Dr. Marissa Milchak is a board-certified dermatologist who obtained her medical degree from Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine. She is a specialist in general, surgical, and cosmetic dermatology and offers hair transplant procedures, including FUE in Philadelphia at her clinic, Philly Hair Transplant.
FUE (also known as Follicular Unit Transplantation—FUT) is a type of hair transplant surgery that involves extracting individual follicles from the donor part of your body and implanting them into areas affected by baldness. Although the procedure can be used for hair loss in areas such as eyebrows, FUE typically performed on men with classic male pattern baldness, restoring hair to effectively cover the horseshoe-shaped thinning and balding areas on the head.
The hair extraction process is carried out under a local anaesthetic. Using a specially designed micro-surgical needle, FUE surgeon Dr. Milchak punches through the scalp to remove individual hair follicles from the donor area. The grafts are transferred to the recipient area and implanted into the scalp at angles that look natural and resemble how the hairs would grow in that area.
FUE hair transplants tend to be more time-consuming than strip surgery. The length of the FUE procedure varies depending on how many grafts are needed for your specific needs. Smaller procedures requiring only a couple of hundred grafts may take just a couple of hours to complete. However, larger areas of 2,500-3,000 grafts may require that the sessions are stretched over multiple days.
FUE hair transplants are generally safe, with minor side effects that may include white scars from where follicles were extracted. Some people can experience itching and swelling of the scalp for a few days after surgery because there is trauma to your head during extraction. Any surgical procedure can produce risks, but serious complications of FUE are rare and most patients recover without any lasting damage. Complications can include infection and tissue death.
It is important to prepare yourself for the recovery process after hair transplant surgery. For at least a few days your scalp will be very tender, and you may need pain medication or anti-inflammatories as prescribed by your surgeon. You may need to wear bandages on your scalp for at least a day or two after surgery, and so it is advisable to take time off work. Most people are able to return to work within 2-5 days of their procedure.
Bear in mind that it is entirely normal for your transplanted hair to fall out as part of the natural growth cycle of a hair—so don’t be alarmed as it will grow back.
The cost of a hair transplant can be significant, but it varies considerably from person to person, depending on factors such as how many grafts are required, the condition of the follicles, and whether there is a risk of further hair loss. The average cost of hair transplants in the US ranges between $4,000 and $15,000.
There are a lot of factors that play a part in making a hair transplant successful. Schedule an appointment with Dr. Marissa Milchak for your consultation for a FUE hair transplant in Philadelphia.
