Hair Restoration Seattle

Hair restoration, or hair transplantation, is a precise surgical procedure that involves transferring individual follicular units of hair (donor grafts) from the sides and back of your scalp to a bald or thinning area elsewhere on your head. Come visit our Seattle office to see Dr. Sajan for some of the best results from a hair transplant Seattle patients love.

Significant hair loss can happen for many reasons. For example, male pattern baldness and female pattern baldness is genetically influenced. In addition, some women experience thinning hair during pregnancy or their menopausal phases, while anyone can suffer serious trauma that leads to hair loss, such as burns or other scalp-wounding accidents. Poor hair care practices, stress, illness, hormonal imbalances and certain diseases can also trigger hair loss.

The signs of your hair loss will depend on the underlying cause. For example, you may experience:

Gradual thinning

The most common type of hair loss is gradual thinning. It's seen in both genders as they progress through the aging process. Among men, the hair will begin to recede near their forehead, while women may notice the loss initially around the part in their hair.

Bald spots

Instead of gradual thinning, some patients notice small bald spots developing throughout their scalp, beard and eyebrows.

Sudden hair loss

If you sustain a physical or emotional shock or trauma, you may experience sudden hair loss. When this occurs, it's not uncommon to lose handfuls of hair all at once when brushing or washing your hair.

The availability of hair from the sides and back of your scalp will be important to the potential success of your hair replacement procedure. Hair replacement is autologous, meaning that only you can donate hair transplant material for your own use; other people cannot donate hair-bearing grafts to you.

Simply losing a lot of hair each day does not mean you're suffering from significant hair loss. In fact, the average person sheds between 50 and 100 hairs each day without experiencing any noticeable thinning because they grow new hair simultaneously. However, in some cases the process of shedding and growing is disrupted due to a destroyed or damaged hair follicle. When this occurs, significant hair loss and thinning will become apparent.

Your hair restoration in Seattle will be performed in our state-licensed surgery center, and you can expect the procedure to take between two and four hours, depending on the extent of your hair loss.

There are a number of techniques for removing and implanting hair-bearing skin grafts. Dr. Sajan uses either Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) or Follicular Unit Transplant (FUT), also known as the strip technique. During an FUE procedure, Dr. Sajan makes a series of microscopic circular incisions in the skin that surrounds a follicular unit. The units are harvested/extracted from the scalp. With FUT, he removes narrow a strip of genetically intact follicular units from the donor area.

Donor grafts are carefully extracted and handled to avoid creating an adverse effect at the donor site or damage to the grafts. The grafts are positioned at the recipient site(s) so that they will grow in a natural direction. Your hair replacement process may require several sessions to fill in spaces between grafts.

After your grafting session is completed, your scalp will be cleaned. You may be required to wear a pressure bandage or you may not need bandaging. Newly-grafted hair typically begins to grow between 12 and 16 weeks following surgery and average hair growth is about 1/2 inch per month.

Dr. Sajan is an internationally recognized surgeon with extensive experience in restorative plastic/cosmetic surgeries. He can consult with you about hair replacement following a severe scalp trauma. Such restoration requires exceptionally in-depth planning and careful pre-surgery preparation. The process is demanding and utmost care is taken at all times to protect and prepare the delicate damaged tissues for receiving hair grafts. This specialized replacement surgery may require several months to complete.

If you decide to move forward with our Seattle hair transplant surgery, you and Dr. Sajan will need to decide whether FUE or FUT is in your best interest. Here are a few of the ways these two procedures differ, so you can begin determining which option is right for you:

Scarring

With FUE, there is no linear scar. As such, it's appropriate for patients who like to wear their hair very short and/or have a history of keloids.

Healing time

FUE creates small holes as opposed to the linear strip scar associated with FUT, so there's a shorter healing period.

Activity limitations

After FUE, you will be able to resume your normal daily routine almost immediately. After FUT, you'll need to wait a while to avoid widening the scar and complicating your recovery.

Comfort

With FUE, there is almost no discomfort after the procedure.

Cost

In general, FUE is more expensive than FUT, because it's a more time-consuming approach.

Graft quality

FUT tends to produce higher-quality grafts, while those extracted with FUE are more fragile and subject to greater trauma.

As you can see, each hair restoration technique is associated with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. During your initial consultation, Dr. Sajan will review all of this information with you, along with your personal needs and hair quality, to help you determine which of his Seattle hair transplant techniques is best to meet your goals.

Like all plastic surgeries, our Seattle hair restoration is a complex and delicate process. When done correctly, it can restore not only your appearance, but also your self-confidence. Contact Dr. Sajan's Seattle office today and book a consultation to explore how hair replacement may be able to help you.

The cost of hair transplants Seattle depends on the type of transplant the patient chooses to undergo. For an FUT transplant, the grafts are $5 per each individual graft. For the FUE transplant, the grafts are $6 per individual graft. Most hair restoration patients require well over 500 grafts, but the number of grafts a patient recives depends on the severity of the hair loss.