Hair Transplant

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A hair transplant involves removing hair from the back of your head, or the side, and implanting it into the thinning areas of you head. The hair at the back and sides is called your 'donor hair,' a term you'll probably hear a lot from doctors and trichologists. Each unit they remove (it c an be as little as one hair or as many as five hairs) is called a graft. When you get to shopping around for a transplant, if it's the course you choose, you should hear those terms being mentioned.

Some people expect to go in bald and come out with a full head of hair.  It all depends how many hairs to surgeon removes from the back of your head.  Even if it is two or three thounsand hairs, it will not make it look like your hair never fell out.  A human head can have anywhere up to, 140,000 hairs.  Obviously age and hair colour are factors.  This is the reason why this is more effective if your hair is thinning and not if you are completely bald.  

Many people ask me how long it takes for the implants to grow.  As soon, as the hairs are implanted they will fall out after a few days and then grow again but in some cases you will have to wait up to 90+ days to see the benefits.  I always recommend taking a photo before you have the procedure and then another one 4-6 months later.  That way, the change will be more apparent.   

Can you see the difference? Looks natural right? Most probably didn't know the Hollywood heart-throb had work done.

The procedure of all transplants are the same in that it involves the removal of hair from one part of the body to the other. The only difference is how the doctor will remove the donor hair. Some clinics use lasers, others use punch drills (if a clinic uses a punch drill I would seriously question it as they are so old as to be rare), while others will use surgical precision to move individual hair or "units" of 2 - 3 hairs to their final location. 

You have to be extremely wary about who you allow to perform a transplant because if they are done badly it can leave you looking worse than when you first went in. I have had the opportunity of speaking to some people who were unfortunate enough to have a bad experience and their responses were the same. "I'd rather be bald than look like this." 

I will say, however, that there are some really gifted doctors out there performing fantastic transplants every day with astounding results. I have a page on this site dedicated to the clinic I used. You can contact that clinic direct and view the web page.

How much does it cost for a transplant? It will vary depending where you go. All I can tell you is that I had to pay £3000 and that was almost 10 years ago. I can get an updated price for those that want it. just contact me and I'll get back to you.

How To Choose Your Transplant
That isn't easy to answer.  It all depends on how bad your hair loss is but what I do suggest is that whatever clinic you go to don't let them give you a list of testimonials.  More often than not these can be made up overnight.  Ask to speak to a client past or present and get their perspective of any treatments they've gone through.  If the company is unwilling to present a client (this is common since most people like to stay private but some clients don't mind) then ask to see a video tape of the procedure.  If the company refuses you on both grounds, then i advise you to stay away. 

For those who have had a transplant gone wrong, it's not the end of the world.  As I said earlier there are some really gifted doctors out there who can work miracles.  Again, you will have to dig deep because the procedures can be expensive.  However, what price do you put on having you confidence back?