Female Hair Transplant

FUE Hair Transplants are a safe procedure that is perofrmed regularly at The Private Clinic with no significant complications. Like all types of surgery and procedure, there are risks which includes infection, swelling, bleeding, numbness, scarring, itching and the loss of grafts. The risk of post-operative infections is low due to the placement incisions being so small. You will be provided with a detailed aftercare plan which you must follow to ensure you have the best recovery. A full list of risks and complications will also be discussed during your consultation and before treatment to ensure you are well informed before consenting to surgery.

In order to explain the benefits of our treatment and what it involves, it helps to give you an idea of what is involved in the more invasive Strip technique.

The Strip technique involves removing a long band of skin from the back of the head with a scalpel, then dissecting the follicles under a microscope before placing them onto the bald or thinning area. This technique always leaves a scar, no matter how skilled the surgeon is, and can cause nerve damage and numbness of the scalp.

With FUE, a special punch less than 1 mm in diameter is used to remove the hair follicles directly from the scalp. There is no need for a scalpel, hence no stitching or scarring. We can safely extract up to 7000 hairs in one day whereas with previous generations of FUE it was only possible to safely extract 2500 hairs a day. Another advantage of FUE is that none of the follicular units are damaged during the extraction, whereas with the Strip method up to 30% of the donor follicles may be damaged by the use of a scalpel.

Female Hair Transplants are performed under a local anaesthetic so you might feel a small prick initially whilst this is being administered. But, once it takes affect, you should not feel any pain for the rest of the hair transplant operation.

In the days following a hair transplant procedure you may feel a bit sore in the areas treated but this should only be temporary and you will be provided with medication to help you feel more comfortable.

The length of the treatment depends on the number of hairs needed.

Most female hair transplant procedures usually take between 6 and 8 hours.

In larger cases, the procedure may be split across 2 days. In smaller cases, it will take less time.

You will be provided with an estimated time following your consultation.

Female Hair Transplant procedures will be different depending on each patients needs. It is important to understand that costing for a hair transplant is very individual and will depend on a number of factors which can only be assessed during a female hair transplant consultation.

On average we price by the number of hairs you will require and charge approximately £2.50 per hair for standard FUE Hair Transplant procedures.

We are not the cheapest nor the most expensive, but we believe to be amongst some of the best hair transplant clinics and surgeons in the UK.

We are also regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and have been established for over 40 years meaning you can be sure we will still be here – to help and advise – long after your surgery.

Find out more about Hair Transplant surgery costs here.

You will notice a difference immediately in that you will be able to see where the new hair follicles have been implanted.

The newly implanted hairs will start to grow, and shed.

Hair growth usually starts around 4 weeks, with the final results settling in at about 8-9 months.

We recommend that patients allow 12 months to see the full results from a Female Hair Transplant procedure.

We do recommend that you allow at least 1 week, ideally 2 weeks off work to heal from a female hair transplant surgery. Many of our patients would prefer to be more subtle about their procedure and this allows more time for any redness or swelling to disappear.

You should wait until you are 4 weeks post procedure and all redness, swelling or scabbing has gone before having a haircut.

You may wish to seek guidance from your hair transplant surgeon or medical team before having a haircut or let your hairdresser know so that they can make provisions to ensure that no damage comes to your new hair follicles.

You will be able to colour your hair with dye eventually, but your new follicles are likely to be more sensitive to chemicals and styling products, especially in the initial growth stages and so we recommend waiting at least 1 month. It is also best that you perform a patch test as the new hair follicles may react differently to the dye.

Your new implanted hair follicles will be vulnerable for a while and so it is important that you allow them the time to heal correctly. Hair styling products and heated hair tools such as hair dryers, curling tongs and straighteners can cause damage which can lead to less than perfect results.

Once the hair is mature after 6-12 months then you can look at returning to these styling tools however more natural alternatives may be preferred to help preserve the health of your hair.

Whilst the overall technique for both female hair transplants and male transplants may be similar, there are some important differences.

Hair loss experienced by women is often more spread out across the scalp whereas male hair loss involves a defined area such as the hairline or crown which has balding.

In a hair transplant for men, hair is usually transplanted into areas where there is no hair whereas for women the follicular units are often inserted between existing hairs which requires a great deal of expertise to avoid damaging any nearby hair follicles which is what makes female hair transplants a more specialised procedure.

Both men and women will be assessed for hair transplant surgery on the same criteria which include their medical history, the extent of their hair loss, the amount of remaining hair, the quality of their donor hair and what their expectations are.

A widow’s peak is a v-shaped hairline that is present from childhood. It is genetic and runs in families like having curly hair would. It is not a form of hair loss; widow’s peak hairlines can be very noticeable in some people or more subtle.

Male pattern hair loss or female hair loss to the hairline and front of the scalp can often look like a widow’s peak hairline but they are not related.

If you weren’t born with a widow’s peak and you begin to notice that this v-shaped hairline is starting to appear as your hairline recedes, it is usually a sign that you’re starting to go bald. Our team of hair loss experts will be able to offer advice on how to reduce hair loss.