Hair transplant

A hair transplant is a surgical procedure used to move hair to areas that are thin or bald¹. It restores naturally growing hair to these areas, and can also be used for the restoration of eyebrows, eyelashes, facial hair, and hair loss caused by trauma on the body or scalp⁵.

The two main methods for harvesting hair are^3,4:

• Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT): Also known as the strip method or linear strip excision^1,3. A strip of skin and hair (typically 0.5 to 1.5 cm wide and 5 to 30 cm long) is removed from the back of the head^1,4. This strip is divided into individual follicular unit grafts containing 1 to 4 hairs, which are then placed into tiny cuts in the scalp^1,4. The donor site is closed with stitches or staples^1,4.
• Follicular Unit Excision (FUE): Individual follicular units are removed one by one from the donor area using micro punches ranging from 0.7 to 1.2 mm in size^1,3. These grafts are then placed into tiny cuts in the scalp¹.

The ISHRS describes Direct Hair Implantation (DHI) as a term used by some practitioners to refer to the sharp implantation technique or the immediate implantation of a follicular unit after extraction, rather than a hair transplant method of its own⁵.

Hair transplants usually take one day¹. If a large area is being treated, two or more sessions on different days may be required¹.

According to the NHS, patients may need 1 to 2 weeks off work¹. According to the ISHRS, the minimum wait time before returning to work is generally one week for FUE and two weeks for FUT².

According to the NHS, bandages can usually be removed after 2 to 5 days, and non-dissolvable stitches are typically removed after 10 to 14 days¹. According to the ISHRS, patients may wait one to two weeks to have sutures or staples removed following FUT².

In Metio's data, a «package» price includes more than the procedure itself, such as a hotel or transfers; prices per graft are left out of the figures. A «procedure» price is the procedure alone. The two are never mixed in one figure.