Hair Transplant Surgery Abroad - What You Need To Know
Hair Transplant Surgery Abroad - What You Need To Know
What is a Hair Transplant?
A hair transplant, as its name suggests, is literally the procedure of having hairs removed from a donor site on your head, usually at the back, where there are still hairs growing and grafting these, either as a thin strip of skin or as individual hairs, onto the areas of the scalp where currently baldness is a concern. Patients often choose to have such a procedure to improve their confidence and appearance.
Hair transplants are not normally suitable for those with alopecia where patches of the hair fall out and lead to baldness, instead the procedure is mostly used in patients who have permanent baldness, the type that tends to be hereditary.
Careful research is needed of course, to ensure you are happy with the team, procedures and after care at your chosen clinic. There are many options, but it is important that you have specialist medical travel insurance in place to cover you for all eventualities.
What is involved in hair transplant surgery?
If electing to have the treatment abroad, the patient may need a thorough virtual consultation with their chosen clinic before making any trip abroad. This ensures the patient is happy with the clinic and specialist chosen and can discuss their desired outcomes. At this point the consultant might explain fully the stages involved in the procedure itself and the subsequent recovery period, which is of crucial importance for the transplant to succeed.
During the operation itself a thin strip of skin with hair is understood to be removed from the back of the patient’s head, with each strip containing several hairs. These are the hair grafts, and they are placed into tiny cuts made in the scalp.
The area from which the skin has been removed is said to be closed with stitches. This results in a scar, although it is only reported be visible if you have very short hair. Only the area where the skin is removed is thought to need to be shaved for this method of transplant, known as Follicular Unit Transplantation.
The alternate and typically more expensive method is called Follicular Unit Extraction. For this method the back of the head (donor site) is said to be shaved and hairs are removed as individual grafts one by one. As before these are then placed into tiny cuts in the scalp. While the patient may have lots of tiny scars, these are not generally noticeable it is advised.
Typically, the patient might return home the same day, hair transplant surgery does not tend to require an overnight stay. If a large area is being treated, the patient may have more than one session a couple of months apart.
Most patients are able to return to work within a few days, although exercise is understood to be advisable in the early days after surgery as the grafts are not secure until they become established a couple of weeks later.
After the procedure
Patients may expect a tight, achy and swollen scalp for a few days. It is not always guaranteed that a hair transplant will take, but a good clinic would explain the risks in detail so that the patient knows what to expect and what their options are.
Bandages are understood to be removed around five days after the operation, but the grafts apparently cannot be touched until a couple of days later when you would be advised that it is possible to gently wash your hair by hand.
Around two weeks after the procedure non-dissolvable stitches would usually be removed. After this follow-up the patient should be able to return to the UK if confirmed by the consultant. It is typical after a few weeks for the transplanted hair to fall out and then later start to grow back.
After approximately six months new hair should start to appear, although the full results of a hair transplant procedure are not really possible to judge until between a year to eighteen months after the procedure it may be advised.
What to consider
As well as considering whether they are a suitable candidate for the surgery depending on their type of hair loss, patients also need to consider whether they have a clear preference for the hair transplant method used, as certain clinics and locations may favour one type over the other. Making sure you fully research the procedure and where best to locate the right clinic for you is important.
Very importantly, when considering to have such a procedure performed somewhere other than the UK patients should check medical travel cover covers the purpose of the specific trip, given it is for elective cosmetic surgery.
Single trip medical travel insurance for hair transplant surgery from Medical Travel Shield will cover travellers for everything that is expected from standard travel insurance such as lost or stolen items, accidental illness or injury and cancellations or curtailments outside of a person’s control. This is important because standard ‘travel insurance’ may not cover the policyholder for any of these typical risks, if the purpose of the trip was to have cosmetic surgery,
However, Medical Travel Shield is also designed to provide specific additional benefits tailored for the user as a patient within the same policy For example, the policy can cover economy return travel, accommodation and living expenses if it is medically necessary to return to the same hospital/clinic within 12 months for further treatment.
Also, if a patient’s recovery period is longer than expected, Medical Travel Shield policy may cover a contribution towards accommodation and flights, plus a daily allowance.
If you would like to speak to one of the Medical Travel Shield travel insurance team you can send us an email on info@medicaltravelshield.com, give us a call on 0203 409 1236 or contact us using our online form.
This content in this article is based on a variety of third-party sources and is for information purposes only and Medical Travel Shield is not making a recommendation for hair transplant surgery abroad.