Having a hair transplant
is certainly a potentially life changing
operation for the patient, therefore it
is imperative to make an informed decision
as to the clinic and indeed the doctor who
will perform the surgery.
For the type of surgery I wanted, I could
discount all of the clinics that offered
Strip only surgery, as I wanted to have
a FUE operation. This was really due to
the fact I like wearing my hair shaved.
This was a way for me to wittle down the
potential clinics straight away. It is not
so simple for people who wish to have Strip
surgery as most clinics for varying reasons
will offer this type of surgery, but there
are still many important factors to ponder.
These were the type of criteria I looked
for:-
Does the clinic offer both FUE
and Strip surgery?If so, how many
FUE operations do they perfom a week? Some
clinics will offer FUE on the website but
the price of it will be so expensive that
they invariably do not do the surgery on
any regularity, nor seem to wish to do it.
The price is set in such a way as to steer
you towards Strip.
Who is the doctor that will perform
the surgery? What checkable credentials
does he/she have? How long has he/she been
performing Hair Transplant surgery? The
doctor is more important than the surgery
name, especially in FUE surgery when the
doctor is intensively involved with the
harvesting of the grafts.
Do they use lateral slits to place
the gratfs or simply use a punch?
This is important as the slits are one of
the major factors in a good transplant,
both the angle and depth being of paparmount
importance in obtaining a natural result.
In my experience a good doctor should be
comfortable with this method and not simply
use some patented implanter.
Is it possible to meet previous
patients? This was not available
to me on my first transplant with another
clinic. I would have loved to have seen
another patient, but really relied upon
pictures on the website to make my decision.
For some people this is fine, but you really
can't beat meeting someone in person who
has undergone a similar procedure. I was
mindful of this when I met as a former patient
other patients who were thinking about surgery
with BHR clinic, and I told them that they
had been afforded a privilege that I didn't
have at my first surgery.
What is the price of the surgery?
Although this should not be the deciding
factor and not always an indication of the
quality of surgery, an inflated price, especially
for FUE surgery could indicate that the
clinic does not really wish to do FUE surgery,
and most likely is not doing it day in day
out. This was my experience when I approached
several clinics for FUE surgery.
What is the expected transection
rate? Although most clinics will
most likely boast of low transection rates,
it really is a factor for a successful transplant.
Your donor area is limited and you cannot
afford to waste precious grafts on transection.
This is especially important in FUE surgery
where the skill of the doctor will determine
the transection. |
