn to hair transplant surgery for male pattern baldness, premature balding, receding hairlines and other aesthetic issues, it’s a procedure that is just as suitable and successful for women as it is for men. May women experience thinning, receding and other hair loss issues related to a variety of causes, and the process is just the same for both genders. Hair transplant surgery can also be used for gender reassignment, and it can be used for other areas of the body, such as to fortify or create facial hair. 

    While researching your hair transplant online, you may have encountered something called ‘donor dominance’. The concept of donor dominance is based on the occurrence of transplanted hairs taking on the characteristics of the site from which they were harvested. That is likely due to stem cells existing within the donor grafts. 

    Donor dominance explains why hair tissue from the donor zone successfully regenerates new hair. Since the transplanted scalp tissue is producing healthy hairs in an area that could no longer grow hair, it is assumed that the physical traits of hair follicles from the donor zone are dominant over the physical traits of the original scalp tissue. 

    Conversely, recipient dominance is the opposite; it’s the concept of the transplant site receiving grafts having influence over the harvested grafts, thus altering their characteristics to match those of the newly implanted site. 

    Which Hair Transplant Procedure is Best for Me?

    There are two types of procedures for getting your hair back: follicular unit extraction (FUE) and follicular unit transplantation (FUT). 

    Either type is chosen for its suitability to the individual patient receiving the hair transplant. Ultimately, the choice of procedure method – FUT or FUE – is decided upon by the hair transplant surgeon. They will elect this technique based upon numerous factors – most notably the severity of hair loss and the pattern of hair loss. 

    Let’s look at the difference between these two methods of hair transplant surgery…

     

    Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT)

    For patients experiencing significant balding around the crown area of the head, FUT can be a better solution than FUE for better coverage and fullness. A surgeon may decide to use this method if a significant amount of grafting is required. In this situation, the FUT technique can efficiently deliver results due to it typically yielding more hair to transplant. 

    FUT involves removing a 6-to-10-inch piece from your scalp and extracting the hair follicles from your head. After sealing the area, the surgeon divides the piece of scalp that they removed into tiny fragments called grafts. 

    They then create tiny holes in the area requiring hair, where they can insert those scalp grafts back into your head (each containing as little as one hair) before bandaging up the site. 

    The downside of this method is the horizontal scar running along the back of the head where scalp has been removed. This may not be preferable to patients who wear their hair short, as it will likely be visible.

     

    Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE)

    FUE hair transplant surgery is a procedure that involves extracting individual hair follicles from the back and sides of your head and transplanting them to a part of the scalp that suffers from thinning or balding. 

    FUE is the process of extracting hair follicles from your head without needing to remove a piece of scalp. The surgeon creates tiny holes or ‘punches’ in the area requiring hair restoration, into which they insert the individual hair follicle grafts. 

    There are several benefits to choosing the FUE method: healing is faster, there is less pain, and it doesn’t cause significant scarring. 

    You can also choose to harvest hairs from other parts of the body, which is great news for patients suffering more severe hair loss, or who don’t have an adequate amount of hair left on their head for harvesting. 

    How Well Do Hair Transplants Work?

    With hair transplant surgeons having been performing this procedure for decades, a lot of research, refinement and expertise has gone into the practice of hair restoration surgery. At the forefront of this field is Contour Clinics, with a team of highly experienced and fully qualified hair transplant surgeons. 

    The success and efficacy of hair transplant surgery is incredibly high, with results being dramatic, natural looking and permanent, thus making it a treatment with hugely positive impact on a patient’s aesthetic. 

    The success of any treatment is bolstered by its recipient; proper aftercare and recovery measures ensure your healing and results are at their optimum level. 

    This is why following your surgeon’s instructions for post-procedure at-home care is tantamount to achieving your best possible result. 

    Here are some essential hair transplant aftercare steps that will contribute to the success of your procedure: 

    • No alcohol for the first week following surgery. 
    • Avoid touching your head for the first 48 hours, as the grafts may be dislodged. 
    • If a graft is dislodged, keep it clean and wet and call the clinic. 
    • No vigorous exercise for 48 hours.
    • You can use an ice pack on the forehead to minimise swelling (if it occurs). Do not put ice on the grafts as it may damage them.
    • Ensure your pillowcase is clean.
    • Place a clean towel on your pillow in case of light bleeding or oozing. 
    • Spray the recipient site with the provided saline spray every half an hour until the bottle is finished. 

    As with any invasive treatment, risk of infection is possible, but it is rare. The scalp is rich with blood supply, and this makes infections exceedingly unlikely. 

    There is a possibility that your case of hair loss could be treated with alternative methods such as Regenera Activa or Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP), which are in-clinic treatments that use the patient’s own growth factors to spur natural hair growth in a thinning area. 

    This type of treatment method is usually recommended to those with less severe hair loss, or who are experiencing the onset of hair loss and wish to stop the process from worsening. These alternative methods are less invasive, as they are delivered via injection and do not involve removing or transplanting any skin or hairs. 

    See all Hair Restoration treatments

    Start Your Journey to Fuller Hair with Contour Clinics

    You deserve to have the thicker, fuller hair of your dreams, and you deserve the very best in aesthetic medicine to achieve it. Choose industry-leading professionals for your hair restoration journey.

    Trust the hair transplant surgeons at Contour Clinics for your procedure and have total confidence that you will be in the very best, safest and most expert hands possible. 

    It’s simple to take the first step towards regaining your full head of strong, healthy hair; enquire online and we’ll be in touch to chat. 

    Or act now by calling our specialised hair transplant team (1300 233 803) to talk about your hair restoration treatment options, our clinics and doctors, your consultation appointment, the procedure itself, and any other queries you may have. 

    Let’s get started on your journey to new hair, and renewed confidence, today. 

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