Losing one’s hair can be a very aggravating thing for anyone going through it, but when a diabetic is going through it, they have yet a few more concerns or questions they will be looking for answers to when looking into appropriate hair restoration methods. If you are diabetic and considering hair transplant surgery, you may want to know how your diabetes might affect the results of your surgery.
Yes, diabetes affects hair transplant results, but that does not mean that you cannot successfully have the procedure performed successfully. This simply means that you will require additional care and preparation prior to surgery and that you will need the right medical team to help you achieve successful results.
How Diabetes Affects the Body and Your Hair
In order to assess the impact of diabetes on hair transplant success, it must first be clear how diabetes affects the human body in general.
A diabetic is someone whose body either has an absence of insulin, or has insulin resistance. When there is an absence of insulin, a diabetic’s blood sugar level becomes uncontrollable, eventually causing damage to the blood vessels and nerves, slowing down the healing rate and lowering immunity.
For a hair transplant, three key things are considered in ensuring success: the supply of blood to the head area (to feed the hair follicles transplanted with nutrients), immune response (to fight against infections, both during and after the procedure) and healing rate.
Key Risks for Diabetic Patients Undergoing Hair Transplant
Here are four reasons that make hair transplants less favorable in uncontrolled diabetics.
1.Slow healing of wound
Perhaps one of the best-known effects of poorly controlled diabetes is slow healing of wound. During hair transplantation, there are numerous micro-incisions on the scalp and in normal healthy people the wound will heal up within a few days. For the diabetics with poor sugar control, it can take a much longer time to heal up the wound and a higher chance to get a complication.
2. Risk of getting an infection
Diabetics have a poor immune system. Thus, the body has a lesser ability to fight off the bacteria. Since the hair transplantation involves breaking the skin, there is a higher chance of developing a post-surgical infection for a diabetic patient. Infection may compromise the hair grafts and result in a less satisfactory outcome.
3.Poor circulation of blood
High blood sugar damages and narrows the blood vessel in a person who has diabetes for a long time. This would lead to poor circulation of blood flow towards the scalp where the hair follicles need nourishment to take. Lack of nutrition of the grafts would lead to poor density of the hair transplant and patchy results.
4.Worse amount of hair loss by itself
Diabetes may also cause the individual to experience significant hair thinning and hair loss, regardless of hair transplantation procedure. This would be due to high level of glucose and cause the hair follicles to go to rest period prematurely. Thus, there are less available good donor hair for transplant.
Can Diabetic Patients Still Get a Hair Transplant?
Yes, it is possible for many to do well with diabetes; however, the key is how well your diabetes is being controlled at the time of the procedure.
Experienced surgeons will first look at your HbA1c levels (your three-month average blood glucose level) to make sure you will qualify for surgery. If your HbA1c is in a safe range, then you have a lower probability of having complications. If your blood sugar is well controlled, you will likely have a similar experience as a non-diabetic patient.
Typically, the following factors would make you a good candidate for hair restoration surgery as a diabetic patient:
- HbA1c less than 7-8% indicates good sugar control.
- No active infection on or near the scalp.
- Kidney/liver functions are normal, important for safe anaesthetic use and medication excretion.
- No significant diabetic neuropathy or vascular lesion.
Your physician will likely also contact your endocrinologist post procedure so that you can maintain your blood glucose level throughout the post-operative period.
What Precautions Should Be Taken?
Diabetic patients wanting hair transplant, can maximize the effect of the treatment by following certain precautionary measures; Try to strictly control the blood sugar levels in the weeks leading up to the procedure; in fact, many surgeons require their patients’ blood sugar levels to be almost perfect for 3 months preceding the operation. Reveal all your medical conditions, medications, and the complications you have encountered to your surgeon; strictly follow all the post-operative instructions: keep the wound clean, avoid all kinds of strenuous activity, go for all the post-operative checkups. Keep an eye for any symptoms of infection, like the redness, swelling, formation of pus or fever and report them to your surgeon; avoid alcohol and smoking completely, since both have been shown to slow down the healing process.
Choosing the Right Clinic Matters More Than Ever
Diabetic patients do not have much scope for error. It is not a choice, therefore, to select an experienced clinic that can be supplemented by medically appropriate tools.
If you intend to get hair loss treatment in India, ensure that you are going to a clinic that employs surgeons competent at handling medically complicated cases. Thorough pre-operative check-ups should be mandatory as well as an examination of past medical history along with modification of the method used according to the patient’s condition.
At Fuse Hair, each patient is considered on an individual basis. We have a no ‘one-fits-all’ attitude to our patients. Whether the underlying cause is diabetes, thyroid or anything else we take into consideration all the variables that can affect the outcome before, during and after the procedure. This is the reason behind being the and getting good reviews from clients
The Role of FUE in Diabetic Hair Transplant Cases
FUE hair transplant in Delhi is a preferred method of hair restoration for many diabetic patients. The advantages of the Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) surgical technique make it that much more desirable for diabetic individuals. It is minimally invasive and does not require the surgeon to cut a strip of scalp tissue. As a result, the incision points are smaller, the amount of trauma is reduced, and the recovery time will be shorter than a traditional strip method.
In addition to the incision points being smaller, the risk of infection will be decreased and the rate of healing will be faster. This is particularly important to diabetic patients. When done by a highly skilled and knowledgeable surgeon, as well as following the appropriate post-operative care, FUE has a high success rate, even for diabetic patients.
Final Thoughts
No significant diabetic neuropathy or vascular lesion. Your physician will likely also contact your endocrinologist post procedure so that you can maintain your blood glucose level throughout the post-operative period. Prior to consulting with a hair restoration specialist for the first time or at least to start reviewing your options for future hair restoration, speak to your diabetes doctor about potential hair restoration options. You will be able to get a better understanding of what can be done for your individual needs based on expert advice from your diabetes doctor (if you are a Type 1 diabetic) or your endocrinologist (if you are a Type 2 diabetic) and how that may relate to a particular medical and physical condition prior to having the hair restoration procedure done.
At Fuse Hair, we provide the best air loss treatment in India and strive to ensure every patient that wants a route to healthily restore hair regardless of their medical condition. Let us know if you are interested in discussing your options through a personalized consultation with a member of our team by visiting our website at www.fusehair.com.