FAQs

1. 1. What causes hair loss?
2. 2. What services do AHTI provide?
3. 3. What is hair transplantation?
4. 4. How undetectable are hair transplantations?
5. 5. Is the procedure painful?
6. 6. What can be expected after surgery?
7. 7. How long after surgery can I resume regular activities?
8. 8. Am I a good candidate for hair transplantation?
9. 9. Are hair transplantations expensive?
10. 10. How many sessions will be required?
11. 11. How successful are hair transplantations?
12. 12. How effective is medication against hair loss?
13. 13. What are the effects of Rogaine and Propecia?
14. 14. Is there any product which can be used to thicken my hair?
15. 15. When should I start treatment?
16. 16. I don’t live in Sydney. Are there special arrangements or requirements?
17. 17. Can I have more information?

1.What causes hair loss?

There are many factors that can cause hair loss, but 95% of hair loss is due to heredity. Men and women can both inherit the hair loss gene from either parent, or both. The factors that start the condition of hair loss include your age, the genetic susceptibility to lose hair and the presence of the male hormone called dihydrotestosterone.

Other causes of hair loss include thyroid disease, iron deficiency, scalp disease, high fever, hormone imbalance, diabetes, autoimmune disease, recent surgery, recent childbirth, stress, and trauma. Many drugs can also cause hair loss.

It is completely normal to lose around 100 hairs every day, and once lost, they will regrow several months later. But when the level of hair lost is higher than the level of hairs growing back, hair loss becomes visibly evident.

2.What services do AHTI provide?

At AHTI, we use hair transplantation to fulfil your goal in terms of restoring hair to areas where you are experiencing hair loss. We provide this service to both hair transplantations for both males and females. Our surgeon can restore front hairlines and increase density in frontal or mid-scalp regions increase the overall density in a balding region and fill in small sections of missing hair or a scar on the scalp. We also specialise in eyebrow and beard restoration.

3.What is hair transplantation?

Hair transplantation involves transferring hair from the back or the side of the head (the donor site) and implants these hairs to other areas which are suffering from hair loss (the recipient side). These hairs are genetically coded to be permanent. The donor site isn’t restricted to the back or the side of the scalp. Other potential donor sites can be the chest hair or leg hair.

At AHTI, Dr Johnathan Chan specialises in a procedure called Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE), a minimal invasive surgery where hair grafts are extracted one at a time using a tiny, circular-shaped punch. The grafts are then implanted one at a time with an implanter needle which is done by Dr Chan himself who implants hair by the follicular size and angle it needs to be inserted. He also uses his experience and artistry to create a natural look, while sticking to the desires of the patient.

4.How undetectable are hair transplants?

Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE), a minimal invasive surgery where hair grafts are extracted one at a time using a tiny, circular-shaped punch which leaves no visible scars unlike the more common method of hair transplantation which is the strip method. Strip Method is where a strip of skin from the scalp is removed with a scalpel and the edges are then closed using sutures or staples. This leaves a large, visible scar.

Using specialised equipment called the follipen or implanters, the surgeon can have precise control of insertion angle and direction of every single hair follicle, combined with the experience of the surgeon this will help the hair transplant look totally natural.

Here at AHTI, one of our goals is to provide a hair transplant which is not only natural, but undetectable, and by combining artistry and technology, we can create hairlines which are true to you, by working with the contours of your head and your desires.

5.Is the procedure painful?

At the beginning of the surgery, local anaesthetics are given for pain control. During the first few injections, you will feel a slight stinging sensation. In the case where the anaesthetic wears off during the procedure, more injections are made to re-anaesthetize the area. This is the most pain you will feel.

Here at AHTI, our main objective is for you to be as comfortable as possible throughout the procedure. Progression in local anaesthetics and the way it is administered has allowed for this and patients can listen to a variety of music or even watch a DVD. You can also bring your own DVD or CD to watch or listen to and furthermore you can ask our friendly staff for anything else that will make you feel more comfortable.

6.What can be expected after surgery?

The first 4 months after the surgery is considered the recovery phase, where your scalp is doing most of its healing post-procedure. Hairs fall out while the follicles are regenerating under the skin. New hairs will begin to grow 3-4 months after the surgery during what is called the growth phase. Growth will continue and roughly 8 to 12 months after surgery, the final results are expected. It is best not to judge your hair transplant until a complete year after you have had your surgery.

How your scalp will react to your new, transplanted hair is different depending on the individual. Normally though, the wounds from the donor site will heal in 3/4 days and you will experience redness in the area which can last a couple of months but will eventually resolve. This redness would be covered by surrounding hair after a week’s time. Numbness around the recipient and the donor site can occur and last several weeks. In rare cases, the hair surrounding the transplanted hair may temporarily fall off which results in less hair than before the surgery. This is called ‘shock loss’ and can cause a lot of anxiety for patients; this is due to the existing hair follicles in the scalp can undergo ‘shock’ as a result of a surgery, thus temporarily go into the ‘sleeping stage’ called telogen. Most if not all of these hair will grow back in a few months time. As new hairs starting to emerge from underneath the skin, patients may experience pimples. Using topical antibiotics should prevent further pimples but if the problem persists, an appointment should be made to see the hair surgeon.

7.How long after surgery can I resume regular activities?

Physically, patients can resume their regular activities so early as the next day after surgery however if your job/activities involve heavy lifting or exercise, it is recommended that you avoid these activities for a week.

While physically, patients can continue life as normal, the evidence of the surgery is still obvious the next day where patients are experiencing redness in the donor site and the recipient sites. Patients usually relax at home during this period till the evidence of surgery begins to become less obvious which can take 7 to 10 days. At AHTI, our surgeon can tailor your existing hair so that the hair transplantation will look less evident. This will all be talked about during the consultation with our doctor.

8.Am I a good candidate for Hair Restoration?

Anyone who is concerned about their hair loss and are interested and willing to undergo minimal invasive surgery are all potential patients here at AHTI. However, our doctor would need to have a consultation with potential candidates because there are many factors that need to be assessed to show that patients are suitable for surgery. Generally Dr Chan looks for density in the potential donor site, health conditions, skin conditions and the factors causing your hair loss. Once these areas are assessed, you may be a candidate for surgery.

9.Are hair transplants expensive?

Hair transplantations costs will usually be determined by our doctor during the consultation where he will discuss how many hair grafts you will need. Depending on how many hair grafts you will need, will help determine how much the surgery will cost. Hair grafts usually cost $6 to $14 dollars per graft. For hair transplantation, you would be looking at costs between $2000 to up to $25,000, while full eyebrow transplants can range from $5000 to $7000 dollars. But remember, the cost of the surgery is different for everyone.

Here at AHTI, we believe in value for money, so our doctor offer professional advice from the first consultation and plays an extremely important role in both the extraction and implantation stages during surgery.

Although the initial costs of permanent hair transplantation can be very expensive, it can potentially be a good investment in comparison to purchasing artificial hair pieces in the long term.

10.How many sessions will be required?

The number of sessions required usually depends on the number of grafts the patient requires, how much density which the patient desires and the individual characteristics of the patient. This will be discussed during a consultation with our doctor. As far as we know, AHTI is the only clinic in Australia who can extract 3000 grafts in a 2 day session using FUE.

11.How successful is hair transplantation?

Hair transplantation has been evolving over the years and as surgical methods improve, less invasive surgery has been made available which gives natural hair growth to patients. Since at AHTI, we use the most advance technique in hair transplantation, Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE), and our experienced surgeon being involved in all aspects of the surgery, you have a guaranteed 95% success rate that the new transplanted hairs will grow in their new position.

12.How effective is medication against hair loss?

Medication can be offered to patients who have mild hair loss to prevent further hair loss from occurring. Minoxidil (commercially known as Rogain, though other brands are also available), slows down the balding process and can be purchased over the counter, while Finasteride (commercially known as Propecia), is a prescription oral medication which treats hair loss by inhibiting the activity of the hormone responsible for hair loss. Finasteride is only for men and not prescribed to women or children because it can cause birth defects in unborn children.

Medications, although FDA approved for the treatment of hair loss, they only have a limited effect. Medication can only slow down or stop the hair loss, but it will not re-grow the hair that you have already lost.

13.What are the effects of Rogaine and Propecia?

Medication shouldn’t have an effect on you if you use it per instructions given by your doctor; however everyone is different and can react to medications in a different way. Rogaine (Minoxidil) has minimal effects, giving you an itchy scalp which results in dandruff.

Propecia (Finasteride), has more side effects, however they are only temporary. They are mainly sexual dysfunctions such as ejaculation problems, erectile problems and low libido; however these side effects are not for long term and can disappear when the drug is stopped for a short period of time (1-2 months). Propecia can be particularly harmful to unborn male foetuses in pregnant women if she was to take the drug and so Propecia isn’t prescribed to women.

14.Is there any product which can be used to thicken my hair?

Unfortunately, there is no product or medication which can actually thicken your hair, however there are products made to create the illusion of thicker hair. AHTI provides a range of hair thickening fibres from SureThik which are quick, safe, non-surgical solution to camouflaging your hair loss. These hair thickening fibres are put on the areas of your scalp where hair loss is evident and these hair fibres stick to existing hairs, giving the illusion that the hair has more density. At AHTI, we can provide a complete demonstration on your own scalp if you are still unsure of whether SureThik is right for you.

15.When should I start treatment?

Hair transplantations can be performed at any time, providing you are a proper candidate for surgery. It is better to start treatment while the hair loss is mild and just beginning because you can camouflage the surgery with your existing hair, but because hair loss is progressive, it is best not to have hair transplantation too young because it is difficult to assess the progression of a young person’s hair loss.

Medication like Minoxidil and Finasteride would be good medications to use to preserve hair that you already have and prevent further hair loss from occurring, which means less hair to worry about replacing and less money to spend on hair transplantation.

During a consultation with Dr Chan, he will give you treatment options that would best suit you and tailor a plan to get the best possible outcome.

16.I don’t live in Sydney. Are there special arrangements or requirements?

At AHTI, many patients outside New South Wales have travelled to Sydney for surgery. After the surgery, it is recommended that patients stay at one of the many nearby hotels (which are in walking distance from the clinic) overnight so the next day; patients can come into the clinic again for a hair wash. Because FUE doesn’t involve stiches, you do not have to come back to the clinic to have the stiches removed. In most cases, you should only be in Sydney for 2 days.

Furthermore you can also have an internet consultation with Dr Chan, by giving him some basic information such as your name, date of birth, reason for contacting AHTI, describing your hair loss and medication you may be taking and providing some photos of the area of hair loss that you are concerned with. Having an internet consultation with our doctor will not give a complete diagnosis as a face-to-face appointment.

17.Can I have more information?

We encourage anyone concerned with their hair loss or interested in hair transplantation to contact the clinic to make a consultation where you will receive complete professional and medical advice on your hair loss concerns and enquiries. At AHTI, we aim at not only to help treat your hair loss, but to educate and inform you with information which may concern you and your hair loss. All consultations are kept strictly confidential.

If you have any further enquiries, do not hesitate to contact us.