Question by Arabian Noor: How much does hair restoration cost and does it actually work? ?
I told my husband to get a hair transplant he started losing his hair at age 25 and now he’s 28. He lost hair from fron to the middle of his head. any solutions? Hair restoration sounds good but is it real? Does it really work? And how does it work? And how much does it cost? Anybody got any experience with hair restoration?
Best answer:
Answer by Gummy Roach
Yes, hair restoration is real, and it does work. As far as transplants go, there are two common methods that are used:
1) strip method. They remove a small section of the scalp, usually somewhere between the earlobes, and a few inches above the neckline, on the back of the head. This area is then stitched back together. It may sound a bit gruesome, but it’s an outpatient procedure, no worse than going to the dentists office. They anesthetise you, but you are conscious the entire time. Once this strip is removed, technicians divide the strip into groups of folicles, ranging from single to triple. The physician then makes tiny incisions on the scalp, where these folicles will be transplanted to. His assistant(s) will usually start counting, “one, two, three…..two hundred twenty, twenty-one.” Each count is an individual incision. The incisions are done in groups, and done quite rapidly. Then, the physicians and assistants implant the folicles into these sites. It’s usually an all-day process. The patient is usually seated in a chair like a dentist chair, and they have movies playing, they offer snacks and beverages. The patient may chat with the staff while they work. It’s a very relaxed atmosphere.
2) FUE method. The main difference here is that instead of removing a strip of hair, a punch tool is used to extract follicles. This leaves little tiny holes in the donor area, as apposed to a scar area. The sites and implantation are about the same as the strip method. The FUE method is said to be more expensive. The main advantage is that it’s less intrusive than the strip method.
In my particular case, they did the strip method, because it was considerably less-expensive, and also because, according to the physician, it provided more donor hair than the FUE method would have.
After the procedure, a couple of days later, the transplants scab over. My scalp looked like I had a very bad case of acne! This is normal. My scalp itched, and the donor area (where the stitches were) hurt a little, but they provided medication to combat this, so the discomfort was minimal. After about 14 days, I had the stitches removed, and life was pretty much back to normal. I could have gone right back to work the day after the procedure, but I decided to take the week off, and just relax. That’s what I recommend.
As for the cost, most transplant places charge per graft. A graft is an incision or transplant site where a folicle (grouped as one, up to 4 individual strands of hair) are implanted. My procedure involved approximately 2200 grafts. Depending on where you go, these grafts can range between $ 5 to $ 10 per graft. Some places offer a scale, where, the more grafts you go with, the less they charge per graft. Anyway, yes, it’s expensive. It’s like buying a car. Most places offer payment programs.
Did it work? YES! It took about 5 months before I really started to see the results. The transplanted hair came in very thin at first, and then slowly started to get thicker. No, it didn’t give me back that full, lush head of hair I once had. Here’s the thing; A lot of people have more than one procedure done, because, depending on the amount of hairloss, and the results they desire, sometimes one procedure isn’t enough. I’m very happy with my results so far. Yes, there is still an area on my crown that’s quite thin. It looks much better than before though. I will probably have an additional procedure done in a year or two to address that area, and to add some overall thickness.
Hope this helped. Good luck.
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