Hair transplant surgery time really depends on how many follicular unit grafts we are placing in your head. For instance, if we're doing only 500 it may only take about three hours. Typically, our patients will have anywhere from 1000 to 1500 grafts placed at one time. The entire process, from the moment you come into our office to the moment that you are ready to leave, could take up to six or seven hours.

There are two widely available hair transplant surgical techniques. The first is called the strip method. We take a strip of hair from the back of your head. Under a microscope we dissect each hair follicular unit, and those units are placed into the areas that you need the hair.

The second method, which is now becoming more popular and gaining more traction, is the automated follicular unit extraction system where we use a small machine to extract each follicular unit from the back of your head, and we transplant it into the area that you need it the most. This is really the more popular now because it leaves no scar and has less pain and a quicker recovery.

The third, which is coming onto the market, is called the robotic hair transplant system. Again, this is still in somewhat of an infancy stage. I believe it's going to take a few years before it becomes widely available.

The hair transplant surgery has several phases of recovery. About seven days after the procedure you may be able to shampoo your hair including the area that's been transplanted. By the third week you could color, perm, and style your hair. By the fourth month you see some growth. This is an exciting time for a lot of patients, because they can actually see the growth of the newly transplanted hair follicles. By the eighth or tenth month you should see a full effect of the transplanted hair. That's the typical recovery phase of hair transplant surgery.

With the advent of the automated follicular extraction system we can now do a hair transplant on women. This is very exciting. Women go through different phases of hair loss. It's not like in men.

With the automated system we can extract this hair from the back of your head and transplant it into the area that you're balding. For most women, it is the central region or top of your head that tends to thin. This new technique really allows us to focus in that area and to make that area look thicker.

The Newest Technique in Hair Restoration Reduces Pain and Eliminates Scarring

Dr. Kyle Choe describes the newest technique in hair transplant procedures called the automated follicular unit extraction. He explains the benefits of this process, including minimal to no scarring, less pain, a quicker recovery.