FUE Hair Transplantation
Hair loss can be a significant frustration and concern for both men and women.
Losing one’s hair through male pattern baldness or other forms of alopecia can impact on a person’s confidence, making them feel self-conscious about the way that they look, how old they feel, and it can affect their social and workplace interactions.
Many turn to hair transplant or hair restoration surgery as a long-term option to help regrow areas of baldness or restore a receding hairline. One such option is Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) hair transplantation.
Male pattern baldness, referred to as androgenic alopecia is the most common type of hair loss in men and is said to affect more than 50% of men over the age of 50. In the UK, it is estimated to affect around 6.5 million men.
Androgenic alopecia is characterised by a receding hairline or thinning of the hair on the crown – creating a bald spot. Women tend to suffer more with an overall hair thinning which can be caused by a variety of things including hormonal issues, illness, or stress on the hair follicles from hair extensions, braiding or the wearing of hair accessories.
Many people seek a hair transplantation surgery as a solution to thinning or receding hair and to correct areas of baldness. We offer the Follicular Unit Excision (FUE), sometimes also called the Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) method of hair transplant or restoration surgery.
This procedure replaces areas of lost hair by transplanting healthy hair follicles from another part of the scalp, usually the very back of the head. This is much like an organ donor transplant, but in this case an area of your own head becomes a donor for an area which is suffering hair loss. By taking some hairs from an area where there is an abundance of healthy hair, we do not damage or cause hair loss in the donor site and improve the chances of the hair continuing to grow and thrive in the area affected by the androgenic alopecia.
FUE hair transplantation is regarded as a minimally invasive technique as you are awake and aware the whole time. It is performed under local anaesthesia to avoid any discomfort. It is a pain staking process, performed mostly under a microscope, so requires considerable training, experience, and skill. This procedure can take several hours to complete, depending on the size of transplanted area, as each individual hair follicle unit is moved, unlike being transplanted in groups or plugs of hair as was more common several decades ago. This one-by-one approach to harvest the best hair and re-implant them individually produces a much more natural result.
Treatment cost
Price From* After consultation the doctor will confirm the cost.
Treatment Summary at a glance
6-8 hours
One
Local injection
Scalp swelling, itchy or tight sensation. Surface scabbing.
Hair growth in areas of previous baldness.
Transplanted hair should permanently persist.
Minimal downtime, 1-2 days. 2 weeks for grafts to fix in place.
Hair cycle regrowth over time.12-18 months until normal.
How does it work?
A follicular unit could be a single hair follicle or a group of 2 to 6 hair follicles which are harvested or extracted from a donor site on the head, usually from the back or sides of the head which tend to be less affected, particularly in the case of male pattern baldness. This harvested unit is referred to as a graft and is then transplanted into the recipient area to fill a bald spot or to create a new hairline with the transplanted hair follicles.
During the procedure the best follicular units will be identified and removed using a punch biopsy. Each graft is then checked by trained staff using a microscope to make sure that the hair follicles are intact and a good quality for transplantation. Some harvested hair follicles get broken in the extraction process, so these are discarded and not used, to give you the maximum chance of good transplantation of healthy and viable hair follicles which will continue to grow in their new location.
FAQ's
Your suitability for hair transplant surgery will be assessed in a consultation with our specialist doctor.
During this, your type of hair loss will be diagnosed, and we will discuss the likely outcomes from hair restoration surgery, including the achievable results you can expect. We will assess the viability of your donor areas, and you will both agree on the area to be treated, including the shape and position of your new hair line.
Your head will need to be shaved prior to the procedure.
To minimise pain and discomfort during the procedure, an injection of the local anaesthetic lidocaine will be used in both the donor and recipient areas of your scalp. It is also possible to be given a mild sedative.
The FUE hair transplant procedure can last 6 to 8 hours due to the requirement to transfer between 1,000 and 2,000 or more follicular grafts, depending on the size of the area being treated. The exact length of time the procedure takes will therefore depend on the number of grafts required.
There will be minimal downtime, with some recovery following a FUE hair transplantation. Usually you will not have to wear bandages or dressing post-procedure as the area heals better without.
In the days following the hair restoration surgery, you should expect to have some swelling to the scalp, an itchy, achy or tight feeling and some scabbing on the surface of the skin where hair was harvested and transplanted. Should you require them, any pain or discomfort can be managed with over-the-counter pain medication such as paracetamol.
It is important that you do not scratch the area, as this could dislodge the grafts as well as introduce infection. You must take care of your newly transplanted grafts for the first two weeks whilst they settle into position and fix in place. You will be advised on appropriate aftercare, in terms of how to wash your head and look after the area during the first few weeks after the procedure.
It may seem alarming, but you should expect the transplanted hair to fall out after a few weeks; this is part of the natural cycle of hair growth and it will start to regrow after a few months.
The results from your FUE hair transplantation will start to really show after approximately six months, and by a year to 18 months, the hair will have returned to a full and normal cycle of hair growth and the final results of your new hair line and hair style will be visible.
In the case of male pattern baldness, the donor hair is taken from an area more resistant to the hormonal changes which caused the original hair loss, so these hairs should last well in their new location. Our hair surgeon will maintain regular check-ups with you to assess the longer-term outcomes of your hair restoration surgery.
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