Hair Restoration Surgery

Hair Restoration Surgery

We offer hair transplant surgery from our clinic in Glasgow.

Making the decision to consider a hair transplant or hair restoration surgery can be daunting.

When a man or women begins to suffer hair loss they are often confronted by a range of emotions: embarrassment, shame, loss of confidence.

A quick internet search shows that there are only too many companies looking to capitalise on these feelings in an effort to sell as many Hair Transplant medical procedures as possible.

In our clinic we pride ourselves on taking a different approach.

The internet is rife with Hair Transplant marketing claims, promising to restore your teenage hairline in no time at all with no downtime, no scarring and virtually no risk. The reality is however that this is not the case and there are limits to every approach in hair restoration.

At our clinic, we see it as our job to talk you through the Hair Transplant procedure including the pro’s and con’s of all the options available to you. We then work with you to come up with a Hair Transplant or treatment plan that suits your needs now, but also serves you in the long term too.

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FUT Vs FUE

The basic goal of hair restoration surgery is to move hair from an area of excess – usually at the back and sides of the head – to an area of need, normally at the top or front of the head.

There are two currently accepted Hair Transplant methods for achieving this goal known commonly by the abbreviations FUT (Follicular Unit Transfer) and FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction).

In the FUT procedure a strip of scalp is removed from the back of the head. The hairs are then divided into follicular units one-by-one under a microscope and then re-implanted at the top or front of the head. The benefit of this Hair Transplant technique is that it allows a high volume of grafts to be transferred in a single session. The downside however is that it leaves a straight-line scar across the back of the head, although this is generally well hidden with your remaining hair.
The FUE procedure avoids the straight-line scar at the back of the head by extracting the follicular units one-by-one before implanting them at the top of the head. This technique is often claimed to be “scarless” however this is not completely true. Whilst this technique avoids a straight-line scar, it is replaced by thousands of smaller ‘white dot’ scars where each follicle has been removed although this generally looks less obvious detectable, except on very close inspection. The downside of this technique is that fewer grafts can be transplanted in each operation, typically 1500 to 2000 grafts per day is achievable.

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Number of Grafts Available

The nature of hair loss means that it will normally get worse as we get older.

That means you may need more than one hair transplant over the course of your life: most men will need 2 or 3 Hair Transplant procedures throughout their lifetime. Since we have a limited amount of hair at the back and sides where we can ‘borrow’ from, it is essential that we make good use of the grafts available and avoid over-use of grafts in the short term that we may come to need in the future.

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Role of Medication

There are two medications currently licensed to reduce the progression of hair loss in men.

All men considering hair restoration surgery should give serious consideration to using one or, ideally, both of these drugs. Both medications will help slow down or stop the progression of hair loss. In a smaller percentage of men, they may even encourage regrowth of hair that has already been lost. The medications are known commercially as Regaine (minoxidil) and Propecia (finasteride).

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Areas for Treatment

Hairline

The hairline is the most common area to be transplanted because it is often the first area we lose hair from.

It is also the most visible part when we look in the mirror. Design of the new hairline is one of the most important steps in determining the outcome of hair transplant surgery. The two key components of the hairline design are the shape and density. Although the temptation is to design a very youthful, straight hairline that is low down the forehead, this is ill advised. A transplanted hairline will be with you for the rest of your life and it is essential that the shape looks natural not only when you are young, but also when you are 20, 30 or 40 years older too and so a generally more conservative approach to design is required. It is also important to achieve a cosmetically acceptable density the does not simply appear ‘less bald’ but – where possible – has a convincing density that creates the illusion of a full head of hair.

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Midscalp

The midscalp is the second most common area to be transplanted and it is sometimes combined with hairline transplantation.

As a general rule, the density of grafts can be reduced in this area to provide enough coverage to look convincingly dense whilst saving grafts to use in other areas where higher density is more important e.g. at the hairline.

Crown

The crown – or vertex – is the least commonly transplanted area and is rarely transplanted in men under the age of 40.

This is because – depending on the severity of your final hair loss pattern, which may not become evident until a more advanced age – not everyone will have enough grafts available to fully transplant the front and back of the head. Given the choice between transplanting the front or back, most men would chose the front and so it is best to wait and operate on the crown only when it is clear what the final hair loss pattern looks like.

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Clinical RESEARCH

I published my first paper in a medical journal, the British Journal of Cancer, in 2004 whilst I was still in my final year of medical school. Since then I have continued to work on aesthetic medical research.

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Booking App

Booking your next appointment at the Dr Darren McKeown clinic just got easier! We are excited to announce the launch of our new app, available for free download from the App Store now!

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Meet Dr Darren

At his Aesthetic Medicine Institute Dr McKeown not only strives to offer patients the most cutting edge techniques, but to do so in an warm, welcoming and relaxing environment.

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Some of our other Treatment Videos

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Further Information

We are here to help

If you would like to know more about any of our treatments please feel free to call us on 0141 370 0509.

Alternatively, you can fill out the contact form below and someone will get back to you within 24 hours – and usually much sooner. If you are ready to go ahead an schedule an appointment you can either do it online using the form below, or download our app.

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