Hair Transplant in Stages: Define Your Objectives

If you are like most people, the issue of hair loss may have impacted your self confidence and how you feel about your appearance. Therefore, improving your coverage is probably something that you are very eager to achieve.

But if the overall cost of attaining your ideal hair transplant results is a concern, consider striving for moderate improvements for your first surgery. Plan out your finances so that you can afford additional procedures that will further enhance your initial outcome.

Besides cost figures, you will also need to determine what level of coverage and aesthetics you would be satisfied with for your first surgery. Here are some basic areas to consider:

(1) hairline position and shape

Is it important for you to advance your hairline considerably? Or are you willing to settle for a high, mature hairline which can then be improved upon in future sessions?

(2) coverage

Is the hairline more important to you than the crown area? Are both areas a priority? If it becomes necessary, would you be happy with choosing one over the other?

(3) density

One of Dr. U’s strategies for patients who only have a very limited number of grafts available to work with is to create a very diffuse density. So while keeping a relatively conservative hairline, the first hair transplant in stages plan begins with addition of density in a diffused manner. This can work quite well for those who plan to keep their hair very short (i.e. buzz cut). It is also an effective tactic for those with minimal contrast between their hair color and skin color (e.g. light hair and light skin, or dark hair and dark skin)

(4) In severe baldness, hair transplant in stages is indicated as there is often no choice but to do the surgery in phases. Firstly there is only so much hair one can fit into a NW 6 or 7 level of badness at one time. So it is customary for Dr U in order to achieve maximum density to revisit the first stage with a 2nd stage for density addition

Here is a video of a patient who underwent his UGraft hair restoration in stages because of the aforementioned reason of severe baldness

Most hair transplant surgeons are willing to work with individual patients by dividing their procedure into multiple sessions over time, if cost is a main concern.

Head Hair Versus Body Hair

When planning for future surgeries, many hair transplant surgeons will try to set aside a reserve of donor follicles on the scalp. They may anticipate that the patient’s native hair will continue to shed. Therefore, resources need to be maintained to fill in any empty gaps which may emerge on the scalp.

This issue may reduce the number of grafts available for your first and future surgeries. However, if you were hoping for better coverage, consider undergoing a body hair to head transplant procedure. The use of body hair can greatly expand the number of donor graft resources for your surgery. And it may be possible to achieve excellent levels of coverage with less of a need to save grafts for future repairs.

According to Dr. U who specializes in BHT (body hair transplant) procedures, Advanced Follicular Unit Extraction punches are needed as opposed to general FUE instruments. Body hair often grows in sharp and unpredictable angles. This makes them more likely to be damaged by standard punches. Specialized technology like uGraft will have features which accommodate the extraction of varied angles. This is achieved through mechanics that gently remove the structures once the initial incision is made.

Related Articles:

Treatment for Severe Baldness

Megassession hair transplant in patients with inadequate head donor supply

Body hair transplant study results of 122 patients