Is hair transplant too costly in your country? You can consider hair transplant in India

by Smith John Web Developer

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.