Monday 7 March 2016

The hair transplant process

These days, nobody has to put up with thinning hair, regardless of whether they're male or female. The hair transplant process has evolved to deliver greater comfort and convenience to patients at increasingly affordable prices.

The Ailesbury Hair Clinic uses a hair transplant process called the AHI procedure. This is ideal for treating thinning hair and pattern baldness in both men and women and it doesn't require a stay in hospital or complicated care after the procedure's been carried out. Although the procedure does involve an anaesthetic, it's minimally invasive and all patients have the opportunity to meet their surgeon along with the anaesthetist in advance of the procedure for peace of mind and to ensure everything goes smoothly.

Normally, the scalp is shaved prior to treatment but patients who prefer this not to happen can meet their surgeon first and, subject to the surgeon's approval, the procedure can go ahead without complete shaving. In general, this approach is approved for female patients but the final decision must rest with the surgeon and will depend on various individual patient factors.

The AHI technique can transplant as many as 3,500 strands of hair in one session from what's known as the ‘donor site’ to the areas on the head in need of the hair, called the ‘recipient site’. Grafts are taken from the donor site (which can be anywhere on the body) using hair follicles that are resistant to balding. The extraction is carried out using a very advanced method involving a highly specialised extractor tool with a very fine punch (of 0.5-0.8 mm diameter) and no scarring is left at the donor site following the hair extraction. Since hair grows naturally in groupings of 1 to 4 hairs, known as 'follicular units', these are transplanted using a special implanter pen that grafts the hair to the recipient site.

The new hair is very concentrated with up to 60-70 hairs implanted per square centimetre so that when it starts to grow normally and naturally after the procedure it will appear thick and will thrive for many years into the future as a permanent feature on the patient's head. After undergoing the AHI procedure at the Ailesbury Hair Clinic, thinning hair and baldness will be a thing of the past.