In general, Graft refers to any piece of hair bearing tissue. It is a group of 1-5 hairs. The hair transplant surgery is done based on the count of grafts required to implant on the bald area.
Donor area is the area (fringe above the ears and around the back) from where hair follicles are removed during a surgical hair transplant procedure. Recipient area is the bald area or the area where hair loss occurs and hair follicles need to be implanted during the hair transplantation.
Multiple factors are there and the most important one is number of hair grafts required. More the number of grafts more will be the hair transplant cost.
Other factors include technique used for hair transplantation, level of baldness, availability of healthy hair follicles at donor area, reputation & experience of surgeon etc.
It entirely depends upon the number of grafts you are going to get transplanted. Usually the patient undergoing hair transplantation with 1500 to 3000 grafts, normally involves one full day of surgery. The treatment time also depends upon the type of procedure/technique you're undergoing.
Though the previous techniques of hair transplant surgery were painful, but now the technologies are completely modified. Today with the adaptation of local anesthesia, the procedure has become pain-less. It numbs the patient’s head; and the patient can watch movies, listen to music, read books throughout the surgical procedure. This is amazing, right?
Due to refined, advanced and latest technologies used for hair transplantation procedure, the incisions are less invasive and very small than the past procedures. Usually the patient feels fine within a day or two after the surgery. But yes, mild swelling, soreness and numbness are expected for some days which is normal and nothing to worry about.
The answer is yes, the results are permanent. The hair follicles implanted on the patient’s recipient area, are taken from his own donor area (back of the scalp). So these hair follicles tend to grow naturally & permanently for the lifetime.
In some cases where the patients have low level of baldness, medication can become the alternate option. Some people also use wigs or patches instead of opting for surgical treatment. But these all are temporary solutions with having side-effects, as they can cause allergy or infection.
Immediately after hair transplant surgery, patient's recipient area gets pink with scabs around the micro incisions. These are healed within a week or ten days. It will be noticeable, if there is no previous hair to mask these temporary scabs. You will be comfortable in public, within 10-12 days after surgery. When the transplanted hair grows properly, then the results look completely natural even under close examination.
Almost after one week, you can resume your day-to-day work activities; but it is strongly recommended to avoid the heavy activities like gym, weight lifting, yoga etc for few days; as these activities can lead to the fluctuations in blood flow which can further cause swelling on the head.
After 1 month of hair transplant surgery, your transplanted hair will fall off on temporary basis and it is a part of this process. Then you’ll start noticing the new hair growth after 3-6 months. Within 1 year of hair transplant surgery, you’ll experience the complete & effective hair growth with thick density.
This is one of the interesting questions. You can treat your transplanted hair growth in the same way you treat your existing hair and this is the best part about hair transplant. As the implanted hair grafts are the natural ones, thus they will be growing naturally. You can trim, comb, color and style your hair as you desire.
