Sterilization methods used in Hair Transplantation
What we do at Nuleaf Skin & Hair Clinic, Pune
In
recent years with the take-off of medical tourism in India, numerous hair
transplant centres across India area offering specialized packages for the
foreign nationals including transportation, hotel stay and the entire procedure
of the hair transplant. The hair transplants which cost up to $10,000- $20,000(₹6, 40,000 to ₹12, 80,000) in
the western countries like USA, UK and Australia, cost no more than $ 3000 (₹1, 92,000) in India. This
is a huge difference and makes it attractive to the foreign nationals.
However with a difference this big, obvious
question comes to a logical mind: will low cost mean poor or sub-standard
medical care? After all, this is a surgical procedure and nobody wants inferior
care when it comes to their health. Will we get in more trouble with choosing
something which is cheaper?
With consumer industry booming all
around the world, the prevalent thinking is higher cost usually will give you a
higher quality of care. But this is not the same when it comes to medical costs
around the world. When we were in medical school we used to make fun of our
relatives in USA who spent a fortune on as trivial medications like an antacid.
In India, most of the medications are subsidized by the government and made
available at equivalent quality at about 4-5times cheaper rate than UK, USA etc
(It’s a different matter that most Indians still can’t afford these). But to
someone looking from outside it’s a medical heaven!
High prices for medical procedures
in other westernized countries are mainly due to high labor cost, high
medication cost, high liability and indemnity insurance costs and of course in
case of hair transplantation lack of medical insurance cover. The lower cost in
India is precisely due to the same reasons: low labor cost, low medication
cost, low liability and indemnity insurance cost. So, lower cost of hair
transplant is not because we omit necessary steps of the surgery.
Now the question of quality of care:
A leading doubt many of the patients coming from abroad express is whether the
facilities perform adequate sterilization procedures to ensure no infections
occur to them. Sterilization is a process to neutralize all known pathogens
from the medical devices. It is a norm for all hair transplant centers to have
“Autoclave” which sterilizes all medical instruments like forceps, slit
handles, punches etc with high pressures and heat. In our center an autoclave confirmation
strip (paper indicator strip) is made with the name of each patient and record
of it is kept in the register.
Apart from this, most of the needles
and materials used are disposable and are not repeatedly used. I will summarize
what we do at our clinic as a part of routine sterilizations methods:
Material Used
|
Sterilization Method
|
Bed Sheets, Linen, OT
uniforms and Patient uniform
|
Washed with chlorhexidine after each use and
autoclaved.
|
Gauzes and cotton
|
Autoclaves before use and discarded (single
use only).
|
Forceps, handles, titanium punches and other metal instruments
|
Manual cleaning with alcohol after each use
then Sidex (Freshly made Gluteraldehyde solution) cleaning and autoclave
before and after every use.
|
Needles and syringes
for anesthesia, tumescence etc
|
Disposable and are EO (Ethylene Oxide)
Sterilzed by manufacturers, discarded after each use.
|
OT Room, lights and
table
|
Cleaning before and after every procedure
with Sodium Hypochlorite solution and Fumigated with Formalin before and
after every procedure
|
The chances of getting any sort of
infection are equal with the western hospitals if above methods are followed.
For a better understanding and
satisfaction of the patients (all patients Indian as well as the foreign
nationals are concerned regarding the sterilization methods and risks
involved), it should be a standard practice to inform regarding this aspect with,
if possible, actual demo of sterilization procedure. This alleviates the
patients from fear of a surgery performed abroad away from their home country.
