Hair Transplant Surgery is not a very risky or painful surgery. It is a little longer than most other cosmetic surgeries. But knowing about the steps involved in the process relives a lot of anxiety of the procedure itself. These are the steps which are followed in a routine case of hair transplant surgery. There will be little modifications on case to case basis. However majority will be done by following steps:
Arrival in the clinic: Patient is advised to reach the clinic at 7:30am. After meeting the doctor and fixing the final hairline design or other details, patient signs the surgical consent form and is taken in the room besides the operating room.

Preparation for hair transplant:

1) Trimming of the hair is done by the treating doctor whenever it is required.

2)  An IV catheter (intracath) is put in the patient’s vein to provide dequate hydration & antibiotics during the surgery.

3)  After this, the patient is tested for the local anaesthetic (Lignocaine and bupivacaine) to check whether the patient is having any allergies. On confirmation that patient is not allergic, patient is taken to the operating room.

Operating Room Anaesthesia:

1) Local anaesthesia is injected in the donor and recipient areas.

2) This procedure is made painless with the application of ice/chiller and a vibrating device with pre-numb the area.

3) After the anaesthesia is complete there will be no further pain the area.

Slit Making Slits are made according to the number of grafts required, area planned and angle and the direction of the grafts.

1) Slits are basically sites made by needles (20G, thin) needles so that after extraction, the grafts are placed in these slits.

2) If 2500 grafts are planned, then 2500 slits are made.

Extraction of the grafts

1) First step involves the extraction of the follicles from the occipital region of the scalp (back of the scalp).

2) Here, the patient has to lie on the abdomen and then laterally on the sides. Before extraction, local anaesthetic is injected in the back of the scalp. This creates an area of numbness from where the extraction is done with the help of SAFE technique (Motorized FOX procedure).

3) This continues till 11:00am when we take a tea/coffee break. In 15 mins, the surgery is resumed again till approximately 1:00pm. By this time most of the grafts area extracted.

4) A temporary bandage is put in the place and we take a lunch break from 1:00pm to 2:00pm. After the lunch, implantation procedure begins.

Implantation process 1) Depending on the number of grafts, implantation may take anywhere from 3-7 hours

2) Implantation is done by either implanters [More about Nuleaf technique] or manual insertion of the graft in the already made slits/recipient sites.

3) After the implantation is complete, temporary bandage from the back of the scalp is replaced by a sturdy bandage which is kept in place till next morning.

4) The patient is shifted to the side room where his pulse, BP and other vitals are monitored. The patient has to wait here for at least 2 hours after the surgery to relax.

5) The treating doctor will examine the patient after 2 hours and when everything is ok; the patient is sent home along with a prescription and post hair transplantation and is advised to come to the clinic the following afternoon.

Follow up on the next day

1) Patient is called in the clinic for removal of the bandage, assessment of the grafts and further instruction the following day in the afternoon.

2) After removal of the bandage the wound is cleaned and antibiotic ointment is applied over the area.

3) After this point, there will be no bandages applied to the wound.

4) Patient is again reminded regarding the post-operative instructions.

5) The next follow up would be after 7days.

Follow ups: Follow ups in hair transplantation done at monthly intervals and close watch is kept on the growth of the grafts.

Post-Operative Instructions  A patient information booklet regarding the post-operative instruction is provided at the end of the surgery. Many more details regarding the graft care are mentioned there. Please be sure to pick the booklet before you go home.Have a nice Surgery. For any more details Contact: 9011739011 or email: nuleafclinic@gmail.com