Follicular unit extraction [FUE] is a minimally invasive hair restoration surgery popularly known for its utility in androgenetic alopecia (AGA). In FUE, individual follicular grafts are extracted from donor area and implanted in the recipient area. Advantages of FUE are that it is comparatively ‘scarless’, has faster healing time, has less downtime and requires less technical staff. FUE uses micro punches that span from 0.7 to 1.2 mm in size to harvest these follicular units. Micro-punches vary in their type and include manual, motorized, and robotic. Many patients seeking a reliable solution for hair loss now opt for FUE-based hair transplant in Bangalore due to its effectiveness and minimally invasive nature.
Benefits of FUE Hair Transplant
The are several distinct advantages of FUE that a patient should be aware of.
- There is no linear scar.
- A patient can afford a more closely cropped hairstyle as there is no linear scar that he needs to worry about.
- FUE offers a faster recovery than FUT.
- Many patients have also reported less postoperative pain following FUE compared with FUT.
- FUE allows for harvesting in non-scalp regions like the beard, chest, etc., where FUT would not be allowed due to visible linear scarring.
Ideal Candidates for FUE
The ideal candidate for FUE is someone who has one’s hair stabilized with medical therapy like finasteride and minoxidil, who is preferably older (the younger the riskier like in one’s 20s, for example, due to the risk of unpredictable future hair loss), who has great donor hair to supply not only the transplant but also reserves for future use, and who is realistic about goals of the transplant. Obviously, the patient must also be medically safe to undergo a surgical procedure.
Many other factors can affect the outcome of the result that derives from a patient’s anatomy. For example, wavier hair, thicker hair, and hair that has a low contrast in color to the scalp are all favourable characteristics that make hair look denser.
FUE Recovery
FUE recovery, as already mentioned, is faster and can be less uncomfortable in many cases. In most cases, FUE is performed with a shaved donor area. In the donor and recipient areas, tiny scabs will form and remain present until they are gently rubbed away usually 1 to 2 weeks later although different surgeons have different policies. After the scabs are gone, most patients return to their “invisible” state where the hair grafts fall out (but the root is still there) and they wait for the transplanted hair to grow over time. It takes several months at a minimum, as hairs grow about 1 cm per month, and oftentimes a year or more for the full result to appear.
Use of postoperative bandages, sprays, etc., along with other policies like return to exercise, water exposure, etc., vary among surgeons, so it is important to follow the instructions given by the surgeon you choose rather than any information found on other websites that you may peruse or visit.
ROLE OF PRP IN HAIR TRANSPLANTATION
What is PRP?
PRP is blood plasma containing a concentration of platelets many times greater than occurs normally in blood. PRP is “autologous”, meaning that it comes from the patient’s own body. This is similar to the practice of having a patient donate his/her own blood before a surgical procedure, to be used in preference to blood from the hospital blood bank should a transfusion be needed. Another example is the removal and transplantation of a patient’s own skin for a plastic surgery procedure. Because PRP is autologous, it has no potential for causing a foreign-body immunologic reaction. PRP is immunologically neutral.
PRP in Hair Transplantation
The potential for using PRP to promote healing and hair growth after hair transplantation is centered in three functional applications:
- To preserve and enhance hair follicle viability during and after hair transplantation;
- To promote and enhance tissue repair and healing after hair transplantation; and,
- To reinvigorate dormant hair follicles and stimulate new hair growth.
To Preserve and Enhance Hair Follicle Viability
Between the time that hair follicles are removed from a donor area of the scalp and transplanted into a recipient area, they are subject to damage from several causes:
- Dehydration if the donor follicles are inadequately moistened between the times of removal and transplantation;
- Oxygen and nutrient starvation due to being removed from blood supply during the harvest-to-transplantation time period;
- Temperature and acid/alkaline changes in the follicle environment; and,
- Revascularization injury when the donor follicles are transplanted to the recipient site and must re-adapt to having a blood supply.
A common approach to maintaining donor hair follicle viability during the transition period is to keep them in a storage solution that provides a protective environment of appropriate temperature, chemical balance and nutrient supply. Recent research has indicated that addition of PRP to the storage solution improves follicle viability during and after transplantation, enhances post-transplantation tissue healing and promotes hair growth in transplanted follicles. An approach advocated by some investigators is to bathe the donor hair follicles in activated PRP just prior to transplantation.
To Promote and Enhance Tissue Repair and Healing
In activity promoting tissue repair and healing after injury of surgery, the growth factors stored in platelets are released at a site of tissue injury, promoting tissue repair and healing. Individual growth factors such as PDGF have been used by surgeons to promote wound healing in hospitalized surgical patients. The rationale for using PRP in outpatient surgical hair restoration is to use the full array of platelet-associated growth factors to promote healing and minimize scar formation, as well as to promote maximum hair growth in transplanted follicles.
A described method of applying PRP to scalp incisions is by injection of a PRP gel into the wounds at the time of wound closure. Clinicians and investigators using this procedure have described enhanced healing at the transplant site. These reports are usually of individual cases or of a small number of cases. Such reports do not meet definitions of clinical trials that would, for example, be required in the United States for seeking FDA approval of PRP use specifically in hair transplantation with claims of efficacy and safety. Some investigators suggest that PRP should not be used routinely in hair transplantation to promote healing, but might be of use in patients who have had previous injury or scarring at a transplant site. Investigators who oppose routine use of PRP in hair transplantation cite the need for additional data from well-designed clinical trials.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1. How do cultural attitudes toward aging influence the demand for anti-aging treatments in Bangalore?
A. Cultural attitudes toward youthfulness and beauty significantly influence the rising demand for anti-aging treatments in Bangalore, especially among urban professionals.
Q2. What procedures does the best cosmetic surgeon in Bangalore typically offer?
A. The best cosmetic surgeon in Bangalore usually offers procedures like rhinoplasty, liposuction, facelifts, tummy tucks, and breast augmentation or reduction.