Hair Replacement Procedure

We are all concerned about our health and that concern often grows when we are confronted with the prospect of having surgery. Even topical surgery that isn't as complicated as having your insides tinkered with can still raise some concerns.

With almost every surgery there is some sort of anesthetic involved and any time these drugs are used, the patient should know what they are in for.

Generally hair replacement surgery is a quick and simple procedure that can be done in a matter of hours and for which the patient is completely awake for. IN fact I have never encountered an instance when a general anesthetic was used during the procedure.

Of course a local anesthetic is used to numb the top of the head so the patent feels no pain as the procedure is being done.

Automatically this raises some concerns because the doctor is freezing your head…where your brain is. Nobody wants to go into a surgical procedure hoping for new hair, but instead receiving a lobotomy. This should not be your main concern though.

The real concern should be way down south with your heart. Because many hair replacement patients are older there is an added risk that a weak heart or some other kind of heart condition with arise complications. However as you will see this is only a minor concern and you should pull your hair out, worrying about it… just joking.

The main anesthetic used in hair replacement surgery is called epinephrine; this drug is so common that the name alone should sound familiar.

The concentrations of epinephrine used by most hair transplant surgeons are not dangerous in healthy patients. The main point of the article was to use other means of homeostasis in long transplant sessions since the duration of epinephrine is only 20 minutes and it is problematic to keep injecting it.

Certainly high doses can be a health risk in some predisposed individuals i.e. with heart disease or who are on broad b-blocker blood pressure medications. We use concentrations of 1:200,000 to 1:600,000.

I hope this answers some of your questions and that when you do eventually go in for hair replacement surgery you will have the fullest confidence that you will come out unscathed and with richer and fuller hair.