Thinning of hair or loss is a common sign, mainly in men. However, as follows from the latest medical reports, there are about 1/5 of women who suffer from this problem as well. The present aesthetic surgery has a solution to this issue, however.
It is possible to describe the principle of this medical procedure simply as follows:
New hair micrografts are applied on hairless or thin skin areas and they are „seated" to skin and their further function is the same as normal hair.
Hair loss is mainly a consequence of aging, changes in hormonal processes and hereditary factors. Hair loss could also be due to trauma or burns. The procedure may be considered as a reconstruction in such a case.
Operation procedure
The whole procedure is performed in local anaesthesia and may be quite time-demanding (depending on the size of hair transplant area). It is divided to 2 stages:
- Skin graft with quality hair growth is harvested in the first stage – most often from nuchal area. The size of this graft varies (again it depends on the size of hairless area), but it is approximately 1.5 x 10 cm long. Hair in the site of collection is trimmed immediately prior to the procedure to a length of approximately 2 mm. The remaining hair growth needs not to be trimmed.
- The skin graft is divided to smaller pieces in the second stage: minigrafts containing 3-6 hair roots and micrografts containing 1-3 hair roots. Micrografts in comparison to minigrafts are used rather for implanting to future hair line so that the resulting effect was more natural.
Hair grafts are implanted using micro-forceps into cuts in hairless transplant area. These cuts are usually created using special scalpel and their size should roughly correspond to the size of implanted grafts.
Post-surgery
Sterile elastic dressing is applied at the end of surgery and it protects sutured wound in the site of collection in nuchal area and implanted grafts, but it also prevents greater swelling in the site of transplantation. Dressing is usually removed on the fifth day post surgery and the patient is allowed to wash hair. Small crusts develop in the site of grafts and these can be removed within 14 days using olive oil. The patient is excluded from usual life for approximately five days. Stitches in nuchal area after a suture of the collection site are removed after approximately two weeks.