Wayne Rooney has always been very open about his desire to restore his hairline, letting the world know about his series of hair transplant procedures through the medium of social media.
The resulting spark of interest in hair transplants has had other famous celebrities opting for a full head of hair.
Rooney’s picture removed the stigma associated with hair transplants. Previously, men were not comfortable discussing how their baldness affected them.
Local Irish surgeons have noticed an exponential increase in patients wanting to have various hair restoration procedures done.
What are the different hair restoration procedures available?
With today’s innovative technology, there are quite a few options to consider for hair restoration compared to years ago.
The two main procedures offered by most hair loss clinics are:
1. Follicular unit extraction (FUE)
Individual, healthy strands of hair are transplanted from the back of the head to the balding area. The procedure uses a local anaesthetic which means you can get back to your daily life as soon as possible without the recovery time required if you have a general anaesthetic.
Scarring is minimal because a special punching device is used to remove the complete hair follicles with attached glands etc. Tissue surrounding the hair follicles are minimally affected. This reduces the chances of scarring. The transplantation of a complete follicle including associated structures like oil glands etc. improve the chances of survival and the continued growth of that hair follicle. A specially designed microscope allows for the precise transplantation of the hair by the specialist surgeon.
2. Follicular unit transplantation (FUT)
This procedure involves removing a chunk of scalp tissue with hair follicles intact and transplanting them to the balding area.
Tissue is removed from the back or the sides of the head and transplanted to the bald area. This method is also referred to as the strip method.
This method is faster and safer because thousands of hair follicles are transplanted at one time. So larger areas are transplanted in a shorter time. Scars caused by this type of procedure are minimal because the surgeon will choose the best type of suturing technique based on your skin conditions.
The costs of both procedures vary depending on the size of the transplant and the procedures can take up to 10 hours to complete.
Choose a qualified and experienced surgeon to ensure the the best results.
