As the self-appointed “vainest man in the world”, the Gogglebox star Chris Butland-Steed has just undergone his third hair transplant in two years. Struggling with hair loss since his early 20s, Chris is very pleased with the latest procedure which he describes as the “final piece of the jigsaw”, saying, “I won’t require any further surgery”.
As a hair stylist Chris had found his own shedding particularly traumatic and like many men opting for a transplant it’s the only way to stop the onset of male pattern baldness and stand a chance of keeping your own flowing hair.
FUE at the cutting edge
The FUE procedure that Chris underwent (Follicular Unit Extraction) is at the cutting edge of hair transplantation. Essentially single hairs are removed from donor areas, usually the back and sides and are transplanted into the balding areas using a powerful stereo microscope. It’s a lengthier process than the previous treatment, FUT (Follicular Unit Transplantation) where whole strips of skin were removed often causing visible lateral scarring. FUE by contrast is less invasive which means the recovery times are much quicker. A patient recovering from FUE can expect to be fully recovered within 7 days whereas with strip methods the scars can take weeks to heal over.
There needs to enough donor hair to make it worthwhile
If you’re considering a transplant then you’ll need to speak to a specialist clinic first to establish if you’re a potential candidate. It’s not a miracle cure for hair loss and you will need to have enough donor hair on the back and sides to make the procedure worthwhile. You may want to consider other treatments such as medication or Scalp Micropigmentation which may be better value and more appropriate to your condition.
Clearly in Chris’ case the hair transplant was the right option and although it’s taken three procedures he’s clearly delighted with the results.
