Use of mini and micro grafts in hair transplant surgery

Apart from the treatment of male and female pattern baldness hair loss, hair transplant surgery using micro and mini grafts are now widely used in hair transplant repair procedures and reconstructive surgical hair restoration procedures. With the increased use of micro and mini grafts along with the single hair unit follicular transplants, the reconstructive hair transplant surgeries now account for approximately 8-10% of the total hair restoration surgeries.

Because of their small size, the micro and mini-grafts have lower metabolic requirement than the plug grafts and have better survival rate than the follicular units, which can be damaged during dissection. Since these grafts are able to successfully grow on burnt scalp or fibroid areas, they seem to hold a high promise for the reconstructive hair transplant surgeries.

Only precautions that hair transplant surgery with these mini and micro grafts is that the dissected mini and micro grafts are to be inserted into the scalp as fast as possible after a silt is made. Transplanting of the grafts in the shortest possible time increases the chances of the hair follicles surviving the hair transplant procedures and actually grows into hair. To hasten up the above mentioned hair transplant surgery procedure, help from the assistant is taken who immediately inserts a graft into the slit as soon as it is created by the hair transplant surgeon. The blades used for the surgery are so small and sharp they leave almost no detectable scar on the scalp.

Hair Transplant Surgery: Hair Restoration on the Face
Hair transplant surgery procedure for hair restoration of the face (eyebrows, mustache, and sideburns) is more difficult and different. If a hair transplant surgeon makes slits near other grafts, the neighboring grafts tend to "pop out" of their corresponding slits. Hair transplant surgeon in such cases makes the slits in a preliminary fashion, with the grafts inserted a few minutes later. The rest of Hair Transplant Surgery procedure is just the same, when the hair transplant surgeon withdraws his needle, an assistant implants the graft with a jeweler's forceps. An experienced hair transplant surgeon always pays close attention to the natural direction of the growth while performing a reconstructive hair transplant surgery, and takes care to insert his blade or the needle at acute angle lateral to the eye brows.

For a successful reconstructive surgery the restoring the natural direction of the growth for the restored hair is more important than the number of hair. For the hair loss restoration of beard and mustache, a hair transplant surgeon keeps his blade as flat as possible to the surface of lip so as to ensure the downward direction of growth.
On eyelids, the hair transplant procedure is more complicated because the eyelids are very thin, mobile and very adjacent to the eye. The most difficult aspect of the hair transplant surgery in this case is maintaining the direction of hair growth. Usually the eyebrow hair is used as the donor hair, and around 10-12 micro-grafts are inserted per eyelid in two separate sessions of hair restoration surgery performed with a gap of about 8-12 months between them. The use of a curved needle for the eyelid hair restoration is the new innovative technique that hair restoration surgeons have started making use for the ease of hair transplant surgery.

Proper preservation of these micro and mini-grafts are throughout the course of hair transplant surgery is of utmost importance. The grafts are kept in Petri-plates filled with saline so as to keep them moist. During long procedures taking more than 3-4 hours, the Petri-dishes with these grafts in saline are stored over a basin filled with ice.
A procedure, which holds good for any hair transplant surgery, is the technique of inserting the grafts in way so as to leave the epidermis of the graft superficial to the epidermis of the recipient site. The aim of this hair transplant surgery procedure is to prevent the formation of inclusion cyst at the insertion points and also to prevent in-growth of hair. After any hair transplant surgery, the grafts look like bumps. After healing, the epidermis of the grafts starts turning into a crust and takes about 10 to 14 days to finally shed. The transplanted area now becomes smooth as before. The hair growth on the recipient area is seen only after 3 to 4 months. But once the growth becomes evident it continues to improve over the next few months.
The recent advances like the use of mini and micro grafts and follicular unit transplants have greatly improved the aesthetics of hair transplant surgery. Hair transplant surgery has proved to be a boon in restoring hair on burnt scalps or in congenital deformities such as cleft lips etc.
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