Newport Beach Hair Restoration Procedure and the Process
Hair Transplantation is a procedure in which medical doctor moves hair from the back of the head, beard or chest to a balding or thinning area of the head.
Believe it or not, hair transplants have been occurring since the 1950s. Many advancements have taken place that has resulted in a much higher rate of success.
Dr. Nader Ronaghi, at Pure Hair Restoration Center will examine your hair along with your medical history and evaluate what can be done for your needs, desires, and goals. He will then customize a treatment plan specific to your areas of hair loss.
TYPES
What is FUE?
FUE stands for “Follicular Unit Excision” and has become the most prominent trend in the hair-transplant field in the past decade.The surgical team will perform the FUE hair transplant procedure by harvesting and grafting follicles into the area of the scalp that will produce the results that you are looking for. These micrografts employ tiny incisions that only contain 2-4 hairs seperated into units.
We also offer New “Double Mega” FUE Procedure
Using a newly developed technique, the Double Mega Procedure provides transplants of 5000+ grafts – enough to cover almost all cases of baldness – in just three weeks.
Benefits of FUE technique – Restores a thicker, fuller, and natural-looking hairline
Follicular unit extraction (FUE), also known as follicular transfer (FT), is one of two primary methods of obtaining hair follicles, naturally occurring groups of one to four hairs, for hair transplantation.The other method is called strip harvesting. Follicular Unit Extraction is an outdated term and has been redefined to Follicular Unit Excision. In 2018, Mejia published the updated guidelines adopted by the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery. This name change came about to accurately describe the procedure which involves surgically cutting or incising a full thickness hair follicle skin graft with a circular scalpel , punch or motorized drill and subsequently carefully extracting it from the scalp to be placed in the donor balding scalp. Due to the new developments of incision punches and devices and a variety of different extraction techniques, it was necessary to more accurately define the procedure. Additionally, many places were incorrectly marketing the extraction procedure as a simple plucking of hairs and deceiving the public.
The follicular units obtained by either method are the basic building blocks of follicular unit transplantation (FUT).
Follicular unit extraction was first described in 1988 by Masumi Inaba in Japan, who introduced the use of a 1-mm needle for extracting follicular units.
Follicular unit excision takes considerable time and expense to learn and to develop skills to a high standard. The first part of the procedure involves making an incision with a circular cutting punch around the hair follicle through the epidermis into the subcutaneous tissue in order to release the follicle from the underlying tissue. The hair follicle grouping or follicular unit is a full thickness skin graft containing epidermis, dermis and fat. The graft is then subsequently extracted utilizing suction, or forceps or specialized aid to extraction instruments (ATOE) and carefully preserved until it is time to reimplant into the donor scalp or recipient area. Each follicular unit is excised one at a time being very careful not to cut the underlying hair matrix cells and injure or fracture the graft with transection. Additional care must also be taken when extracting the grafts with forceps to insure the hair follicles are not crushed or manipulated too aggressively which could also affect the growth. Hence FUE requires careful attention to detail and time. Consequently many physicians are not able to excise as many grafts in one day compared to traditional FUT due to the time involved.
The survival of follicular units upon cutting around the hair follicle and then extracting from the scalp is one of the key variables of successful hair transplantation. If follicular units are transected in the incision process, there is a greater likelihood that they will not survive the transplant, and the hair transplant will fail. While FUT procedures using strip-harvesting of follicular units typically guarantees a large number of non-transected follicular units, FUE procedures can, and often do, transect grafts, rendering them useless in a transplant.
- No Linear Scar
- Safe & Effective
- No Hairstyle Restrictions
- Virtually Painless Treatment
- Minimal Downtime
Proper Diagnosis of Hair Loss
Before one can decide if they might need medical treatment or a hair transplant, a proper diagnosis of their hair loss condition should be made by a hair loss specialist. Hair loss may be pattern hair loss (male or female) or non-pattern hair loss.
- Actual hair loss versus hair breakage
- Focal hair loss versus diffuse hair loss
- Hair thinning versus hair shedding
- Scarring hair loss versus non-scaring hair loss
- Hair shaft miniaturization versus reduced density
- Evaluation for Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE)
In evaluating a person for follicular unit extraction, it is necessary to make sure there is sufficient density in the donor that no change will be observed when removing 2000 to 2500 micro FUE grafts. FUE may also be used on very thick body hair when scalp hair is very limited.
What is FUT ?
Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT), also known as strip surgery, is a hair restoration procedure where a strip of hair-bearing scalp is removed from a donor area (usually the back or sides of the scalp where hair is more resistant to balding) and natural groups of 1 to 4 hairs (follicular units) are extracted from the strip and transplanted into the areas of the scalp needing treatment.
Who is a Good Candidate for A Newport Beach HAIR Restoration Treatment?
You are an ideal candidate for a Hair Transplant if:
- You have advanced hair loss requiring a large number of hair grafts for more coverage.
- You have lost hair as a result of burns, trauma, or cosmetic procedures, such as facelifts.
- You have male pattern baldness
- Medically-proven hair loss treatments have not been working.
- Your hair loss has now stabilized
- You are in overall good health and not suffering from any medical conditions.
- You have realistic expectations of a hair transplant and understand that hair loss might continue to progress after surgery.
Preparation for The Newport Beach hair Restoration Procedure
The preparation for a Hair Transplant, in general, will involve the following steps:
- A thorough review of your medical history is conducted.
- Do not consume alcohol at least 3 days prior to surgery.
- Refrain from taking aspirin or any anti-inflammatory medication 2 weeks prior to the procedure.
- A written consent will be obtained from you after the surgical process has been explained in detail.
- If you need a pain reliever, we recommend Tylenol.
Procedure for A Newport Beach Hair Restoration Surgery
- Your surgeon will inject a local anesthetic into the donor area to numb the area.
- A thin strip of donor skin either from the back or side of the scalp is then removed, and the skin is closed with stitches.
- The donor strip is placed under a series of microscopes and individual follicular units (1 to 4 hairs) are meticulously dissected from it and prepared into tiny grafts.
- These grafts are placed in a special holding solution and refrigerated until they are ready to be implanted.
- Your surgeon will then inject an anesthetic into the bald area of your scalp and using a fine-needle size instrument, tiny incisions called recipient sites are created.
- Your surgeon then takes the isolated refrigerated follicular grafts and carefully inserts them into the recipient sites with the aid of a specially designed instrument.
- Once the transplant is complete, you will go home wearing a cap, headband, or bandana, with permission to shower and shampoo the hair the day after the hair restoration surgery.
A maximum of 4,000 hairs can be transplanted in one session. You may need many sessions to accomplish the look you desire depending on the amount of hair coverage you need and the type of hair loss you have.
Postoperative Care and Instructions
To ensure good results from the FUT procedure, you need to diligently follow the postoperative instructions provided by your Newport Beach Hair Restoration Doctor, which include:
- After discharge to home you should rest with minimal activity until the next day.
- While sleeping, keep your head elevated for a couple of days to help reduce swelling.
- Do not consume any aspirin-containing products or alcohol for at least a week.
- You may experience pain, soreness, and swelling for the first couple of days. Medications will be provided for comfort.
- You may experience mild bleeding for a few days post surgery. Applying firm pressure gently on the area for about 15 minutes should be sufficient to stop the bleeding.
- Instructions on surgical site management will be provided.
- Haircare instructions will be provided, which include washing your hair gently the day following the procedure, gentle combing for a week, refraining from hair dryers for 1 to 2 weeks, refraining from hairspray, hair coloring, and haircuts for at least one month.
- Infection is rare, but avoid exposure to dust for at least a couple of weeks.
- Do not swim in chlorinated water for at least a couple of weeks.
- Refrain from any strenuous activities or sports for two weeks.
- Follow-up appointments will be scheduled for removal of stitches from the donor area and to monitor your overall progress.
Risks and Complications of FUT
FUT is relatively a safe procedure; however, as with any surgery, there may be certain complications, such as:
- Pain
- Bleeding
- Swelling
- Infection
Benefits of FUT
Some of the benefits of the FUT hair transplantation technique include:
- Enables restoration of relatively larger areas
- The procedure is less time consuming
- Minimal injury to the recipient area compared to earlier techniques
- Grafts show a high rate of survival
- Natural-looking results
