Key Questions to Ask Your Doctor Before Your Hair Transplant
Must Ask Questions Before Your Hair Transplant:
Making up your mind to have a hair transplant is a very big step and it is strongly recommended that you ought to take time to research about the procedure and talk to your doctor first.
When you discuss with your trichologist, make sure that you ask him all your doubts, enquire about his experience, the number of procedures that he has conducted, and check out the before and after photos of the patients along with their testimonials.
Here’s a round-up of all that you should be asking your doctor
Understanding the Procedure:
There is a lot of information out there; and it can get a little overwhelming, thus, here is a list of questions that you must ask your doctor at your hair transplant consultation
How is the Hair Transplant Procedure Performed?
What Techniques are Employed in the Hair Transplant?
Two types of hair transplant procedures are performed – the FUE, wherein hair follicles are excised from the donor site and transplanted to the recepient area, and FUT, wherein a strip of hair is excised and then transplanted to the recepient area.
By and large, people prefer FUE given that there’s minimal scarring associated with it and the recovery time is quicker too. However, you must do your own research, talk to your doctor and figure out which method would be the best fit for you.
Is Hair Transplant Surgery Painful?
The hair transplant is a surgical procedure, and thus there is bound to be some degree of pain. You will be administered local anaesthesia before the procedure, which will numb the area and thwart pain. The hair transplant itself is pain-free.
You will be awake all through the surgery, and you will know what’s happening. You will feel some tugging on the scalp when the surgery is taking place, but no pain.
How long does the procedure take?
Pre Hair Transplant Tests and Investigations:
Pre transplant tests and investigations are very vital, in order to establish the cause of your hair loss as well as to assess whether your eligible for the surgery or not. Your doctor must know your medical history and whether you have an underlying medical condition.
Your overall health needs to be evaluated before you have a hair transplant. Tests that should be done before the procedure include –
- Blood sugar levels
- Glycosylated haemoglobin
- Cardiac markers
- Hormone profile
- Vitamin profile, especially calcium, B12, D3 and iron levels
- Liver profile
- Lipid levels
- CBC
- Bleeding time
- Clotting time
- PT
- APTT
- HIV ELISA
- ECG all leads
What pre-op instructions do I need to follow before my hair transplant?
It is very vital that you follow the pre-op instructions laid down by your doctor. Failure to follow them can have negative effects on the outcome of the surgery and can cause serious ramifications too.
5 days prior to the procedure, you need to follow this –
- Stop pain killers, anti inflammatory medications, blood thinners, beta blockers, and vitamins B and E.
- Stop all steroids – oral as well as topical; they increase the chances of bleeding during the surgery.
- Stop smoking and alcohol.
- Do not use any hair care products which haven’t been advised by your doctor.
- Have all medications prescribed by your doctor.
- Scalp hygiene before the procedure is extremely crucial.
Evaluating the Surgeon's Expertise
It is exceedingly important that you make sure that your hair transplant surgeon is qualified and experienced so as to make your procedure safe and successful.
The Surgeon’s Experience in Performing Hair Transplants?
What Qualifications should You Have to Perform a Hair Transplant?
Post-Procedure Expectations and Recovery
Considering the Risks and Potential Complications
Hair transplant is fairly safe; nonetheless, there could be some rare complications seen in a few cases. Occasionally, people have complained of – postoperative pain, infection, itching, bleeding at the surgical site, unhappy about the outcome of the procedure, bursting open of a wound dehiscence, severe, raised scar, nerve damage or even skin cell death and death of the new grafts.
Discuss all of these with your doctor to understand the likelihood of these happening in your case.
What is the Expected Recovery Time after a hair transplant?
What Post-Operative Care is Necessary?
- On day 1 after your hair transplant, do not disturb the dressings at all and make sure that you spray saline every 30 minutes.
- The bandages will come off on day 2.
- On day 3, wash the scalp and scalp carefully with a shampoo prescribed by your doctor. Be very gentle; do not disturb the grafts.
- Ensure that you take all the medicines prescribed by your doctor.
- Abstaining from alcohol in the first 2 weeks after the procedure is very crucial. Alcohol endangers the success of the surgery and makes you vulnerable to lots of complications. Alcohol is also a huge danger to the viability and integrity of the new grafts.
Doctor Approved Method of Washing the Scalp and Hair after the hair transplant
For the first 15 days, this is how you need to wash your hair –
- Add a few of drops of shampoo to a mug of water and work up a lather.
- Pour this water on to your scalp and hair, very gently.
- Gently wash the scalp and take absolute care to not disturb the new grafts.
- Do not rub the scalp.
- Then, use warm water in a mug to rinse off all the shampoo.
- Let your hair and scalp dry naturally.
What Results Can I Expect from the Hair Transplant?
A hair restoration surgery is a huge investment of money, time and effort. You ought to be conversant with the whole process and follow all instructions laid out by your team of doctors so that you get the most optimal results. Each individual is different and each one responds differently to his tailored program. By about a month your new grafts will have firmly lodged in to the scalp. By the 6th month, you will see hair growth and by the end of the year, you will have a head full of hair!
Planning the Financial Aspect
What is the Cost of A Hair Transplant Procedure?
Hair transplant cost depends on several factors. Primarily, there’s a very small number of surgeons that conducts top drawer, avant garde hair restoration surgery, and who use superlative technology for hair restoration. All these factors have a role to play in the costing of a hair transplant. A hair transplant will cost you in the range of Rs 30000 to Rs 300000 based on various considerations, let’s look into them.
What determines the hair transplant cost?
- The choice of the doctor
- The experience of the doctor and his team
- Location of the clinic
- The surgical procedure that you select
- The cost per graft
- Number of grafts you require; on an average, you will need 1200 to 1500 hair grafts, each graft comprising of 1 to 2 hair follicles. The clinic’s fee structure
- The use of top class technology and state of the art hair restoration equipment.
What all will the Cost Cover?
The package is inclusive of –
- Consultations with the surgeon and his team.
- The hair restoration surgery.
- The medicines prescribed before, during and after the procedure.
- Complete support before, during and after the procedure.
- Post surgery follow-ups.
Confer with your doctor to understand all that’s included in your package.
Does My Health Insurance Cover Hair Transplant Surgery?
Are there Financing Options Available for the Procedure?
Hair transplant surgeries are gaining rapid popularity and a lot of people are resorting to it. As a result, finance companies have started providing easy EMI options to relieve your financial burden.
FAQs:
After the hair transplant, you may be prescribed a steroid – topical or oral to prevent and / or manage swelling on the head and scalp. Post op edema is very common, especially over the recipient area. Steroids help deal with post op swelling and itching; and thus speed up recovery appreciably.
The best weather for hair transplant is during the winter season – during the months of October, November , December, January and February. It is dry and cool, and this promotes quick healing and staves off complications.
Your surgeon will give you permission to resume exercise after 4 weeks of having the procedure, by this time, your scalp will have recovered completely. At times, before the 4 weeks, you may feel you’ve recovered completely; however, the slightest trauma can injure your scalp and damage the grafts. Thus, you absolutely must wait for 4 weeks before recommencing your exercise routine.
You absolutely must wait for 4 to 6 weeks to play football, it is very important that you get the go-ahead from your doctor. When playing football, the new grafts can get damaged by a sudden and severe impact of the ball. A header can not be performed for 3 months after you’ve had a hair transplant.
You may swim only 4 weeks after the hair transplant; the chlorinated water in the pool adversely affects the integrity of the new grafts. Furthermore, pool water tends to contain a lot of infectious agents which increase your risk of infection significantly.
After the hair transplant, it is essential that you eat a well balanced wholesome diet. A good diet accelerates recovery. Loading up on protein, omega 3 fatty acids, vitamins A, E and B complex promise you a quick recovery as well as healthy and beautiful hair after your hair transplant. Alongside, you will have to start supplements – biotin, calcium, zinc, iron, vitamin B 12, and vitamin D 3; as prescribed by your doctor. It is vitally important that your diet stays healthy after your surgery.
Experts advise natural oils like – jojoba oil, almond oil, coconut oil, argan oil and moringa oil. These oils are loaded with powerful nutrients which nourish your scalp, fortify the hair strands, rev up the hair follicles, and augment your hair volume. Discuss with your doctor which oil would be the most suitable for you and when you may use it.
If you work from home, you may restart work, the very next day after the procedure. Given that you are working from home, you can easily adhere to the post op schedule given by your doctor and care for your scalp well, thereby boosting rapid recovery.
If you need to commute to work and go to the office, it is imperative that you take 10 days off and then resume work. 10 days to recover from the procedure are very crucial; signs of surgery such as – inflammation, redness and scabbing should resolve before you get back to work. Furthermore, the 10 days gives the freshly transplanted grafts to get lodged firmly in to the scalp.
Your surgeon may advise you to use Minoxidil or Finasteride to preserve your existing hair by slowing down the rate of hair loss.
Trail blazing and avant garde techniques ensure that you will have the most natural results after your hair transplant. FUE treats each hair follicle independently, and the grafts are implanted strategically, thereby giving you natural looking hair.
You will notice the difference in your hairline immediately post the procedure. However, it will take 12 months for your hair to fully grow. There will be a gradual progress in the growth of hair and you’ll see results after 4 to 6 months.
