Faster Hair Growth
For most patients, the worst part of undergoing hair transplantation is not the surgery itself, but the long wait for the hair to grow. Typically, within six weeks following surgery, the grafts will undergo shock and the hair within the grafts will fall out. Approximately 90 percent of the grafted hair will experience shedding or what is called Anagen Effluvium. This is a normal reaction to the hair follicles being separated from their native blood supply. Since we have physically removed the follicular tissue from the donor region, the hair bulbs experience a lack of oxygen called hypoxia resulting in the separation of the hair from the follicle. This can be frightening to the patient who was unaware of this normal physiologic reaction. The new, grafted hair will start to grow and be visible in four to six months following surgery. Initially, the new hair emerges as finer hair, but in time it grows thicker and similar to the native hair.
We have found that healing the grafted areas faster post-operatively assists in shortening the shock phase and results in speedier regrowth of the grafted hair. Our No Scabbing Technique helps to heal the skin without the typical post-op scabbing or crusting overlying the grafts. In addition, we have discovered that utilizing Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) post-operatively not only repairs the skin faster, but also increases the blood supply and circulation to the grafted areas. With an increased blood supply to the grafts, the follicles emerge from their shock and initiate hair growth much faster.
Our post-operative LLLT procedure is as follows:
- The patient is placed under our 107 diode laser during surgery; in the time period immediately after all the recipient sites have been made, but before beginning graft placement.
- After shampooing the scalp the first day following surgery, the patient is placed under the laser for 30 minutes.
- For the next two weeks the patient is placed under the laser every other day for additional laser treatments.
We have found LLLT to be a valuable tool in jump-starting hair growth post-operatively in transplanted follicles.
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