Hair loss affects more than 80 percent of men and 30 percent of women globally due to age, stress, and other environmental factors. One of the main causes of hair loss is the weakening of hair follicles and the reduction of a specific protein called keratin in the hair. Both these factors may lead to premature balding. The following article lists three of the most successful hair transplant types in India and their costs.

FUT
Follicular unit transplantation or FUT is usually recommended to people with androgenic alopecia or male pattern baldness. It is a surgical procedure that involves removing a strip of skin from the scalp from the back of the head. The surgeon will mark the area of extraction and redraw the hairline. The surgeon will cut the strip of the skin with hair follicles further to use it as a graft and prepare it for transplantation.

The site from where the strip of skin was extracted will be closed with sutures. The extracted hair follicles will be inserted into the balding parts of the scalp to give a natural look. An antibiotic bandage will be applied to the extraction and insertion sites to prevent infection in the scalp.
The entire procedure takes around four to eight hours, depending on the extent of balding parts to be covered. Doctors usually administer local anesthesia to only numb the scalp. Side effects from the surgery may include bumps or scarring, folliculitis (inflammation of hair follicles), bleeding, swelling, pain, numbness, and even cysts in some cases.

● Cost of FUT
The cost of FUT depends on factors like the number of levels of baldness, required grafts, and location of the clinic. For instance, the average cost of FUT for level 2a baldness that requires around 1,400 grafts may range anywhere between 40,000 to 50,000 rupees. However, the average cost of this transplantation in all the major cities in the country ranges between 20,000 to 1,60,000 rupees depending on the number of grafts used in the surgery.

FUE
Follicular unit extraction or FUE is another type of hair transplant which is more common than FUT. FUE is more time-consuming when compared with FUT, as a single session may take anywhere from 10 to 12 hours. The best candidates for FUE are the ones experiencing hair thinning or who are at the initial stages of premature balding. The procedure involves shaving the hair in the areas from where the follicles will be extracted as well as transplanted. The doctors typically use a ‘micropunch’ tool that will remove the follicles from the skin. Series of incisions will be made with a needle or other small, sharp tool where the extracted follicles will be transplanted. The area will be cleaned and bandaged for recovery to prevent infection. Side effects may include swelling, drainage, or crusts around the site of the surgery, folliculitis, and numbness or tingling sensation.

● Cost of FUE
FUE sessions are longer than FUT as doctors extract and transplant single follicles at a time. So, the average cost of FUE ranges between 15,000 to 2,10,000 rupees depending on the level of baldness. DHI (direct hair implantation) hair transplant is another type of FUE. The only difference is DHI involves removing follicles from the back of the head. It is the costliest hair transplant available in India as the average cost ranges from 70,000 to 7,00,000 rupees.

PRP
Platelet-rich plasma or PRP is a non-surgical hair transplant. The patient’s blood is extracted and treated in a centrifuge by spinning it in high concentration. The force separates the platelets from the blood. The platelets are extracted and injected into the scalp of the balding area. The procedure may be combined with other hair transplant procedures or medical treatments.

● Cost of PRP
The average cost of this type of hair transplant in India ranges from 7,000 to 10,000 rupees and is usually recommended only to people with baldness under levels 3a.