How to Find the Best Hair Transplant Surgeons

Up to 50% of men experience some form of hair loss by the time they reach 50.

The act of getting a hair transplant has become a lot more common with celebrities and sport stars regularly being reported to have had one.

At the same time, the reports of poor hair transplant procedures is on the rise with many men falling victim to cheap deals and unrealistic promises.

It is so important to take your time to do your research, so you find the best hair transplant surgeon to perform your hair transplant procedure. We share our tips to finding the best hair transplant surgeon.

How do I find a good hair transplant surgeon UK?

Finding the best surgeon is an important task. Ensuring that only the most qualified surgeon is performing your hair transplant is one of the only ways to ensure that you receive the best results.

When it comes to searching for the best hair transplant surgeon, there are some key points to focus on which include:

Surgeon Experience

1. Must understand history and plan ahead: An experienced surgeon will take the time to assess not only what your hair loss situation is currently, but they will also work to anticipate what is likely to happen in the future in 3, 5 or even 10 years’ time.

2. Understand your pattern of hair loss, age, family history, lifestyle: They should be looking at your pattern of hair loss, your age and family history whilst also looking at your lifestyle and health to get an idea of what to expect.

3. How many hair transplants have they done: A surgeon who has performed thousands of hair transplant procedures is more likely to have better experience in coming up with the right diagnosis, they will have seen many different patients, different forms of hair loss, and be more knowledgeable having dealt with a range of different scenarios.

Hair Transplant Technique

Next, you want to find out about what hair transplant technique is used but also the method in which your surgeon performs it as this can differ from surgeon to surgeon.

You want to make sure that your surgeon is able to:

• Reduce stress and trauma to both the donor area and newly implanted hair follicles.
• Demonstrate how they ensure that the majority extracted hairs survive and are successfully implanted.
• Know how to balance the need to preserve the donor area and the need to provide maximum density and good coverage in the treated areas.

Hair Transplant Artistry

You can provide people with the same brush and tools, but they won’t all be able to achieve an equally beautiful painting. Likewise, hair transplant surgeons may all use the same tools, but their artistic ability will not be the same.

Ask the question: Do they have the ability to customise for each patient plus design the hairline to reflect a patients face and age?

A good hair transplant surgeon should be able to show results that have been customised to each patient. This shows the ability to design a hairline which suits the face and age of the patient.

You can find out more about why planning a hairline is important here.

Patient Relationship

We are not expecting you to become best friends with your hair transplant surgeon.  However having a good surgeon/patient relationship is key to ensuring that you both have the same expectations for the hair transplant success.

Honest and open with you: A good hair transplant surgeon will be honest and open with you and won’t hesitate to refuse to perform surgery if they feel they are unable to achieve a good result or achieve a result that matches your expectations. A good hair transplant surgeon may advise postponing your plans for hair transplant surgery until you are older to ensure hair loss is more stable. Knowing your hair loss is stable is crucial.

Find out more about why you could be too young for a hair transplant here.

How do I find the best hair transplant clinic?

Whilst it is important to find the best hair transplant surgeon, you should also be ensuring that the clinic that they work from is reputable and safe.

Only use a clinic registered with the Care Quality Commission: All hair transplant procedures in the UK should be performed in facilities that are registered with a health authority such as the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Be wary of pressurised bookings and discounts: A good Hair Transplant clinic should also not leave you feeling under pressure to proceed with surgery within a short time frame from your consultation and you should be wary of clinics offering discounts or time limited deals.

See the actual hair transplant surgeon who will perform the procedure: Your consultation should be with the hair transplant surgeon who is going to be performing your procedure (unless you have asked otherwise). No clinical decisions which relate to your hair transplant procedure should be decided by someone who is non-medical.  Hair transplant clinics should make it clear who their employed Hair Transplant Surgeons are and provide significant details about them.

To find out more about choosing a hair transplant clinic. See the British Association of Hair Restoration Surgery (BAHRS)’s guide to choosing a hair transplant clinic here.

What is the most successful hair transplant procedure?

There are two main types of hair transplant procedures, Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) and Follicular Unit Transplant (FUT).

The main difference between them is the method of extracting the hair follicles which has a big impact on:

• Trauma to the donor area
• Pain during procedure
• Success of implanted hair grafts
• Recovery time
• Noticeable scars following procedure

What is an FUT Hair Transplant?

A FUT procedure involves a thin strip of healthy hair-bearing skin is removed from the donor area at the back of the scalp before the incision being stitched closed. Hair grafts are then taken from this strip and placed into a chilled solution until they are ready to be implanted into the areas being treated. Incisions are then usually made in the recipient area and the new hair follicles are inserted into the incisions using minuscule forceps.

What is an FUE Hair Transplant?

An FUE hair transplant is a more minimally invasive procedure that uses a specialised punch device which ranges in diameter from 0.6mm – 0.9mm. The device is used to extract the follicular units from the donor area complete with the necessary glands. This method separates the surrounding tissue from the follicular unit which means minimal trauma to the donor area and better results.

When the grafts are ready to be implanted, hair transplant surgeons will either make small incisions for the hair grafts to be implanted into or they may use DHI implanter pens which inject the hair directly into the scalp which is a great for implanting large numbers of grafts into a specific area such as the temples or hairline. Implanter pens are also able to safely implant grafts between existing hair which means patients do not always need to fully shave their head before a hair transplant procedure.

At The Private Clinic, our Hair Restoration surgeons have extensive experience in treating Male Pattern Baldness with the minimally invasive, no linear scar, no stitch technique known as FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction) Hair Transplantation, and we believe this to be the most successful hair transplant procedure with reduced risk of trauma to the donor area.