Providing service in Philadelphia and the surrounding counties
Introduced in 2002, Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) has quickly become the preferred method for hair transplantation because of its important advantages for the patient:
- NO stitches
- NO linear scarring
- NO cutting
- Little to no downtime post-treatment
We use a tiny, precision instrument to make a circular incision around a chosen donor hair follicle. This small graft is excised from the scalp and placed in the recipient area, following the growth pattern of the patient’s natural hair. Unlike traditional harvesting methods, FUE leaves NO linear scar in the donor area, and patients recover quickly, with most reporting that the donor area shows little evidence of the grafting procedure.
Most patients report that the area harvested for donation is hardly noticeable within a few days, and there is minimal pain associated with the procedure. We will discuss your treatment during a consultation and provide post-treatment instructions to ensure your comfort and optimal results.
Results: What To Expect
The aesthetic effect of a hair transplant is more dramatic when a patient has no original hair (bald) in the transplanted area. When a patient has some of his/her own original hair in a transplanted area, the procedure is just as successful, but the results are less dramatic because a new hairline is not being created. In these situations, we are increasing the fullness of hair in a thinning area. Patients will notice more refinement (blending) in the transplanted area as well as an improved appearance of fullness under a greater number of circumstances.
Immediately following Hair Transplant, you will have fresh incisions that are clean but look a bit like a rash. Certain hair and skin types with little existing hair may be quite surprised on how well it is hidden (masked). On the second day, a small scab the size of a pin head will sometimes be visible and remain on the scalp for two-nine days after Hair Transplant.
By the 7th to 9th day post-op, the area should be virtually scab free. The area should be undetectable other than, possibly, your scalp being a little dry which would not draw attention to your scalp. At this point, any hair (not grafts) that did not fall off with the scabs will grow for 3-6 weeks and generally shed. This is completely normal. Things will then remain dormant for about 2 months. Beginning at 3 months, you will experience hair starting to grow slowly. This is what is called the active growth stage.
Most patients should begin to experience some growth by the 3rd or 4th month. Generally, new hair should begin to grow after the 3rd month mark, but everyone is different. Some experience new hair growth earlier and others a little later. Some may think that what they see is the final result, but that is not the case at all. When the transplanted hair first appears, it is immature, fine, thin, and light in color.
As time passes, more transplanted hair will appear and will become thicker, longer, and darker.
Itching in the recipient area or discomfort in the donor area may be present at the three-four month mark. However, it should pass in a few months. The incision in the donor area at this time is healed but still remodeling. It will continue to improve over time. Also at this stage, a few patients may develop small pimples (folliculitis) around the transplanted area as hair emerges. If this occurs and persists, we need to be notified. There are ways of treating folliculitis.
A significant change usually occurs between the 5th and 6th month. By the 6th month, about 50% of the hairs should have penetrated the skin.
However, only about 50-60 percent of the final visual aesthetic effect has been achieved. This will continue to develop in coming months.
The visual result continues to improve for up to a year, and it is only after one full year that the final aesthetic is typically achieved. The reason for the continued improvement over the last 6 months is due to the following: there still may be about 10 to 15 percent of the hair that has not reached full maturity.
Mature terminal hair develops between 8 and 12 months post-operatively as the hair obtains its normal thickness. Hair will become longer, darker in color, and thicker in diameter. A very minimal change in diameter has a significant effect on the appearance of fullness.