Do You Only Need One Hair Transplant?
Reason #6 to Call the Hair Doctor Now: A Hair Transplant Is a One-Time Procedure
Having a hair transplant is not a decision most men make on a whim. It is one of the most-researched medical procedures. Many of our patients have taken months to find out as much as they can about hair transplant surgery before committing to the procedure. So naturally, the idea that one procedure might not be enough to solve the problem causes an extra dose of anxiety. Is, in fact, one hair transplant enough to restore your hair?
The short answer: Yes, generally one hair transplant is enough to restore your hair. This does not mean that all hair transplants are alike.
Types of Hair Transplants
First off, there are different methods to hair transplantation. For the sake of simplicity, there are essentially two main approaches to transplanting hair to the balding areas of your scalp.
The first method has a surgeon extract hair from a “donor area” (the area of your scalp on the back of your head that is resistant to hair loss) by means of a surgical incision and removal of a strip of scalp. This strip is subsequently separated into individual follicles of hair to be inserted into the recipient area(s). This method is known as Follicular Unit Transplantation or FUT, or simply the “strip method.”
The second method has a surgeon or hair restoration technician extract follicles of hair from the same donor area, except in this case they are individually pulled out using pneumatic pressure. This method is called Follicular Unit Extraction or FUE. (We have written about the pros and cons of FUE vs FUT elsewhere.)
Number of Grafts in a Hair Transplant
Secondly, there is the matter of how many grafts will make up your hair transplant. Naturally, how many hair grafts are needed depends on the state of your hair loss.
If your hair loss is in its beginning stages and you only have a slightly receding hairline, you will need fewer grafts than someone who has a beginning bald spot on the crown of his head. And that person again will need fewer grafts than someone whose crown is going completely bald.
How many hair grafts you will need for the best results is something your hair restoration specialist will discuss with you in a virtual consultation.
Why Hair Transplants Are One-Time Procedures
The beauty about hair transplant surgery lies in the nature of hair loss itself. As men age, hair doesn’t just fall out willy-nilly in random places. Instead, it follows a pattern, also called male-pattern baldness. Hair loss typically begins with a receding hairline, especially in the corners, and then progresses to the top of the scalp. Where the hair almost never falls out, however, is around the back of your head.
Why is this a good thing, you might ask? It’s a good thing because we can use the “safe” hair follicles from the back of your head to be transplanted to the balding areas. The difference will hardly be noticeable at the back of your head, where hair will continue to grow into old age, and the newly transplanted hair won’t be prone to fall out. Unlike the hair that was previously at the front and top of your head, this new hair is resistant to hair loss.
Being able to replace “faulty” hair follicles with “healthy” hair follicles means that you don’t have to have another hair transplant when your “new” hair wears out like the “old” did. It simply won’t. However, let’s say you have a hair transplant in the early stages of balding to address a receding hairline. What could happen is that new areas of balding will open up where the “old” hair continues to fall out, and you may need another hair transplant to fill in these new areas. But this is very different from the idea that hair restoration doesn’t last. It does, for those areas you have had it done to.
The great news about hair restoration is that you can say good-bye to lotions, potions, shampoos, harmful hair loss drugs, ginseng, rosemary, garlic, eggs, licorice, emu oil, or whichever other recurring treatment you might have tried before. Most likely they were not satisfactory anyway, and some of them might even have cost you a pretty penny over time.
We hope that we’ve given you another reason to seriously consider hair transplant surgery, even if the cost of a hair transplant seems high at first. We invite you to take the first step and submit a picture of your hair to receive a free online quote.
