About the Procedure

Although each procedure varies, generally, hair replacement surgeries follow this process:

Location options may include:

• Surgeon's office-based surgical facility
• Outpatient surgery center
• Hospital outpatient
  
• Hospital inpatient
  

Anesthetic options may include:

• General anesthesia
  
• Local anesthesia, combined with a sedative (allows the patient to remain awake but relaxed)
  

Average length of procedure:

Several surgical sessions are usually needed to achieve satisfactory fullness, with a healing interval of several months recommended between each session. It may take up to two years before seeing the final result with a full transplant series.

Recuperation period:

Plugged or grafted hair falls out within a month or two after surgery, which is normal and almost always temporary. After hair falls out, it generally takes another month or more before hair growth resumes. A surgical touch-up procedure may be needed to create more natural-looking results after the initial incisions have healed. This may involve blending, a filling-in of the hairline using a combination of mini-grafts, micro-grafts, or slit grafts.