Dermatologists estimate that about 30 per cent of the city’s male population is experiencing premature hair loss. And the fast emergence of a hair-transplant market, with private hospitals lining up with latest techniques to cure baldness, seems to prove the experts’ fear right.

“Recently, we have conducted two hair transplants at our hospital and queries regarding the procedures have not stopped since,” announces a beaming Dr Harpreet Bakshi, Head of the Department of Cosmetic Surgery at Ivy Hospital, Mohali. The hospital had introduced the hair-transplant services only a few months ago.

There are no side-effects of the hair transplant, according to Bakshi, but there is one major drawback — the procedure turns out to a very long one. There are two types of procedures — single follicular procedure (with a single hair transplanted each time) and the multiple follicular procedure.

“To transplant 1,000 hair, we require around 6-7 hours and the patient is kept under local anaesthesia. For a larger transplant, the patient needs to return for a second sitting after a gap of three months. Transplanting more than 1,000 hair at one go is not always possible,” said Dr Bakshi.

Dr Vikas Sharma, chief dermatologist at the National Skin Hospital, Panchkula, who has three hair transplants to his credit, feels the latest laser techniques in cosmetic surgery will increase demand further. “With incidence of baldness rising, the people are more willing to go in for transplants. But the current techniques are time consuming and the patients are looking for better results in shorter time period. We plan to introduce the multiple follicular technique at our hospital soon,” he adds. But the cost of treatment is not easy on the pocket — for transplanting a single hair, private practitioners charge somewhere between Rs 30-35 per hair. For transplant of a 1,000 hair, the treatment cost comes to Rs 35,000.

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