Arrival (30 minutes): You will be greeted by the receptionist who will ask you to pick out your lunch for the day. We then take pre-operative photos and take care of any final paperwork.

Meet with Physician (as long as necessary): After your photos, you will meet with your physician to review the surgery.

General Preparation for Surgery (30 minutes): You will be escorted back to the surgery room to be prepared for surgery. You may wish to use the restroom at this time, however, you may take a break anytime during the surgery. You will be placed in a surgical gown and asked to sit in the surgical chair. Your vital signs (blood pressure, pulse and oxygen saturation) will be measured. You will be given pre-surgical medications consisting of an antibiotic, valium and prednisone. If you are allergic or have questions about any of these medications, please call us prior to your surgery. You will be given the opportunity to pick out movies to watch during the day. We have a selection of DVDs or you may bring your own. You may also choose to watch TV. The surgery takes about 6-8 hours. Some patients sleep off and on during the surgery due to the effects of the valium. No reading during surgery is allowed.

Preparation of Donor Area (15 minutes): The physician will examine the donor area and mark the exact location and size of the donor strip of hair that is to be removed. This area is then trimmed and cleaned. Tape and surgical gauze are used to keep the rest of the hair up and out of the way of the selected donor area.

Local Anesthesia for the Donor and Recipient Site Areas (15 minutes): The surgical assistants will inject the  donor and recipient site areas with a local anesthetic. Lidocaine is injected using a very small needle. You may feel a mild stinging sensation which will subside within a minute before the area is numb.

Strip Removal of the Donor Area (30 minutes): The donor strip of hair is removed surgically by the physician, and the area is closed with sutures or staples. You should not feel anything during this process due to the effects of the local anesthetic.

Creation of Follicular Unit Grafts: Immediately after the strip is removed, it is given to the surgical assistants to be microscopically dissected into follicular unit grafts. You may see 3-5 assistants cutting grafts with the use of microscopes. If you wish, you will be allowed to watch the graft-cutting process through the microscope to see how perfectly and meticulously the grafts are prepared. This usually takes 1-4 hours depending on the number of graphs being prepared.

Creation of Recipient Site Incisions: Once the physician finishes closing the donor area, he begins making the recipient site incisions. The physician will make all the tiny incisions in which the grafts will be placed. Almost all incisions are made prior to placing the grafts. This usually takes about 1-2 hours.

Lunch: You will be provided with lunch. Please let us know, in advance, if you have any dietary restrictions.

Placing of Follicular Unit Grafts: The surgical assistants will start placing the follicular unit grafts. Most of the placement is done by the technical staff.

Stick and Place and Fine Tuning: During the placing process, the physican will continually check the placement of the grafts. When there are about 300-400 grafts left, the procedure will be stopped and the pattern and distribuiton will be re-checked. At this time, fine tuning with more incisons for the final grafts will be made and placed.

Completion: Most surgeries are completed by 6 pm. You will be given detailed post surgical instructions. If the next day is a week day, you may return to the office for a hair wash and check-up. You will be given an after-care kit containing post-op medications (Prednisone to prevent swelling and Vicodin for pain), gauze and a spray.

Suture/Staple Removal: This is done in 10-14 days at our office at no additional charge. If you live out of town, we can arrange for you to have your sutures/staples removed at a hair transplant clinic in your area (if there is one available) or the sutures/staples can be removed by your private physician or urgent care clinic.