Hair transplant is carried on local anesthesia. That means only the scalp is anesthetized. The rest whole body does not have any impact of surgery. The pain is only till the time we give you the local anesthesia on the scalp. Pain is similar to a single injection till that can affect the anesthesia. Once that is done there would be no pain at all throughout the procedure for 7 to 8 hours. Pain threshold is different in everyone. It is the pain barring capacity of a person. If you pain threshold is high that you would feel less pain, and if your pain threshold is low that means you may expect to feel a greater pain for the first 5 to 7 minutes only. So it must be noted that we have to accept the 5 to 7 minutes of pain, for NO pain till the hair transplant is over.

Hair transplantation is a surgical procedure carried out broadly in 2 ways.

1. FUE – Follicular Unit Extraction [advanced, latest method]
2. FUT – Follicular Unit Transplantation [old method]

The FUE [follicular unit extraction] is an advanced method. It is carried with extractor and implanter pens. These are specialized pens to create the frontal hair line or smaller areas for natural look. It is simply a punch method we can say. As the punch of 0.7 to 0.9mm will drill the area and will carry a hair root. Then the same root is implanted in the bald area. Simultaneously, around 2000 hair roots are usually carried out in a single session which is sufficient to cover around 20-30 square centimetre area.

FUT was an older method. In this method, a strip from scalp is cut and rest of the area is sutured. The strip is the area which can give you hair roots. So from strip the hair roots are transplanted.

Sometimes surgeons may use the combination of both methods to give more number of hair roots.

Hair transplant is a procedure to be carried out by a medical professional. For that you must have a good donor area. That simply means you must have much more existing hair in the back of your head and sidewise, than where to be transplanted in the front or on the crown area. You must be medically fit for hair-transplant surgery and for that there are specific blood tests required before going ahead. Success rate is approximately 90-95% at every 100 hair roots transplanted in each case. The density post-transplant is around 75% of the existing hair density. But no one can give you the same look by transplant, what nature has given to you. If all these aspects are considered, then we can definitely say that – YES the transplant do work.

Cost is very sensitive issue, and varies a lot. It depends upon who is operating a transplant, how qualified the person is, is OT set up is prepared with all the standard norms and regulations, is the doctor is having a qualified nursing team, how many hair roots are scheduled for a procedure, whether hair transplant is scheduled in a single session of multiple sessions, is someone is opting for additional treatment post-transplant like PRP [platelet rich plasma] therapy or Mesotherapy. Last but not the least, how experienced the doctor is having and how many successful hair transplant procedures one has done in the past. So if we consider all these points the cost roughly varies from Rs. 35,000/- to Rs.1,50,000/- in a non-metro city. In a metro city usually there is 20% higher rates.

Side effects of hair transplant are felt by 5% of the people. That means if 100 patients are operated for hair transplant then only 5 of them will experience the side effects. Rest 90-95 people do not encounter with any side effects. Side effects usually may include following things – Heaviness of head, Tingling sensation of the scalp. If proper bandaging is not done, then may experience the swelling of the forehead and face for 10-15 days at max. if all the standard precautions are taken while carrying out the hair transplant surgery, then hardly one can experience any side effects. There are NO obvious or mandatory side effects of the hair transplant procedure. Hair transplant is similar to tooth surgery, if proper care is taken then there would be no side effects.

To be honest everyone is looking for the best transplant, but it is the skill set of the doctor performing on you. The best doctor also can do nothing if you have a poor donor area or any other essential pre requisites of a procedure. So skill and experience along with your safety must go hand in hand. The best thing is to consult the hair transplant doctor near you. You can acknowledge the previous testimonials with the center, and then would decide. No doctor wishes his client to have a bad hair transplant. If you are in the hands of dermatologist or a skin specialist who is having reasonable experience, then rest assure to have a wonderful experience and we will promise to give you the best hair transplant to your capacity.

Hair transplant surgery is a time consuming procedure. In a single session of hair transplant where around 1500-2000 hair roots [grafts] are scheduled to be transplanted it requires around 7-8 hours of time. It is an actual procedure time. Anesthesia, bandaging post-transplant, meal or washroom breaks for a patient as well as for surgical team will increase the duration by one hour at max. If number of hair roots are less, then obviously the required time is shortened. Sometimes the extended session or a mega session is scheduled for more than 3000-4000 grafts which may require 2 back to back sessions on consecutive days. Meaning 5 to 7 hours on two consecutive days.

Hair transplant is a surgical procedure. The success of hair transplant procedure has many factors to be considered. The density of transplanted hair, reconstruction of frontal hair line, growth rate of transplanted hair, are some of them. Most of the cases are successful about 90-95% out of 100 roots transplanted in each case. Meaning if 100 hair roots are transplanted then the 90-95 must grow. The density of these hair is exactly same as your back hair are. The texture and color of these hair too are similar. If we consider the successful hair transplant procedure that means growth completes mostly after 10 months’ post-transplant, with approximately a density of 50% – 70% of your natural density. Success rate also varies with higher age, known cases of diabetes and/or hypertension