Is hair transplant too costly in your country? You can consider hair transplant in India
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Hairs on head are a vital part for our aesthetic looks similar to good health and youth. However, most of us take our hairs for granted until they start falling and we start experiencing receding hairline. Fewer hairs on head, hair thinning, or patches of baldness are some of the features of hair loss. These features are often linked to being aged and compromised aesthetic looks. As a result, the persons with hair loss start feeling anxious and lose their confidence. They try different treatments for hair fall until they realise that hair transplant is the only treatment which guarantees permanent and assuring hair loss treatment.
Why hair loss occurs?
There are
number of theories regarding the pathogenesis of hair fall. We are going to discuss
about male pattern baldness here. This kind of hair fall totally depends on
genetics. Few theorise it to occur because of mineral or vitamin deficiency,
air pollution, water pollution, and so on, but in reality these factors pose
minimal effect on genetic hair loss. The genetic hair loss is influenced by the
sensitivity of receptors in hair follicles to androgen hormone. Androgen
hormone is responsible for providing male secondary sexual characters. The
hairs in front portion and crown portion of our head are more sensitive to the
androgen hormone whereas, hairs in the back of head are insensitive to androgen
hormone. The androgen hormone causes subsequent thinning of the hairs, which
progresses to its falling with root. Thus, the hairs which are more sensitive
to androgen tend to fall sooner, and the hairs which are insensitive to
androgen do not fall. It can be usually observed that in majority of
individuals, hair loss occurs from the crown portion and frontal portion of our
head, and hardly occurs in the occipital region or back of head even in older
age. This sensitivity of hair follicles to androgen hormone is decided by
the
What Is a Hair Transplant?
Hair transplant
is a surgical procedure in which hairs are transplanted from the area where
abundant hairs are present to the area of baldness of the same person. This
procedure is performed by a plastic surgeon under local anaesthesia. The
recovery period for the procedure lasts for about a week, however, the person
can start his routine work from the next day. The results of the surgery depend
on the artistic approach and surgical skills of the surgeon who is performing
the procedure. In hands of an expert surgeon who is proficient in hairline
designing, the hair transplant looks natural and unrecognisable. Also, head
full of hairs restores the confidence of the person.
Techniques available for hair transplant procedure:
Mainly two
types of techniques are usually used for hair transplant, Follicular Unit
Transplantation (FUT) and Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE). Let’s discuss about
these procedures in brief.
Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT)
In this procedure, a strip of skin from the donor area (area where abundant hairs are present) along with hair follicles is taken. These hair follicles are separated into individual grafts under magnification by the technicians. After separating into individual grafts, these are implanted by the surgeon at required areas. This method is quite advantageous as it allows significant use of the donor area. Also, subsequent hair transplant surgeries can be performed with this technique because it does not decrease the density of hairs at the donor site. However, a liner scar is left at the donor area after the procedure. With newer available technique, i.e., trichophytic closure, some hair grafts are implanted at the incision area which leads to growth of hairs from the scar covering the scar effectively.
Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE)
This is a
latest advancement in the hair transplant procedure and has gained immense
popularisation from last few years. This technique is advertised as minimally
invasive and scar less, however, labelling this technique as scar less and
painless would not be appropriate. In this technique, individual grafts are
removed from the donor area using FUE pinch or micromotor. These individual
grafts are then implanted at the recipient site. This procedure is not scar
less because small round scars measuring about 0.8-1 mm are seen at the donor
area. Moreover, hair density decreases in this procedure at the donor region.
So over harvesting of follicles from donor area can lead to permanent reduced
density at the donor area. Furthermore, this is a blind procedure in which the
direction of hair follicles has to be estimated for extraction which can cause
damage to the root because root of the hair can be at an angle to the hair.
Cost of hair transplant
The usual time taken for hair transplant varies from 6 to 8 hours, and it is a day care procedure. The patient can go to home after the procedure. The number of session required for the hair transplant depends on the severity of baldness.
Now let us
discuss about the most important issue for hair transplant, cost of hair
transplant procedure. This answer cannot be summarised in a single line because
it depends on a number of parameters.
1. Hair transplant procedure:
The price of hair transplant highly depends on the technique used by the surgeon to perform the transplant. The usual cost of FUE transplant is more as compared to FUT technique. This can be attributed to the increased popularity and latest technology requirement for FUE procedure.
2. Severity of baldness
The area of recipient site which needs implantation of hair grafts highly affects the price of hair transplant. With increased severity of baldness, more number of grafts is required for its restoration. As the cost of hair transplant is decided on the basis of per graft cost, so, more the number of grafts required, more will be the cost of the hair transplant.
3. Tools and solution used during the procedure
Different hair transplant centres and hospitals use different kind of tools and solution during the hair transplant. For example the cost of normal saline is usually $1-5 per 100 ml, and on the other hand, the cost of Hypothermosol is about $200 owe 100 ml. Thus, the cost of the hair transplant varies accordingly the tools and solutions are used.
4. Surgical experience and expertise of the surgeon
The price of the hair transplant also varies on the surgeon who is going to perform the surgery. Experienced plastic and aesthetic surgeons, which are most qualified for handling such a technique sensitive procedure cost generally more than usual doctors. As we have seen commonly that nowadays, some dermatologists, dentists, and general physicians, who are not qualified for the to perform the procedure, are doing hair transplants which is an unethical practice and should be avoided.
5. The geographic location of the surgeon
This is one
of the most important element which causes variations in the cost of hair
transplant. The price of the hair transplant depends highly on the location and
country. Ordinarily, the cost of hair transplant in US, UK and Canada is 70-80
% expensive as compared to cost in India, even though the Indian clinics are
providing world class treatments and highly optimistic results. Because of this
reason, every month hundreds of foreigners travel to India in search of quality
treatment at such a low cost.
Thus, hair transplant surgery, despite being one of the costliest procedures, can be affordable if proper research is done prior to selecting the surgeon for your hair transplantation. Hair transplant in India is one of the most intelligent decisions made from the patients traveling from abroad. They can undergo the procedure with world renowned surgeons at low cost.
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