FAQ

Hair loss can be a result from many factors. Some of these include thyroid disease, high fever, diet, childbirth, and certain medications. The most common form of scalp hair loss is called androgenetic alopecia (male and female pattern hair loss), and is not caused by poor circulation, clogged hair follicles, frequent shampooing, or the use of hats or helmets.

Male pattern hair loss is determined by a combination of heredity and male hormones called androgens which include testosterone and dihydrotestosterone (DHT). The tendency for male and female pattern hair loss is genetically inherited from either side of the family and begins to develop after puberty. Hair on the scalp that is genetically affected by DHT (generally the front and top of the scalp), starts to shrink until it is lost. Whereas hair at the back and sides of the scalp is permanent because it is not affected by DHT.

Hair transplantation has been practiced since the 1950's and is a safe and proven process. The success of hair transplantation is based on the scientific fact that hair follicles at the back and sides of the scalp (donor area) are genetically programmed to permanently retain the capacity to grow hair. These follicles, when transplanted to bald or thinning area, take root and grow normal healthy permanent hair in their new location. The new hair will have the same strength, color , texture, and life span as your donor hair.

THTC uses a pricing policy which based on a price-per-graft basis. The amount of grafts you need depends on the size of the area to be covered. For cost estimation, you may e-mail us your photos in different views ( front, top, side and back of head). We will roughly estimate the cost for you.

Perhaps the biggest misconception about hair transplantation is that it is a painful procedure. When skillfully performed, this is not true. The use of a local anesthetic makes the procedure essentially painless. Some discomfort is felt with the initial administration of local anesthesia but most patients are surprised by feeling little or no pain throughout the procedure.

When hair transplant surgery was introduced in the 1950's it often got an unnatural looking result since large donor "plugs" were transplanted giving the person a corn-row appearance, which was easily recognizable as being a hair transplant. Through state-of-the-art technology, surgical hair restoration results have become completely undetectable and natural looking.

We perform all procedures in an operating room, fully equipped with monitoring equipment, emergency supplies, and sterile instruments. Prior to the procedure, photographs of your entire head will be taken and the doctor will carefully trace your hairline. Then, you will be given relaxing medication, only by mouth.

Once the relaxing medication has taken effect, a local anesthetic will be injected, first into your donor area, and then as a block to numb the forehead and front of your scalp. At this point, the entire top of your head will be numb. Therefore, in most instances, hair transplantation is no more painful or difficult to undergo than a long dental procedure, and is done while you are relaxing, listening to music or simply napping.

After your head is completely numb, donor tissue will be removed, prepare to individual follicular units and placed into bald or thinning areas. Within 24 hours, small crusts will form on each graft, and fall out in the next 7-10 days. The grafted hairs will often start to grow within 3-4 months after the procedure and will continue to grow for a lifetime without any special care of any kind.

There is an over 90% take of all the grafts if great care and good techniques are followed in every step. To assure this, it is important that the patient carefully follows the post-operative instructions.

The number of grafts placed at each session may vary depending on the extent of baldness and the graft type. At the time of your initial consultation the number of grafts you need is estimated. Cost is determined by these numbers.

The number of sessions necessary to achieve a personally desired goal varies from person to person. It depends on the amount of your hair loss, quality of your donor hair, expectation and etc.

Surgery normally takes anywhere from four to eight hours depending on how many grafts are being placed. During the procedure, you will be able to have as many frequent breaks as you need. Because patient care is always our top priority, it is important to us that each patient feel comfortable and relaxed. Because we only perform one procedure at any one time, it allows us to concentrate all our attention solely on the one patient. We make sure everyone receives only the best medical care and attention from our doctor and his highly qualified staff.

We recommend you stay here at least 4-5 days for the procedure. Day 1 for consultation and surgery, days 2-5 for post-op checkup and hair washing. If you prefer, you are also welcome to visit us the day prior to your surgery for a preliminary consultation.

It is important that you wash your hair gently for the first 2 weeks after your transplant. After the 2 weeks is up, you can then resume your normal hair washing routine without any concerns.

Once you have reverted back to your normal hair washing routine, we recommend that as you wash your hair, you moderately scrub the transplanted area to help dislodge any scabs that may still remain at the graft sites. By dislodging these scabs and causing them to shed quicker, the new hair will begin to grow back sooner. You may notice though that as these scabs are shed, the accompanying hairs may also be shed with them. When this occurs, do not worry. These events are normal and are all part of the new hair regrowth process.

Be aware that new hair growth may not be noticed until the third or even the fourth month after the procedure. This is not uncommon and is no cause for concern. After the fourth month, you will definitely see your transplanted hair begin to grow and it will continue growing at a rate of about 1/2 an inch per month.

Once your new hair grows, you just take care of it as you would your own hair. It can be washed, combed, cut, styled, permed or colored. You can swim, exercise or perform any activities without worrying that it is going to fall out because it is not a hair piece covering over your bald spot, it is your natural growing hair!

Complications are rare. Severe infection is highly unusual due to the abundant blood supply in the scalp, but minor infections can occur around a newly transplanted hair follicle, similar to an infected ingrown hair or pimple. However, this responds easily to antibiotics. Minor scars that occur in the donor scalp as a result of the removal of donor skin are narrow and can be easily hidden by the surrounding hair. The graft sites in the recipient frontal area heal with almost no visible scarring and are covered by the transplanted hair. Patients may experience mild swelling to the forehead area for a few days following surgery and on rare occasions, parts of the scalp can remain numb after the procedure. This usually disappears anywhere from 2-8 months after surgery.

Since genetic hair loss is a progressive condition, hair loss will continue as you age. The full extent of your hair loss is unpredictable and also varies from person to person. As you lose hair, the size of the balding area increases at the same time as the size of the donor hair area decreases. It is therefore important to understand that hair transplantation alone cannot solve everyone’s genetic hair loss problems. Hair transplantation does not stop your remaining hair from falling out. Further hair loss can and most likely will continue to occur after hair transplantation until it reaches the final balding stage.

It is for this reason that as part of our program we recommend all our patients take Finasteride/Minoxidil on a regular basis after surgery in order to prevent further hair loss. If you choose not to take Finasteride/Minoxidil , be aware that whilst your transplanted hair will continue growing, your existing hair may not and ultimately over time as you lose more of your existing hair the end result will most likely look odd or strange.

A Hair Transplant is really not suitable for those patients who suffer from diffuse thinning. In fact, implanting transplanted hairs in between patient’s existing hair may actually do more damage to their existing hair rather than improve it. With over 17 years experience in the industry, it is our opinion that these sorts of cases are much better served by use of hair loss medications (Finasteride/Minoxidil) rather than transplantation.

Then there are those few patients who have tried hair loss medications (Finasteride/Minoxidil) for many years and have achieved little success. For these patients a hair transplant is a better option.

Hair transplant "shock loss" is a phenomenon that occurs when your own hair is shed after surgery, resulting in temporary hair loss. This "shock" is caused by trauma to the scalp during surgery and can occur anywhere from a few days to a couple of months after the procedure. "Shock loss" can happen at both the donor and recipient areas, especially for those patients who have had hair transplanted in between and around existing natural or "native" hair. Most of the shocked hairs will grow back after 4-5 months. Any weak baby hair that was destined to go anyhow may not grow back, but will instead be replaced by the new, strong transplanted hairs.

You will find that many of the best doctors in the industry are not listed on certain websites, as they simply don’t pay the monthly membership fees needed to keep them on the site’s “recommended doctors” list. Getting a hair transplant is a huge decision for anyone to make. Do as much of your own research as you can. Find out all the positive or negative feedback that you can, review doctors’ work, read testimonials etc., all until you are satisfied you have enough information before you go ahead. Make your own decision and you will have no regrets.