If one thing is sure, it’s that losing your hair can be incredibly emotionally distressing and challenging to your self-confidence. Experiencing excess shedding and the overall thinning of your hair can cause you to worry, leading you into a downward spiral.
Thankfully, a handful of procedures can restore your luscious locks and confidence, including a hair transplant. But the correct hair transplant procedure for you depends on the severity of your hair loss and its pattern.
The ideal candidates for these hair transplant procedures are those who have noticed gradual thinning on top of their head, the sudden loosening of hair, or circular bald spots.
The Direct Follicle Implant (DFI) Technique
While both hair transplant techniques boast natural-looking results, the DFI technique is especially recommended for patients aged 35 and younger. This is because hair loss is less severe in younger patients, and the DFI technique expertly covers smaller areas more adeptly than the FUE technique.
During the DFI procedure, individual hair follicles are gently extracted from the “donor” area of the head—typically from behind the head at the base—and are then implanted one by one into the problem area. The back of the head generally is the most resistant to hair loss and has the healthiest follicles.
A surgeon will use a specialized pen-shaped tool to cut small channels in your scalp. The device can also implant the follicles.
After the procedure, patients can expect no swelling, visible scarring, or painful incisions.
The Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) Technique
The FUE technique is quite similar to the DFI technique, but the main difference is that the surgeon manually cuts the small channels without a specialized tool for cutting and implantation. Like the DFI technique, a patient must have enough healthy and thick hair that can be transplanted into the area of concern.
The best candidate for this procedure is someone over 35 with good hair density in the designated donor area. Like with the DFI technique, optimal results are achieved between 12 to 18 months after the transplantation.
To ensure the patient is comfortable during both procedures, a local anesthetic is administered by small injections with a tiny needle.
The expert team at Eternal Hair and Esthetics in Totowa, New Jersey, can help restore your hair. For more information on the DFI and FUE techniques, as well as other hair loss solutions, click here.
