It is the fear of many men: baldness. We sometimes see them on television or in the street, trying to camouflage their precocious tonsure with a wick pulled down on the front.
The technique of hair implants by micrograft can be a real solution to baldness. We remember those bundles of hair implanted, in clusters, visible and unsightly. It’s all over! Find out what micrografts are. Follow in detail all the steps of this intervention.
Don’t miss out on some essential tips for maintaining your hair in the best possible way after the procedure.
Hair implants against Baldness: How do they work?
The hair implant technique is now over 40 years old. But, we can say that it is during these last five years that it acquired its nobility letters, with better results and better comfort for the patient.
In the traditional transplant, the macro-graft, the grafts were large in volume and contained 15 hair bulbs. The grafts’ harvesting was often destructive to the donor area, and the transplant itself was often unsightly, with that “leek field” or “doll hair” impression.
With hair micro-grafts, the technique has become a bit complicated for practitioners but greatly simplified for patients. It’s essential!
How does it work?
The principle of micrografting is not to multiply the hair; it is to redistribute it. No new hair is added, but the patient’s hair is used, where it has some, to re-implant it, where it is lacking.
As we know, it is generally in front of or on the top of the head that the hair falls out. On the other hand, there are still some in the Hippocratic area, that is, the crown behind the head. This will be the donor area.
Where does Baldness come from?
This will please all the bald people who read us: a super-male is a bald and very hairy man.
Why is Hair falling out?
Indeed, the preponderant factor in hair loss is testosterone. But not everywhere: all hair is hormone-dependent, except that of the crown. These are not of the same nature as the others. It is, therefore, those that we are going to implement. And not being hormone-dependent, they will never fall.
The price?
A general practitioner or a dermatologist with a diploma in aesthetic medicine, or a cosmetic surgeon can perform this procedure. Make sure the practitioner has good experience in this area. The best way is probably to start with word of mouth *.
Price of a Hair Transplant
The intervention is expensive! Its price varies between 2,500 and 5,000 Euros, depending on the operation’s size and the practitioner. They are not reimbursed by health insurance. The doctor must give you a detailed estimate (you have at least fifteen days before you decide).
A cosmetic hair operation does not hurt very much. It starts with small injections for local anesthesia after anesthesia, pain, and discomfort may wake up.
Doctors may suggest that you watch television while the doctor is working on the transplants during the operation. Usually, the session begins around nine in the morning and ends in the early afternoon. You can get up to stretch your legs whenever you want.
The sample is therefore taken from the lower occipito-parietal zone: the famous crown.
Discover the three main stages of this intervention.
Step 1: We take
The practitioner will take a scalp strip from the donor area. A strip is about a centimeter and a half high from ear to ear: the operation is performed under local anesthesia. The suture is made in the thickness of the hair and is therefore invisible.
Step 2: We prepare
The strip taken looks like a kind of brush mat (the hair was shaved before the operation, at the level of the strip). This is where the micro-grafts will be taken, that is to say the hair shaft (the hair) with its nucleus and its bulb, as well as the arteriole of the bulb.
It is the hair bulb that allows regrowth (it is our own hair factory). Afterward, it is with the micro-graft, like tulips, that you replant with its onion and the earth surrounding it – an image to fully understand the mechanism.
Step 3: We implant
This is the longest stage. The practitioner delimits the area to be reimplanted with the patient. We redesign the new frontal line, if necessary. The operation is still done under local anesthesia (with injections).
The doctor makes as many notches in the scalp with a micro-scalpel as grafts to the implant. Then, the grafts are “planted,” one by one, respecting the hair implantation axes to obtain a natural effect.
Hair claw three by three
A few years ago, at the very beginning of the micro-graft technique, practitioners “transplanted” hair by hair (it was the opposite of macro-grafts, bundle by bundle). However, we noticed that the hair, replanted one by one, tended to fall out!
Thanks to the electron microscope, we understood that the arteriole of the bulb irrigated several hairs. Now, practitioners reimplant two to three inches per graft. The regrowth rate is now close to 100%.