Hair transplantation research has been going on for years. Thanks to all the advancements in hair transplantation, many people have become free of baldness. However, the standard hair transplantation process is time-consuming and expensive. That is why there is a need for better processes and advancements in hair transplantation.
The Standard Hair Transplantation process:
A standard hair transplantation procedure helps people recover their hair, but it is time-consuming. This procedure involves the removal of a strip of donor’s hair from the back of the head. From this strip, the follicular unit grafts are dissected under a microscope. Then these grafts are preserved in saline. Finally, these grafts are transplanted on a bald crown area of the scalp.
As all these steps take up a lot of time, a hair transplant surgeon often transplants only about 500 to 600 follicular unit grafts per day.
The good news is that hair transplant advancements are now making better and easier processes available. Here are some of them.
Advancements in Hair Transplantation
Follicular Unit Extraction:
FUE is more expensive than the standard hair transplant procedure. The cost per graft of FUE maybe twice the cost of standard follicular unit hair transplant. However, Follicular Unit Extraction process is comparatively faster and minimally invasive.
In a typical FUE hair transplant procedure, a small round punch is made in the donor area to extract 1, 2, 3, and 4 hair follicular unit grafts. These follicular units are typically referred to as “blunt dissection.” In this, a punch is made to envelop the entire follicular unit and separate it from the surrounding soft tissues.
Once the follicular unit is separated from the surrounding tissues, it is extracted using a small forceps. Small holes are left behind after the follicular unit extraction. These gradually heal over the next few days. These holes are not detectable to the naked eye either once the patient’s hair grows out. And the healing time of these holes is much less than the donor strip extraction procedure.
This faster FUE procedure has been adopted by most reputable hair transplant clinics. However, the standard strip excision hair transplant method is still the most popular because it is more economical than the FUE. Moreover, recent hair transplant advancements like the trichophytic closure technique make the linear donor scar created by the cheaper strip excision procedure almost undetectable to the naked eye. This has made the FUE procedure relatively less appealing.
Hair transplantation research:
Besides the advancements in hair transplantation procedures, a lot of research is also going on to clone the hair. If this research is successful, doctors will be able to make several copies of donor hair in the laboratory. This will make hair transplants easier and cheaper.
In traditional hair transplant procedures, the biggest limitation is that the donor is often not able to meet the required density. However, hair cloning can overcome this problem by growing many hair strands from the single donor hair and then implanting them into the scalp.
Conclusion:
Hair loss and balding is a common problem. Many products promise to prevent hair loss or regrow hair. But most of them don’t make a difference. It is good to see the rapid advancement in hair transplant procedures. In the future, more people will be able to get a hair transplant and enjoy a full head of hair.
