Hair loss has been a major problem for many people ever since the starting of time, people have been looking for resolutions for this problem to gain back their confidence. From snake oils, compost, herbal teas, industrial marvels like heat-emitting Thermo caps, treatment modality has been evolved into the recent technology which is the hair transplant. The birth of hair transplant has helped many people with hair loss problem to raise self-esteem and continue their lives happily. Hair transplant is a collective term and researchers are exploring meticulously on different techniques to conduct a hair transplant procedure. Henceforth, the most recent advancement of hair transplant in Malaysia comes down to several techniques such as Follicular Hair Transplantation (FUT), Follicular Hair Extraction (FUE), Direct Hair Implantation (DHI) and Extended Hair Transplant.
Don’t get riled up by all these terms, they may sound complicated but here we will simplify all these advancements for you. In short, these techniques differ from each other by the methods of extracting hair follicles from the donor site as grafts. Firstly, trained and certified surgeons are needed to conduct these procedures as the outcome is heavily dependent on the skill of the surgeons. Follicular hair transplantation is a technique where the surgeon will extract hair follicles by incising a strip of skin layer from the nape of the neck of the patient themselves. After the incision, the scalp will be stitched together which will form a linear scar permanently. The skin strip collected will be split into smaller pieces as grafts and preserved for implantation. This technique is able to collect a massive amount of grafts up to approximately 3000 per sitting thus it is favourable to cover a bigger area of baldness.
As for Follicular unit extraction, an extraction device will be employed by trained hands to harvest hair grafts one by one from the donor region. An incision is not needed in this case, but the surgeon has to shave off your hair at the donor region in order the obtain hair grafts for preservation. After that, the surgeon will plant the grafts in the desired areas and also reinforce the hairline. The extraction device might create circular scars on the donor region, but generally, the punch holes created are small in diameter and they are healed easily. However, this technique can only harvest hundreds of graft per sitting, hence it is more suitable for the smaller scale of baldness and eyebrow implant.
Direct hair implantation is invented together with the invention of Choi Pen in Korea. This technique is a modification of FUE where the hair follicles are immediately planted right after the extraction. It is believed that if hair follicles are preserved as grafts, the roots will slowly lose their viability and growth rate of new hair will not be as impressive. Henceforth, the immediate implantation is believed to have a better outcome by using the DHI technique.
Lastly, the extended hair transplant is a combination of FUT and FUE. Surgeons started this technique because it has been proven that this combination can collect a larger quantity of follicular units without compromising the density of the hair follicles. It is particularly useful for patients who cannot withstand long hours of immobility during the surgical procedure. The drawback of this procedure is they will produce more scars on the donor region which is not cosmetically pleasing if the wounds do not heal well.
Most importantly, you have to be vigilant and well-informed before you are opt-in for any sort of hair transplant treatment. It is understandable that you are eager to relive your glory days but remembers to choose the most reliable clinics and doctor for the treatment, so you can enjoy a pleasant journey of gaining back your confidence.