Hair transplantation is a surgery that moves hair to bald or thinning areas of the scalp. It involves removing a small punch graft from the hair-bearing scalp or a larger piece of this scalp from a donor area and then cutting it into smaller pieces to use as grafts, which are then relocated to a bald or thinning area of the scalp. People looking for hair loss treatments often undergo this surgery. Only dermatologists or plastic surgeons from the best hair transplant clinic in Chennai can provide you with amazing results.
The grafts created in a hair transplant surgery may differ in size and shape. The round-shaped punch grafts usually contain about 10-15 hair, while the smaller mini-grafts may contain roughly 2-4 hair strands, and the micro-graft may have only one or two hair. The slit grafts inserted into slits created in the scalp may contain about 4-10 hairs each.
Several visits to the best hair transplant clinic in Chennai are needed to achieve satisfactory results, along with a healing interval of several months between each session. Hence, it may take up to two years to see the final result with a full transplant series. The color and texture of your hair will partly determine the coverage you need. If you have coarse, gray or light colored hair, it can give better coverage than fine dark-colored hair. On average, the number of large plugs transplanted in the first session is about 50, but it can also vary with each individual. However, for mini and micro-grafts, the number can go up to 700 per session.
Starting the Procedure
First, the donor area will be trimmed short just before the procedure to access and remove grafts easily. The doctor may use a special tube-like instrument for punch grafts made of sharp carbon steel. It works by punching the round graft out of the donor site in order to be replaced in the area to be covered, which is generally the front hairline. For other types of grafts, a scalpel will be used to remove small sections of hair-bearing scalp, which will then be divided into tiny sections transplanted into little holes or slits within the scalp.
Some doctors may periodically inject small amounts of saline solution into the scalp when the grafts are taken. This is done in order to maintain proper skin strength. The donor site holes may be closed with stitches for punch grafts, while for other types, a small, straight-line scar will be formed. The stitches formed are usually concealed with the surrounding hair. The grafts are placed about one-eighth of an inch apart to maintain healthy circulation in the scalp. The spaces between the plugs will be filled in with additional grafts in later sessions. The removal and replacement of grafts are done with great care to ensure that the transplanted hair grows naturally and that the hair growth on the donor site is not adversely affected.
After this session is completed, the scalp will be cleansed and covered with gauze, and you may also have to wear a pressure bandage for a day. However, some doctors allow their patients to recover bandage-free.
Some Other Procedures
Tissue Expansion
This is another technique used for the treatment of baldness which is a commonly used procedure in reconstructive surgery to repair wounds and injuries with significant skin loss. In this method, a tissue expander is inserted beneath the hair-bearing scalp that lies next to the bald area. A tissue expander is a balloon-like device that is gradually inflated with salt water over weeks. This causes the skin to expand and grow new skin cells, leading to a bulge beneath the hair-bearing scalp. About two months after this, when the skin beneath the hair has stretched enough, another procedure is performed in order to bring the expanded skin over to cover the adjacent bald area. This procedure can yield dramatic results with substantial coverage in a relatively short time.
Flap Surgery
Flap surgery quickly covers large areas of baldness and can be customized for each patient. The patient’s goals and needs largely determine the size of the flap and its placement. One flap can do the work of more than 350 punch grafts. In flap surgery, a section of bald scalp is cut out, and a flap of hair-bearing skin is lifted off the surface while still attached at one end. The hair-bearing flap is then brought into its new position and sewn into place. The remaining is tethered to its original blood supply. The scar formed is camouflaged as you heal by the relocated hair.
Scalp Relocation
The technique of scalp relocation is used for covering bald areas at the top and back of the head. In this procedure, the scalp is injected with a local anesthetic, and a segment of the hairless scalp is removed. Then the skin surrounding the cut-out area is loosened and pulled. This allows the sections of the hair-bearing scalp to be brought together and closed with stitches.
