How are surgeries of Hair Transplantation Performed?

Most surgeries of hair transplantation emerge from the scalp with in 2 to 3 groups of hair. Around 15% of the hairs emerge as a single hair while another 15% for the hair emerge in groups of 4 to 5 hair. These small grouping of hair is termed as follicular units (FU) or follicular groups. These Fu’s are the building blocks for modern methods of hair transplantation. These Fu’s are obtained with the help of 6X to 10X magnifying ‘Stereomicroscope’ and an 8 to 10 mm wide strip of skin which is excised from the donor area.  

The major advantage of these transplantation sessions of FUT (Follicular Unit Transplanting) is that all the bald areas of the scalp can be covered with in a single session of the hair transplantation. The donors sites are sutured close hence leaving a narrow scar and the wounds are found to get healed with in 7 to 10 days.

With in the recipient areas small bores are made with the help of needles and blades. The angle and direction of these incisions resembles to the hair which are previously present in this area of the scalp before hair loss. Once the grafts are carefully prepared they are transplanted to the recipient sites. All these transplanted hair cells are found to fall off with in a period of 2 to 3 weeks. Once these hair cells fall off they are found to re-grow approximately with in 2 to 3 months.

These surgeries of hair transplantation are mostly performed with in Male and Female Patterns for treating baldness. These methods of performing surgery can be used for transplanting hair with in areas suffering from trauma or burns. A new technique referred as Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) skips the removal of strip from the donor area. These procedures of FUE involve extraction of FU directly from the donor sites. These procedures help in avoiding the production of scars but are considered to be more time consuming, expensive and more likely to result in injury to the follicular units.