Here we describe the journey most patients will take when undergoing hair transplant surgery at HRBR from initial consultation to post operative care. This will hopefully assist you in understanding the process and planning for your transplant. The team at HRBR are here to guide and assist you throughout.
Getting Started
Your first visit to HRBR will be for a new patient consultation with one of our qualified doctors. This consultation will last up to one hour. During this consultation the doctor will discuss your hair loss concerns with you, take photos, examine your scalp and take a detailed medical and hair loss history. Following this assessment, our doctor will recommend treatment options for you which may be medication, surgery or a combination of the two if appropriate.
The fee for this consultation is €350.
Preparing for your first consultation
We ask that patients attend with no product in their hair for this consultation to allow a better examination of the hair and scalp. For those patients that wear their hair very short we ask that you not cut your hair in the two weeks prior to your appointment to allow the doctor assess your hair with some length.
We request that all consultations are paid for in advance in order to secure our doctors clinics given the extensive waiting lists we currently have for consultations.
Complementary underground car parking is available at HRBR.
Preoperative Preparation
All patients that are considering hair transplant surgery are asked to return for a preoperative appointment. This appointment will usually take place about two weeks following your initial consultation.
This appointment lasts approximately one hour and is carried out by our nursing team. It consists of a mini medical as well as a more detailed design discussion where you will be able to indicate specifically where you would like the hair transplanted and you will also get an idea of how many grafts may be required to achieve this. The donor hair is also assessed to allow the team predict how many hair grafts you may have to transplant over your life time.
Following this consultation you will know the cost of your proposed hair transplant.
Note that for patients travelling a significant distance to HRBR for their consultations we can accommodate both the new patient consultation and preoperative appointment on the same day to avoid two trips to the clinic in advance of surgery. For these patients our nursing staff will follow up with a call closer to the surgical date to complete the preoperative assessment by phone.
There is no further charge for the preoperative appointment.
Preparing for your Preoperative Appointment
In advance of the preoperative appointment, we will send you on our standard consent form and pre and post operative instructions by email. Ensure that you review these documents in advance as you will have an opportunity to ask questions in relation to them at this consultation.
Bring a list of your current medication and if you have had a recent health check then you should bring these results to this appointment.
Again please attend with some length in your hair as well as no product in your hair on the day.
Booking Surgery
Most patients will schedule their surgery following their new patient and preoperative consultations. Most patients schedule surgery between 6-8 weeks following their initial appointments.
Our administration team will assist you in finding a suitable date. Contact them on 00353 1 209 1000 or info@hrbr.ie.
On booking surgery, you will receive a pack of documents to review. These will include the consent form which you will be asked to sign on the morning of surgery as well as our pre and post operative instructions and financial information.
Those travelling from outside of Dublin for their transplant should arrange accommodation the night before and night of their transplant and should ensure they are in their accommodation by early evening to allow for you to take the premedication which is given at the preoperative appointment. Find more details on recommended local accommodation
The team at HRBR offer a complimentary and private chauffeur service to and from the clinic on the day of your surgery (within the Dublin area).
To secure surgery dates a deposit of €4,000 is payable within 1 week of booking surgery, the deposit is taken off the final invoice for your surgery.
Procedure Day
On the day of your procedure you will arrive at the clinic normally between 7.45am and 10am, your specific admission time will be confirmed for you in advance. One of our team will meet with you and show you to your private waiting room for the day. You will change into scrubs and the medical team will meet you to sign your consent form.
Patients are given plenty of time on the morning of their procedure to allow for any final questions to be answered.
Once the consent form is signed the team will provide you with premedication which will relax you and ensure the procedure runs smoothly.
The team will then bring you to our design room where the final design of your transplant is discussed with you and agreed, this design process can take up to 45 minutes and is a crucial stage to ensure the final results look natural and will meet with your expectations. For our FUE patients in the majority of cases the head is then shaved in preparation for surgery. For FUT patients only the donor strip to be removed is trimmed.
Following this, patients are brought to our theatre or planting rooms where local anaesthetic is administered and the procedure gets under way.
Depending on the chosen technique, either FUE or FUT, the donor hair is extracted. In FUE, individual hair follicles are harvested one by one using a micro-punch tool. In FUT, a strip of hair-bearing skin is surgically removed from the donor area, and the area is closed with sutures. The extracted hair follicles are carefully handled and preserved in a solution to maintain their viability.
The harvested hair follicles are dissected under a microscope to separate them into individual grafts. The grafts are sorted based on their size, quality, colour and the number of hairs they contain. This process ensures that the grafts are ready for transplantation and optimises the results.
Meanwhile, the recipient area (the bald or thinning area where the hair will be transplanted) is cleaned and prepared. The team makes tiny incisions or recipient sites in the desired pattern, angles, and density, taking into account your natural hair growth pattern and aesthetic goals. This step is crucial for achieving a natural-looking and aesthetically pleasing result.
The prepared grafts are then meticulously implanted into the recipient sites by the trained technicians. The team pays attention to the direction, angle, and density of the hair grafts to mimic natural hair growth. The procedure can take several hours, depending on the number of grafts required and the complexity of the case. You will break for lunch half way through the day. We will provide a menu in the morning for you to choose your lunch.
The procedure itself is carried out under local anaesthetic and patients are awake throughout and able to watch movies and chat to the team.
Most procedures will finish on the same day between 4pm and 6pm. If requested our driver will collect you from the clinic and bring your back to your accommodation.
For larger FUE procedures, on occasion, the procedure may be completed over 2 days. If this is applicable to you the team will discuss this with you in advance.
Preparing for your Surgery Day
If following your preoperative appointment you have been requested to provide any further medical details or if we have arranged a call with our nursing staff in advance of surgery please ensure that these details are provided and the call is scheduled as your procedure may be postponed if all pre operative steps are not completed in advance.
Patients should take their premedication the evening before surgery when at their accommodation for the evening. If you have not received this at your preoperative appointment please contact the clinic once surgery is scheduled and we can arrange a time to collect this or a prescription can be issued.
Patients should wear a button or zip top on the morning of surgery to avoid pulling anything over the head following transplantation.
There is no need to bring signed consent forms with you on the morning of your procedure. We will provide you with a copy to be signed along with the surgeon.
Patients should eat a good breakfast on the morning of their procedure and attend the clinic on time. Our team can arrange our complimentary driver for you to bring you to and from the clinic on the day of your procedure from a location in Dublin.
If you are not availing of our driver on the day of your procedure it is important to ensure that you have a responsible adult escort you home or to your hotel as you will have had medication during the day and it is not advisable to leave alone even if not driving. Please provide details on who will be escorting you to the administration team in advance of your procedure.
Post Operative Period
Patients are given detailed post operative instructions on leaving the clinic to ensure proper healing and minimise any potential complications. These include a spraying regime where the donor and recipient areas are sprayed regularly in the first 3 days following surgery. Patients should be prepared to be awake for the first 12 hours following their procedure to carry out the recommended spraying of the donor and recipient areas.
Extra care is then needed with the newly transplanted grafts for the initial 14 days following surgery. Find more details on our post operative instructions.
In most cases patients will return to the clinic the day following their transplant to review the donor and transplanted area in the initial hours after surgery. If your transplant takes place on a Friday then this appointment will normally take place the following Monday.
Following this FUT patients will return 7-10 days later for removal of sutures and FUE patients usually return 2 weeks later for review with our nurses.
For patients traveling to Dublin for surgery, the sutures can be removed by a local nurse or doctor if it is not possible for you to return to Dublin. We do however always recommend that patients return to us for their post operative appointments immediately following surgery if possible.
Most patients will return to work 4-5 days following an FUT procedure and 2 weeks following an FUE procedure.
Patients will then be invited to return at 6 months following surgery and again 12 months following this to monitor progress and assess the final result. Most patients will start to see results from 6 months on and the final results can normally be assessed 18 months following surgery.
All post operative appointments in the initial 18 months following surgery are included in the surgical fee at HRBR.
See a patients journey through hair transplant surgery at HRBR.
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About the Author
DR Maurice Collins
Consultant Surgeon
MB, B.Ch, BAO, DLO, FRCSI, FRCS, FRCSEd.
Registered with the Medical Council of Ireland
Dr Collins is Medical Director and Team Principal of Hair Restoration Blackrock. He was educated at Belvedere College Dublin and did his undergraduate medical studies at University College Dublin. After graduating as a doctor he trained in General Surgery and received his Fellowship (FRCSI) in this specialty from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
Find out more about DR Maurice Collins and our team of doctors and surgeons.
