Hair loss is often more common among men, but it happens to a lot of women, too. A study found that 52% of women feel self-conscious about their hair loss. There are hair transplant surgeries that could help a woman with hair loss. They are arguably the most invasive treatment for hair loss and often the most expensive too. This is why reading up on them before committing is imperative.
Why are You Losing Your Hair?
Firstly, in order to understand whether or not a hair transplant would be successful, you will need to understand more about the cause of your hair loss. If your hair loss is genetic or hereditary, then a transplant is likely to take and, in fact, be successful. However, if your hair loss is due to other causes like an autoimmune disorder, then the hair transplant is likely to be unsuccessful because your immune system will attack the new follicles, and they are unlikely to ‘take’. This is why you need to learn more about the cause of your hair loss before you proceed any further – although a good surgeon should go through this with you anyway. There are a few different types of hair loss that is common for women. Knowing what type of hair issues you have will be the first step.
Am I a Good Candidate for the Surgery?
A hair transplant is an invasive medical procedure, and there are several things that can affect whether or not you would make a good candidate; not everyone would make a good candidate for a hair transplant. A lot of clinics like their candidates to have tried other avenues first as well because other treatments might be beneficial to you before you need to resort to a hair transplant. You can explore businesses like Chemist4U to find a treatment that works for you. They specialise in women’s hair loss treatment, and will be a great place to enquire at. It may be that there are alternatives to a hair transplant.
A reputable surgeon wouldn’t offer to perform the surgery if you weren’t a good candidate, and having the transplant anyway would be a bad choice because it would be less likely to be effective. One of the most important factors influencing your candidacy is whether or not you’re still losing your hair at a rapid rate or not; in order to be a good candidate, you should wait for your hair loss to stabilise before you book in for the procedure. Having it done before reaching a plateau will inevitably mean that your hair loss will continue.
What Does The Hair Transplant Procedure Entail?
As mentioned above, a hair transplant is an invasive procedure. From start to finish, you can expect the operation to last between six and eight hours. For the most part, it is done using local anaesthetic as opposed to general, although depending on where you go for the procedure, then sedation might be an option worth exploring. It is worth pointing out that there is less of a chance of side effects or things going wrong when the procedure is carried out under local anaesthetic.
In order to perform a hair transplant, a surgeon needs to use donor hair follicles, ideally from a woman. These follicles are often harvested from other areas of your head – typically the back. The follicles are extracted are done so using the follicle unit extraction technique or the FUE. A surgeon uses a small tool to create micro-punches in the scalp, which essentially remove the follicle root and stem, which then allows them to be transplanted wherever the hair is thinning. The woman will then have to wait for the results.
The donor hair itself may also affect the success of procedure. The donor region needs to be denser in order to ensure that there is enough hair to be extracted without then making this area look too thin. This is why the donor hair is important; if the hair used is good, it helps ensure the best results possible. After the procedure, you can expect the healing process to progress fairly quickly, although there may be swelling, bruising and bleeding, although most of these side effects will have dissipated after a couple of weeks.
How Do I Choose the Right Surgeon/Clinic?
A hair transplant is an expensive and important medical procedure which is why you need to feel confident in your choice of surgeon and clinic. There are several ways for you to conduct some research before making your choice. Firstly, if you personally know any other women who have had a hair transplant, you could ask them for their advice. If you follow any influencers online who have had one, you could also take their recommendation; however, they are likely to have been paid to promote the clinic, and their recommendation may not be unbiased.
It is always worth ensuring that any clinic that you are considering has the right accreditations and certifications. It is also advisable that you read reviews. Again, reviews listed on their website are likely to display a certain level of bias which is why you should look elsewhere online to attempt to verify them. If you go for consultations at a few different clinics, it is also always worth asking to see those specific surgeons before and after photos as opposed to work done by the clinic. This is because it is likely to be an amalgamation of all of the surgeons’ work.
What Can I Expect from the Results?
Truthfully, the results are hard to predict on a general basis because there are a number of factors which will determine your results. For example, your donor’s hair has a major impact on your results, as will the surgeon and clinic that you use. It can also take quite a long time until your hair transplant settles and you are left with the final results. The healing process can be quite long. The hair has to settle then there is an initial shedding period before the regrowth starts which means you might not end up with the look that you want for up to a year after the procedure. Ask your surgeron/doctor how long it typically takes women to se
Your results will also be heavily impacted by the after-care processes that you follow. These may vary slightly from surgeon to surgeon. But for the most part, it reinforces the fact that your hair transplant is an open wound that needs to be treated as such. All hair products are to be avoided for the first month to six weeks. Smoking cigarettes or taking blood thinners can also put you at a higher risk of complications. Once the initial wounds have healed, then you can pretty much go back to treating your hair as you did before. Ideally, you should be pretty gentle with your hair until it has fully regrown, but after that, the hair transplanted should be immovable.
In Summary
Losing your hair can have a profound effect on your sense of self. This is why a lot of women do everything they can in order to halt its progress or even restore their hair. There are a number of things that you can do to slow down the progress of your hair loss and even promote new growth without undergoing an operation like a hair transplant, but truthfully, a hair transplant can be a great option. However, it does depend on whether or not you make a good candidate for the procedure or not the success of the operation hinges on it. Finding the right clinic should also be of the utmost importance to you; remember to research your options and really explore all of the clinics before you make a commitment.