Frequently Asked Questions
What is Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE)?
What is the difference between Strip and FUE hair transplant surgery?
Are all patients suitable for FUE?
In our experience nearly all patients are suitable for FUE hair transplantation. Some surgeons doing strip and FUE may try to push the strip saying that the patient is not suitable for FUE. This may reflect the surgeons lack of interest in and experience with FUE rather than actually reflect the suitability of the patient for a FUE procedure.
Is Follicular Unit Transplantation permanent?
Transplanted hair behaves in a similar way to the hair where it was taken from. It will last a lifetime for most people or at least into old age when the procedure is done correctly. British Hair clinic surgical team simply re-distribute existing permanent hair to your thin areas.
Why am I losing my hair?
Male pattern baldness, the most common cause of hair loss in men, is caused a hormone called DHT (dihydrotestosterone), which shrinks the hair follicles located on the top of the head and causes the common hair loss patterns. There are however other causes for hair loss which our trained consultants will easily identify during your free one on one consultation.
Who does what during the operation?
Extraction is carried out by the surgeon and/or his assistants. The surgeon then prepares the recipient sites for the follicles. This process is the most vital in the operation as it is here that the surgeon shows his skills in creating a natural look of the hair transplantation. The three dimensional orientation is critial and includes correct angle, forward or lateral direction and depth. Once created the assistants can not change the direction of the recipient site. One or more assistants then implant the grafts into the carefully created recipient sites.
Is it going to hurt?
The majority of the patients are comfortable both during and after hairtransplant surgery done by the Follicular Unit Extraction-method. When administering the local anesthetics patient will experience discomfort/pain. Once the medicine starts to work the patient does not feel any pain. Post-operative pain is less and recovery much faster than strip-surgery.
Will I have scars?
The art of a hair transplant is to conceal the scars. When performed by skilled surgeons, Follicular Unit Hair Transplants will only be detected by thorough expert medical examination. The donor site however will have a very fine scar completely hidden by your hair. The technique of trichophytic closure is now rendering donor scars extremely difficult to detect even with no covering hair. Having said that, we always recommend growing the hair at the back of the head to help conceal the area. Patients should refrain from shaving the back of the head because healing and scarring can vary from person to person.
Is it possible to transplant hairs from someone else?
Unfortunately not, in fact this could be very dangerous as your body would reject the foreign tissue which would cause scarring and infection.
Will I need time off work after my surgery?
This depends on your type of work. If you don’t have a physical or strenuous job, medically you can generally go back to work after just a couple of days, otherwise return after 7. The other consideration is from a cosmetic view. If you do not have sufficient hair to cover the donor site or if you are very concerned about anyone knowing, then it’s probably best to have your surgery just before a week’s holiday or so. You will be able to wear a hat immediately after surgery. The sun will not damage your grafts, but as your scalp will still be numb you need to wear a hat to avoid sunburn to your scalp.
Will my hair transplantation look natural?
Any recently performed hair transplant should give a natural and in most cases an undetectable look from the front. The lateral slit is an important part creating a natural result. However, it may be mentioned that even if the surgeon is experienced, a limited number of patients may experience poor hair growth due to inherent circulation problems affecting re-growth and not necessarily due to the implantation techniques. From the back a strip-transplant will leave a linear scar which in some cases can be rather visible and disturbing. FUE leaves hardly visible scarring.
Are there any risk of infection with hair transplant surgery?
With any breach of the skin the risk of an infection does exist, however small it may be. Post-operative infection is very rare. In the rare event of an infection, it is usually treatable with antibiotics.
When will I see growth from my hair transplant?
This can differ from patient to patient but it is common for the ‘bulb’ of each transplanted follicle to go into a dormant phase for around 12 weeks before it starts to grow. Within 6 months you will see around an inch of healthy growth throughout the transplanted area.
Will I regain a full head of hair?
We are only redistributing your existing permanent hair to your thin or bald areas. We are not creating new hair. Having said that, in expert hands the limited donor hair available can be used to create the illusion of a lot more hair in people with significant hair loss. In extensive baldness, the most important achievement will be to restore frontal scalp hair and the hairline to create a frame around the face. This will improve how you look to yourself and to others. Is age important and what is the perfect age for a hair transplantation? Technically a hair transplantation can be performed at any age. The patient’s age is a vital factor to be considered, though. Prefereably the paitent should be at least 30 years of age. Under certain circumstances younger patients may be considered. Dr. Hussain recommends an operation for around 15-20% of the patients less than 30 years of age.
Can the procedure be repeated?
Yes. With FUE there is no linear scaring and the donor-area is essentially left intact. The procedure can be repeated and upto 40-50 percent of the hairs can be removed without noticeable thining in the donor-area. Other hair transplant methods, including strip-surgery, will usually leave visible scarring in the donor-area and with each operation the risk of serious problems with the operation increases.
What are the side effects?
FUE hair restoration is a very gentle procedure that minimizes the trauma to the scalp and thereby reduces the risk of any serious complications or side effect, including scarring, prolonged pain or numbness, to a minimum.?However, medicine is not a precise science with a 100% predictable outcome. The following problems have been brought to our attention. Swelling Mostly mild to moderate. Disappears in few days. Growth issues A small percentage of patients have expressed partial dissatisfaction with the growth. This can be due to actual low growth, but may also be due to mistaking the progressive nature of hair loss as low yield. Furthermore, unrealistic expectations and other factors may also play a role. Direction of grafts Around 1 % of the patients complain of a somewhat wrong directions of few the transplanted grafts. In the majority of these patients the problem has been rectified by our skilled surgical team – free of charge, of course.
