What Is Graft in Hair Transplant?

Hair transplantation gives much more effective results in the long term than many preferred hair loss treatments. But people often seem shy to take action on this issue. Because they are not fully informed about hair transplant processes. For example, the graft process in hair transplant is a foreign concept to many people.

Studies have shown that patients who have enough knowledge of the process are much more comfortable with hair transplants. So, if you have questions about the graft process in hair transplant or similar issues, you can try researching or consulting a hair transplant clinic. In this article, you will be able to find answers to some of your questions.

What Does Graft Mean?

The word graft may be an unknown word for people who will hear about hair transplantation. So, the graft process in hair transplant will be a foreign concept for these people. However, just looking at the word “graft” will suffice to understand the process.

The word graft is used to describe the parts taken from patients and containing more than one hair follicle. One to six hair follicles can be found in a graft. The graft process in hair transplant is placing healthy hair follicles on the desired surface from the grafts taken from the patient. At this point, we can examine the graft process in hair transplant according to the following steps:

• Graft selection
• Removal of grafts
• Counting and preparation of grafts
• Placement of grafts

Thanks to the above steps, it can become very easy to regain your old hair. But before we talk about these steps, it would be good to know a little about the hair itself.

Parts and Structure of Hair

We can simply divide the hair into two parts, the hair shaft and the hair root. The hair shaft is the part of our hair that we can see with our eyes. The hair root is the part of the hair that is naturally located under our skin. The hair root surrounded by the hair follicle is connected to a tiny muscle. In this way, our hair can stand straight.

Life Cycle of Hair

A hair strand generally has a 4-step life cycle. The first step, anagen, is the growth phase of the hair. In this phase, hair cells are renewed very quickly. Then the second step, the catagen phase begins. At this stage, the hair follicle shrinks, and therefore the hair is separated from the hair follicle.

In the third step, telogen, hair follicles do not grow but do not fall out. This step is also the stage where new hair follicles begin to form in the hair follicle. In the fourth step, exogen, the hair is shed and new hair begins to grow from the hair follicle formed in its place. Now we can talk about the steps of the graft process in hair transplant.

Graft Selection in Hair Transplant

In all kinds of hair transplantation methods, first of all, healthy hair should be taken from the determined areas. We can call it graft selection as it is written in the title. At this point, the back of the head is generally preferred as the donor area. Because here the hair roots are stronger against shedding. After the selection is completed, the graft process in hair transplant can begin.

Removal of Grafts

To perform a hair transplant, naturally, selected grafts must be removed first. Thanks to technology, special tools have been developed for this and have made graft removal much easier. Moreover, in this way, the problems such as tissue removal, which were in the old methods, were eliminated. Graft removal can still be done without special tools, but there are very few doctors who prefer this method because it damages the hair follicles.

Counting and Preparation of Grafts

In this step, the hair follicles in the extracted grafts are counted and separated from each other. At this point, the question of how many grafts should be taken may be asked. This completely depends on the size of the area to be transplanted and the quality of the hair in the donor area. As we said above, there may be more than one hair follicle in some grafts. In such cases, the number of grafts to be taken also decreases.

Placement of Grafts

The last step of the graft process in hair transplant is to place the hair follicles in the desired area. First of all, incisions are made on the scalp where the grafts will be placed. These cuts should be deep enough to provide blood supply to the hair follicles. In this way, hair follicles can be fed. Then the grafts must be placed by the angle at which the hair will grow. Thus, the graft process in hair transplant will be completed.