| Dr. Robert P. Niedbalski is a Diplomate of the American Board of Hair Surgeons. Here the Doctor has answered some of the common questions bizymoms visitors have about Hair transplant.
Q. Please explain the primary procedures performed by your practice.
A. Ultra-refined follicular unit hair restoration is the "Gold Standard" in hair transplant surgery. The technique which includes the microscopic dissection of natural follicular units achieves cosmetic results that are undetectable from the patient’s original hair.
Laser Hair Removal permanently removes hair in undesirable areas for both men and women. IPL (Intense Pulsed Light) technology evens skin tones by eliminating age spots and other pigment variations on the face, hands, décolleté, and other areas.
Q. Why is it important to know about the hair transplant procedures available
A. Today’s hair transplant techniques are light years improved from the original and unsightly hair "plug" techniques performed in the past. Hair transplantation is a surgical technique that involves moving skin containing hair follicles from one part of the body (the donor site) to bald or balding parts (the recipient site). It is primarily used to treat male pattern baldness, whereby grafts containing hair follicles that are genetically resistant to balding are transplanted to bald scalp. However, it is also used to restore eyelashes, eyebrows, and beard hair, and to fill in scars caused by accidents and surgery such as facelifts and previous hair transplants. Hair transplantation differs from skin grafting in that grafts contain almost all of the epidermis and dermis surrounding the hair follicle, and many tiny grafts are transplanted rather than a single strip of skin.
Since hair naturally grows in follicles that contain groupings of 1 to 4 hairs, today’s most advanced techniques transplant these naturally occurring 1–4 hair "follicular units" in their natural groupings. Thus modern hair transplantation can achieve a natural appearance by mimicking nature hair for hair. This recent hair transplant procedure is called "Follicular Unit Transplantation."
Q. Tell us more about the Body Hair Transplantation procedure
A. Because of the naturalness and versatility of Follicular Unit Hair Transplantation, the technique can be used to transplant hair anywhere on the body that is experiencing hair loss including the eyebrow, eyelashes, facial hair and even body hair.
Q. Are the hair transplant procedures painful?
A. Modern hair restoration techniques are virtually painless. Besides from minor discomfort from the local anaesthesia the patient watches TV and even has a meal while the procedure takes place. Post operatively there is mild discomfort in the donor area for the first day or two that is usually easily abated with Tylenol or Advil.
Q. How many hairs are transplanted per session?
A. The number of grafts containing 1-4 hairs transplanted during a given hair transplant session will vary based on the area being treated. Normally hair transplant sessions move 1000 to 3000 grafts during a transplant session.
Q. What can be expected after hair restoration surgery?
A. Immediately after surgery there may be some slight scabbing for a few days before the scalp returns to a normal appearance. The initial transplanted hair normally sheds after 2-3 weeks and permanent growing hair begins after 12 weeks and then continues to grow the rest of the patient’s life. The results are natural and undetectable from the patient’s original hair.
Q. Can the clients wear their hair short
A. After follicular unit hair transplantation the results are so natural that the hair can be worn as short as desired. If a strip excision technique is used to remove the donor hair in the back there will be a small scar that is covered by the surrounding hair. If the patients wish to keep their hair very short in the back there is an alternative technique called Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) where there is no visible scarring in the back. The FUE technique is more tedious and expensive than traditional follicular unit hair transplantation and usually requires additional procedures to accomplish the same cosmetic result.
Q. What is the difference between mini/micro grafting and follicular unit grafting?
A. Mini/Micro grafting involved the use of very small plug style hair grafts; although the technique was more natural than traditional plug hair transplants the grafts were not separated into their natural occurring follicular units and still had a slight tufted appearance. Follicular unit hair transplantation is more complex and involves a highly skilled surgeon working with a team of meticulously trained technicians. The physician extracts the hair and makes the incisional sites while the team of technicians dissect the grafts under bifocal microscopes into natural bundles or follicular units and placed in the bald or thinning areas replicating the natural growth pattern of the original hair. |
