Sterilization methods used in Hair Transplantation

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.

Hair Growth After Hair Transplant

Hair Growth Stages: After the Hair Transplant

By Nuleaf Hair Transplant Centre, Pune

If you are thinking of going for a hair transplant, then the knowledge about the hair growth pattern after the hair transplant is absolute essential for you. Hair transplant will give you excellent hair growth. But hairs do not grow immediately after the transplant. Rather the hair growth occurs in stages.

Once the follicles area removed from the body, because of the changes in the surrounding environment they go in a phase called dormancy similar to hibernation. This is what results in a growth pattern we see after the hair transplant.

Immediately after the transplant:

Immediately after the hair transplant, the grafts appear whitish in colour as they have a bit of epidermis attached to them. From 2^nd day onwards this epidermis shrivels off and scabs form on the grafts.

Immediately After Hair Transplant

2^nd Day to 10^th day after the hair transplant:

2nd Day After Hair Transplant

In a high density transplant, the scab may take up to 10 days to come off. We do not recommend hasty removal of the scabs by washing or scrubbing of the area. Picking of the scabs in this period may results in accidental removal of the grafts. But not to worry, the scabs usually fall off causing no trouble in majority of the patients. Some people do get swelling over the forehead from 2^nd day which may last for 4-5 days ahead. But use of sharp instruments has reduced the incidence of swelling in the patients. We at Nuleaf Hair Transplant Centre, Pune do not give patients oral corticosteroids to reduce or prevent swelling are patient become more vulnerable to infections. A harmless swelling even if it looks bizarre is much better than an infection which is a dangerous scenario.

7-10 days to 1 month after the transplant:

15 Days after Hair Transplant

After the scabs fall off, the planted hairs stay in the place till 15 days to 1 month. After 15 days, the hair shafts (and not roots) start to shed off. The expanded portion at the bottom of the hair is a bulb and not the root. Roots don’t fall off during this time. Although the situation is alarming to the patients, there is nothing to worry. The upper portion of the hairs which is called ‘shaft’ falls off. The root goes in hibernation or a dormancy mode.

1 month to 4-5 months after the hair transplant:

1 Month After Hair Transplant

After the hair shafts shed off, the root goes in dormancy. During this time there is hardly any growth of the hair. It looks as if nothing has been done on the scalp. No growth can be visualized in this period. In stage of dormancy, the metabolism of the hair roots is slowed down. It’s like a reboot mechanism which takes about 4-5 months’ time.

4-5 months to 9 months after the hair transplant:

5 Months After hair Transplant

7 Months after the Hair Transplant

9 months After Hair Transplant

After the roots come out of the dormancy, hairs start appearing as fine growth over the transplanted area. Once hairs appear they start growing at the rate of 1cm per month. During this period they grow synchronously. This mean all of the hair enter in a growth phase together. This is unlike the normal hair where every hair is in a different stage of growth (that’s why we don’t get intermittent periods of baldness/shedding like other animals). This is however not very noticeable by the patients. The normalization of the growth cycles may take up to 2 years some times.

1 year after the hair transplant: Final Growth:

Assessment of the hair transplant is done at 1 year duration. This is a time where your transplanted hair would have grown up to 6 cm in length (if you have not cut them).