How Much Does A Hair Transplant Cost?

A hair transplant in the UK costs between £1,000 to £30,000 depending on how severe your hair loss is, what type of procedure you choose, and the quality and professionalism of the clinic and its staff.

A Hair Transplant Is Possible For Most People

People with permanent baldness are usually ideal candidates for a hair transplant.

However, hair transplants are not recommended for people suffering from other types of hair Loss such as alopecia areata, which causes bald patches.

Before You Get A Hair Transplant, Here Are Some Things To Consider

All hospitals and clinics that offer cosmetic surgery in England and Wales need to be registered with CQC. Clinics abroad will have their own respective regulations that they fall under. It’s important to check this before committing to a clinic.

When searching the Internet for hair transplant clinics, be careful. Some clinics pay to advertise their services in the search engines.

How To Choose The Right Person For Your Hair Transplant

It is important to find a qualified surgeon that has experience in this type of surgery.

In the UK, all doctors must register with the General Medical Council and have a license to practice and the same applies abroad, clinics need to be accredited by the local regulator.

Talk to your surgeon:

• Learn more about their experience and qualifications
• How many hair transplants have they performed?
• How many hair transplants have they performed in situations where there were complications
• What type of hair transplant would they recommend and why?
• What kind of follow-up should you expect if something goes wrong?
• What are the satisfaction rates with patients
• Read reviews and contact the clinics through this portal

What Is A Hair Transplant?

The majority of hair transplants are performed under local painkiller and conscious sedation. This means that you will feel no pain but still be awake.

There are two main types of hair transplant.

Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) Or The Strip Method:

• A thin strip of hair-covered skin is taken from the back of your head. It is then divided into pieces that each contain 1 to 4 hairs (hairgrafts).
• The grafts go into very small cuts in the scalp.
• The area where hairs are removed is sealed with stitches
• You will have a small scar on your back, but it shouldn’t be noticeable unless you have very short hair.

You don’t have to shave the head. Only the area that has been removed from the skin needs to be trimmed.

Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE):

• The back of your head is shaved
• Individual hairs are removed one at a time (grafts)
• The grafts go into very small cuts in the scalp.
• You’ll likely have many small scars but they won’t be too noticeable

Although hair transplants can take up to a day, you don’t need to wait overnight.

You may need 2 or more sessions to treat a large area.

Your surgeon will instruct you on how to care for your freshly implanted grafts. To speed up hair growth and recovery, you should be given a spray.

What About These Other Fancy Named Transplants?

As highlighted above, there are essentially only two methods used to transplant hair. However, the hair transplant clinics will have you believe that there are new revolutionary methods that are different from FUE and FUT, but this isn’t necessarily the case.

Here are some of the fancy-sounding hair transplant methods that you might have seen.

Afro Hair Transplants

FUE procedure for afro hair. Afro hair transplants can be the most difficult of all hair transplant procedures due to the natural curl of the hair follicle.

Beard Transplants

Do you feel unhappy about your beard growth? A beard transplant is a great way to get a fuller, thicker beard. 

Beard transplants are becoming increasingly popular as facial hair grows in popularity. Many men are unhappy about their beard growth and are turning to modern hair transplant technology to get a beard they are proud of.

Body Hair Transplants

Men who lack sufficient hair to transplant hair from their scalps but have high-density body hair are finding body hair transplant procedures increasingly popular. Many patients today have a large recipient area, but a small donor area. They are now asking if they can get their body hair implanted onto their balding scalp.

Beard-to-hair transplants have a higher success rate than other types of hair transplantation. The body and scalp hair are very different, which can cause problems when using a body hair transplantation technique. The follicles on the body are deeper and the orientation is slightly different to the scalp. It will grow to approximately 5 centimetres in length depending on the type of hair.

DHI Hair Transplants

DHI is a method that allows hair transplantation to be done directly. This procedure has a major difference: it uses a Choi pen, a special instrument. DHI is sometimes called “pen hair implant” because of the way the Choi pen works. The special pen is used to place grafts from the donor area into the pen, which then get implanted in the bald area. The DHI pen opens channels for transplantation. They also can be used to plant grafts simultaneously.

Eyebrow Transplants

The surgeon takes grafts along with the roots (follicle), and moves them to the eyebrow area. The hair graft is typically removed from the nape or around the ear. After the hair grafts have been removed, they are placed in a container with chilled saline solution and left to rest for at least an hour before being placed in your eyebrows.

The majority of eyebrow transplants are done under local Anesthesia. This means that you won’t feel any pain during the procedure.

Laser Hair Therapy

Laser hair therapy, a non-surgical treatment for hair loss, uses laser light to stimulate cell proliferation and boost hair follicles. It can reduce hair loss and increase hair volume. It is painless and does not cause side effects.

FDA have approved Laser hair therapy as a hair-loss treatment for men and women. It’s used primarily to treat androgenetic hair loss, also known as male or female pattern-baldness.

Androgenetic hair loss is the most common type of hair loss for both men and women. It’s a hereditary condition that causes hair follicles shrinking and becoming dormant, ultimately stopping hair growth.Laser hair therapy can also treat other types of alopecia or hair loss, such as those caused by chemotherapy or severe hair fall that occurs in women who have had a baby or gone through menopause.

It can also be used in combination with other hair loss treatments, such as PRP therapy. Laser hair therapy has also been shown to be more effective than short-term medications.

Manual FUE

FUE that uses only manual tools is called “manual FUE” because the doctor uses small handheld tools to cut around each unit. These tools are not motorized, and no robotic technology is involved. The surgeon will carefully and gently cut around each graft.

Mesotherapy

Hair Mesotherapy involves injecting vitamins, minerals, and amino acid mixtures into the scalp.

This allows the nutrients that nourish hair follicles to easily settle in the hair. This method can treat hair loss by thickening thinned hair and stopping hair loss. It also makes hair stronger and shinier.

Non-Shaved Hair Transplants

FUE hair transplants can be done without shaving. However, this depends on each individual and their circumstances. The surgeons may be able to perform the surgery on a small area of the head.

Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP)

Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy (PRP) injections involve the use of your own plasma and growth factors to target areas that are affected by hair loss. PRP is used by doctors to stimulate the growth and transplantation of hair. The blood supply is what feeds hair follicles. By injecting platelets, PRP injections promote healthy hair growth. 

Sapphire Hair Transplants

Sapphire FUE hair transplants are distinguished using ‘sapphire’ blades. They come in sizes ranging from 0.8 to 1.5mm. Each patient’s hair structure determines the size of the sapphire-needle.

Traditional hair transplants create U-shaped hair transplantation channels on the scalp. But with the sapphire method, V-shaped canals are created. These are therefore smaller and cause less tissue damage to the skin.

Women’s Hair Transplants

Some clinics specialise in hair transplants for women.

Recovery

After a hair transplant, most people can return to work in 3 days. 

For the first two weeks following your surgery, you must be extremely careful with transplanted hair. Grafts won’t be secure.

To reduce scarring, you may be asked to stop exercising for the first month.

You can remove any bandages after 2-5 days.

Day 6: You should be able to wash your hair by hand.

Most non-dissolvable stitches are usually removed after 10-14 days.

The transplanted hair will usually fall out after a few weeks and then start to grow again.

New hair usually appears after 6 months.

The full results of the hair transplant should be visible after 12-18 months.

Expect Side Effects

After a hair transplant, it’s quite common to get:

• Your scalp may feel tight and swollen for a few days
• Temporary scabbing of the area where the hair was transplanted
• A single scar, or several very small scars.

What Could Go Wrong?

Although a hair transplant is usually safe, there are always risks. 

• Bleeding
• Infection
• An allergic reaction to anaesthetic

These problems should be treated quickly by your surgeon.

There is also the possibility that the transplant may not be successful. This could lead to hair falling out or leaving a visible scar.

These problems should be discussed with your surgeon to determine the likelihood and treatment options.

The transplant could cause your hair to continue to thin. To ensure that the transplant looks natural, your surgeon will plan the layout.

What To Do When You Are Having Problems

Sometimes, cosmetic surgery can go wrong and results might not be as you expected.

If you experience severe pain or other unexpected symptoms, you should immediately contact the clinic where your hair transplant was performed.

Talk to the surgeon if you are unhappy with the results or if you feel the procedure was improperly performed.