The evening prior to the harvesting and transplanting of follicles, Dr André Nel welcomes you at 7 pm, does the hairline design, pre-surgery planning and incisions.

Before the procedure commences, Dr Nel will administer local anaesthesia by doing a ring block and nerve blocks, ensuring that no pain is felt during the procedure

Dr Nel begins the harvesting of hair follicles from the Safe Donor Area on the back and sides of the scalp, after which the hair follicles are prepared and transplanted into the recipient sites that were created in the areas where hair loss has occurred.

Localized scalp anaesthesia is maintained throughout the hair transplant procedure, ensuring a comfortable and pain-free experience for the patient.

Throughout the day, the patient usually watches TV, listens to music and may even dose off intermittently or talk to the staff while we work away.

One option is to shave the head entirely – both recipient and donor areas.

Another option is to shave the back and sides but keep the hair on top. Similar to a Crew-cut.

The hair can also be kept long in the Donor Area and harvesting takes place via small windows covered by hair, while harvesting is done in-between the long donor area hair. This applies in Long Hair FUE harvesting and FUT strip harvesting.

These options are always discussed as part of the Consultation and pre-surgery phase, so the patient is well prepared for what method will be followed.

Day One Post-op the patient is seen by Dr Nel who then discusses the post-op protocol to be followed for the first two weeks after the procedure

The patient is seen again by Dr Nel at 7 days or 10 days after the procedure for review of the Recipient and Donor areas.

Pain medication is prescribed for use during the recovery phase and it is used on an as-needed basis during the first 2 to 3 days after surgery.

The tiny incisions made in the recipient area where the hair follicles are transplanted heal within 5 to 7 days and the FUE harvest small circular dots on the donor area heal within 7 days. With FUT strip surgery cases the sutures are removed on day 10 post-op

Our Post-Op instruction Booklet covers all the questions you may have after your procedure.

However, patients are encouraged to call Dr Nel directly should they have any questions or concerns.

Therefore, all patients are followed-up the day after the surgery and again at 7 or 10 days later by Dr André Nel. The final result is reviewed 10 to 12 months post-surgery.

What doesn’t happen overnight is a full head of hair.

“I always strive to make sure that patients embrace my hair restoration philosophy. This helps to set and manage patients' expectations so we all know where we stand...” says Dr André Nel.

As long as patients follow our "tried-and-tested" long term basic and simple protocol to which we agree prior to the surgery, then they will get the final result that they were hoping for after 10-12 months, and experience the satisfaction of looking at themselves in a very different way, having achieved their hair restoration goal.