The 7 Biggest Downsides of Hair Transplants
Until recently there have basically been three different types of hair transplants available that would help restore hair to its former glory:
OLD SCHOOL HAIR TRANSPLANT
This type of transplant requires that an elongated football of skin is removed from the lower back of the head, in the area that is normally resistant to male pattern baldness.
The skin is then sutured back together, leaving a permanent scar that can be hidden by hair, in most cases. The skin flap then goes to, generally, two nurses or technicians that work under binocular microscopes dissecting out individual follicles.
The follicles will have one, two or three, and rarely four hairs growing out of it. The technicians will separate each of the three different types into petri dishes. The surgeon is meanwhile, using a small cutting instrument to make tiny holes in the anesthetized scalp paying particular attention to the intended direction of hair growth.
The direction of the incisions will match the intended direction of growth. The surgeon will then gather up ones and begin implanting them at the hair line. The next wave will be twos and finally fill will generally be done with threes.
FOLLICULAR UNIT EXTRACTION (FUE)
FUE is evolutionary for hair transplant surgery in that no large incision on the back of the head is required and hence no long surgical scar will ever be revealed by too short of a haircut or progressive balding.
A small cylindrical surgical tool is used to extract follicles individually from the donor area. Each follicle is then manually implanted in the area of baldness.
ROBOTIC FFOLLICULAR EXTRACTION
As the name suggests, a $500,000 CAN robot reads the donor area and like FUE, it extracts individual follicles. The implant of the harvested follicles is still done manually.
7 REASONS HAIR TRANSPLANTS AREN’T EFFECTIVE
1. It is time consuming and tedious work. A single session will take around 8 hours. Go too long and the success rate drops dramatically as follicles die due to extended air exposure.
2. A well-oiled team can transplant up to 3000 follicles in a single session. Most men need more in order to achieve good density and coverage and a second session is often advised.
3. Big failure rate. Between 10% and 90% of all follicles transplanted will die.
4. Hair transplant cost is based on the number of follicles transplanted. Each individual follicle costs the patient between $3 and $8, depending on who is doing it. Use $6/follicle as a good average transplant cost in Edmonton. So, $6 X 3000 follicles = $18,000 for hair transplant cost. If you are choosing hair transplant we do not suggest you shop based on price. If you have not seen a bad transplant, just google it. There are plenty of examples to look at.
5. If you do not treat the underlying causes of hair loss, recession will continue. This will leave you with a separation of baldness between the implanted area and your own hair. To avoid embarrassment, men have two choices, shave the head, or go for another round of hair transplant surgery
6. Surgery has risks and there is down-time. You will leave the surgeon’s office with your head wrapped in a dressing to avoid infection. Your scalp will be very tender. You may be put on a round of anti-biotics as a precaution.
7. All or most of the implanted hairs will fall out post-surgery. The follicles that survive will begin to grow hair. Expect a minimum of a year or more to see the final result. Expect two years before the implanted hair blends in with the natural hair.
If you are lucky and have a great surgeon, the results may meet your expectations and the fact that you underwent hair transplant surgery may be undetectable.
However, the cost per follicle, down-time, limitations in the number of transplants per session, risk of infection, cost associated with multiple surgeries and so on, prohibit most people from seeking additional treatments to finish the job. Poor density, untreated areas, rows of what looks like corn, can be the outcome.
BEFORE CONSIDERING HAIR TRANSPLANT SURGERY CONSIDER EA HAIR REGROWTH™
You can learn more about our exclusive EA Hair ReGrowth™ procedure and how it can help you. This innovative medical procedure that has proven itself effective at treating the underlying causes of hair loss. The photos below show the EA Hair ReGrowth™ procedure after only 120 days.
EA Hair ReGrowth™ is a one-time medical treatment combined with a quick, painless, daily at home regimen that stimulates the body’s own natural regenerative process to begin repairing damaged follicles and create new ones.
Click here to book your appointment with us today.
