Hair Transplant Houston

Men's hair transplant, Houston, Texas Come visit our hair transplantation Houston office for a FREE consultation. Hair transplant is a simple procedure where your own hairs are taken from the back of the scalp and placed in areas of balding. The new transplanted hair follicles are permanent and do not thin out or fall out, but will grow normally.

After the hair transplant procedure, you can style, wash, and cut your hair however you wish. The new transplanted hair is not affected any differently than other hairs on the scalp and can give you the confidence you want.

At Physicians’ Hair Restoration, in Houston, we provide hair transplant options and solutions like FUE and FUT at our clinic for problems such as:

Hair thinning
Male-pattern baldness
Bald spots

Hair transplant is an excellent, maintenance-free form of hair restoration for both men and women. Our results are natural, consistent, permanent, and virtually pain free.

There are three predominant types of hair transplantation techniques currently in use:

Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT)
Follicular Unit Excision (FUE)
Follicular Rigeneron Micrografting

We can let you know which one is best for you during your free hair transplant, Houston office consultation.

Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) procedure

The Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) hair transplantation technique premiered in the 1990’s based on the idea of transplanting grafts of naturally-occurring units of one to four hairs called follicular units.

The FUT method is an advance over older hair transplantation procedures that used larger grafts which produced a hair “plug” like impression and did not have a natural appearance.

Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) is a surgical hair transplant technique in which the hair is transplanted naturally in groups of a few hairs, also known as follicular units. This procedure is done on an outpatient basis using local anesthesia.

At the outset of the procedure a density count is taken to determine the size of the donor strip. Dr. Puig decides how many hair follicular units are needed to design the most natural looking result for each hair transplant patient.

In a FUT procedure a thin strip of healthy hair-bearing skin, about 1/2 inch wide, is removed from the donor area. The donor area is where hair follicles are resistant to balding, usually at the back of the head. After the donor hair is removed the area is sutured together.

Next the hair follicles from the strip are prepared for transplantation.

The donor hair is placed under a high-powered microscope which allows the individual follicular units to be examined to ensure they are in optimal condition and can be removed from the donor strip without damage. The hair grafts are then arranged into collections of one to four hairs per follicle.

Carefully selecting and preparing these micrografts (one- to two-hair follicular unit grafts) and minigrafts (three- to four-hair follicular unit grafts) enables more follicular units to be transplanted and positioned closer together.

A key to achieving a natural hair transplant appearance is to have the transplanted hair emerge from flawless normal skin, so minimizing trauma to the scalp is important. The follicular units are compact structures, but are surrounded by areas of non-hair bearing skin. By trimming away excess tissue around the follicular units before placing them into the recipient area on the patient, minimizes trauma to the scalp and allows for making only a very small incision in the recipient area. This preserves the elasticity of the scalp and holds the small grafts in place and facilitates healing.

After preparation, the donor hair transplant follicles are grafted onto the recipient balding areas.

Dr. Puig takes into consideration the density and texture of the hair, and understands the importance of transplanting the hair grafts at the proper angle and orientation to achieve a natural look. Dr. Puig has performed over 20,000 hair transplant procedures. And the results will flow with the way your hair naturally grows.

Hair Transplant FUT Results

The Follicular Unit Transplantation method enables the hair to look very natural in regards to the overall graft distribution. Since scalp hair normally grows in follicular units of 1 to 4 hairs, using these units in the FUT procedure ensures that each hair graft will be identical to the surrounding follicular units. And the grafts are distributed evenly over the scalp for a natural distribution of hair.

The 2nd Hair Transplant method is (FUE) procedure

Since 2004 another hair transplant procedure called follicular unit excision (FUE) was introduced. This is a similar technique of hair transplantation as the FUT method, but does not require a strip of donor hair to be removed. This minimally invasive method uses a very tiny punch to remove the follicular units directly from the donor area.

Advantages of hair Transplant (FUE) follicular unit extraction procedure

The ability to extract a large number of grafts provides for a satisfactory number of one and two hair grafts to create a soft frontal hairline and enough three and four hair grafts to give the patient’s hair the fullest look possible.

The primary advantage of the FUE procedure is that it leaves no linear scar in the donor area. The donor area heals very quickly, in 2 or 3 days, and there are no sutures to be removed after 10 days. Since there are no stitches, there is also no stretching of the skin, so the tight feeling in the back of the head for the first 2 or 3 days is not present.

The primary disadvantage of the FUE is that it leaves more total scar in the donor area than the FUT. There is no linear scar, but for every FUE graft removed the procedure leaves about 0.5mm of scar behind. These small scars are distributed evenly over the entire donor scalp. The average case leaves a total scar about three times larger than the total scar of the FUT strip harvest.

Because the FUE leaves more total scar, one must leave more hair in the donor area to cover it, a disadvantage for those who are destined to be extremely bald, Norwood class 6 and 7 patients. These patients need all the donor hair they can get, and are generally better served with a FUT procedure.

The third and newest method of hair transplantation is the Rigeneron Micrografting procedure

Two or three years ago Italian scientists developed a process by which the cells of the hair follicle dermal papilla can be separated from each other and the hair follicle, then suspended in a solution that can be injected in areas of the patient scalp where the hair is miniaturized but not yet completely stopped growing.

The cells suspended in solution constitute a micrograft of hair follicle dermal papilla cells from hairs that are resistant to DHT. Once injected into a thinning area, they migrate into the dermal papilla of the miniaturized hairs, and replace the DHT sensitive cells residing there, encouraging the follicle to stop miniaturizing, and become a normal terminal hair.

This technique is beneficial to those who have not lost all the hair in a given area of their scalp. It can be used as adjunctive therapy in association with other hair transplant techniques to encourage reversal of miniaturization and hair loss around the areas transplanted with FUT or FUE techniques.

The hair transplant procedure can be completed with minimal interference with the patient’s work schedule and lifestyle.

How Long Does a Hair Transplant Procedure Take?

Depending on the size of the hair transplant area to be treated and the number of grafts that need to be transplanted, FUT can take between 4 and 12 hours.

What is the Recovery Time for Hair Transplants?

The recovery period can range from 10-14 days.

When Can I See Hair Transplant Results?

You can expect to start to see the new transplanted hair grow about 4 months after the treatment. The transplanted hair growth will continue to thicken over the next 9 to 16 months. The new transplanted hair continues to grow in the same way as the non-transplanted hair, creating a fuller head of hair.

Are You a Candidate for Hair Transplant?

It is important to consult with a professional to determine if you are a suitable candidate for a hair transplant procedure. For patients with high hair density in the donor area, at the sides and back of the head, there is usually a sufficient number of follicular units to accomplish the patient’s goals.

However, with low hair density, a compromise must be made. A patient with low hair density using the same number and spacing of follicular units as in a patient with high density, will produce a thinner look, but will allow for the proper conservation of donor hair for future procedures.