ARE HAIR TRANSPLANTS PERMANENT?

Hair transplantation has a come a long way since its inception in the 1950s- originally reserved for celebrities, it has become the luxury medical procedure for everyday folk looking to boost their follicles and confidence.

The most common question asked of our consultants and doctors is, ‘how long will the results last?’. In short, the implanted hairs will last a lifetime due to the ‘permanence’ of donor hairs taken from the back of the scalp, but patients must nurture the native hairs to avoid them shedding around the implants.

Read on to hear how this all works.

The very foundation of hair transplant surgery lies on the theory of donor dominance. Most hair loss is due to androgenic alopecia, the process where androgens (namely, dihydrotestosterone or DHT) attack the follicles and cause them to shed. This was first introduced by Dr. Norman Orentreich in 1959 and explains why no matter how bald a man becomes, the back of the scalp never fall- they are in effect insensitive to the DHT. By this logic, a follicular unit harvested from the back of the scalp and transplanted to the hairline remains insensitive to DHT, and therefore continues to grow forever.

The simplicity and sophistication of a hair transplant relies on the skill of the treating doctor. Using a 1mm punch, the doctor must accurately extract the follicular unit as well as the associated pilosebaceous unit, arrectores muscle, sebaceous gland, nerves, and vessels. Importantly, the treating doctor must understand which hairs are ‘safe’ to extract and to implant. Meanwhile, utmost care must be taken to categorize, count and preserve the harvested grafts. Finally, implantation requires a deep understanding of aesthetic proportions, paying respect to the direction depth and angle of each strand of hair for an ultra-natural look and maximum density that ages gracefully with the person’s face.

While the implanted hairs, insensitive to the DHT will last a lifetime, the native surrounding hairs are still susceptible to shedding. But alas, not all is lost- a good hair transplant doctor can prescribe the correct medications and treatments such as platelet rich plasma/platelet rich fibrin to ensure they stay put.

Hair transplant surgery is truly the intersection of art and science and has been demonstrated over the decades to be safe, effective, and enduring. For this reason, hair transplantation is here to stay, and so too are your implanted hairs.