Surgical Hair Restoration: What to Look For in a Surgeon

Meeting the expectations of patients is the most difficult task for a surgeon which is why it’s essential that a patient shares an effective bond with the surgeon. Let’s find out a few aspects that one should consider before opting for a surgeon for undergoing a hair transplantation procedure.

• Ask your hair transplantation doctor if he/she can show you a minimum of 10 sets of before and after pictures taken from the same angle and in the same lighting conditions. This will help you determine the visible discrepancies if there are any on an individual basis. It’s essential that when you observe the pictures you take a clear look at the hairline and the mid anterior scalp. You should also request for photographs of donor scars that are visible on the rear scalp once the hair bearing tissue from that area.
• Once you have gone through the photographs thoroughly, the next thing you should ask your hair specialist is the phone numbers of at least 5 patients who have undergone hair transplantation at his/her clinic. Call up these individuals and obtain information about their experiences with the doctors and how well it worked out for them.
  You should also speak to the physician’s assistants to learn about their experiences of conducting various hair transplantations. In the end, you should meet the patients physically who possess similar hair and skin characteristics as you do. Their experiences will help you determine the physician’s ability and provide you a better understanding of outcomes and procedures.
• There are certain questions that you should definitely ask your doctor regarding follicular unit hair transplantation, they are:
  • When grafts are dissected for transplantation, are the grafts microscopically removed or not?
  • Are all technicians equipped with stereo-microscopes?
  • How many years of experience does the faculty possess in using microscopes to dissect hair follicles?
  • The number of stereo microscopes used for performing a hair transplantation?
  • Does the surgeon make use of single bladed knife to extract the donor strip from the head? ( the answer should be yes)
• Call up the state medical board to know if any complaints may have been filed against the doctor or the clinic.
• It’s essential that you meet the doctor who will be finally performing the hair transplantation on the first day. If he’s not willing to meet without a valid reason, then don’t consider that doctor or the clinic. In case you get to meet the doctor on the very first day, remember that he:
  • Explains the basic procedure that would be carried out over the time period of a few weeks.
  • Is flexible in nature and not biased towards using a particular technique that fetches him more profits.
  • Totally doesn’t leave the procedure to be performed in the hands of numerous individuals.
• It’s essential that the clinic you planning to go with solely is dedicated to the cause of surgical hair restoration only since inclusion of other disciplines may mean lower professionalism in the field of hair restoration.