What is DHI?

What is DHI?

More than 85 percent of men have thinning hair by age 50. More than 50 percent of women will also experience a noticeable amount of hair loss in their lifetime.

Several types of hair transplant surgeries have been developed to help regrow lost hair.

In FUE, a specialist manually cuts channels in your scalp before implanting hair follicles. During DHI, they use a specialized pen-shaped tool that can do both at the same time.

Let’s break down everything you need to know about DHI surgery. We’ll also compare it to FUT and FUE to help you decide which may be best for you.

How direct hair implantation works?

DHI is a modified version of FUE hair implantation and follows a similar procedure. Your specialist will remove hair follicles from a part of your scalp, usually the back of your head, and implant them into balding areas. These hair follicles will eventually grow new hairs.

Here’s what you can generally expect during the procedure:

• Your specialist will shave your head and apply local anesthesia to numb it.

• The specialist will extract hair follicles from the back of your head using a tool with a fine tip.

• The hair follicles will be loaded into a pen-shaped tool and implanted into the balding part of your scalp.

• The specialist will apply an antibiotic cream and apply a bandage to all sites.

FUE and DHI surgeries generally take about 8 hours to complete, but the exact time can vary depending on the number of hair follicles being transplanted. It can take 12 to 18 months to see the full results of the surgery.

Who needs a DHI procedure?

People with androgenic alopecia, which is the most common type of hair loss, make the best candidates for hair implantations. This condition is commonly referred to as male or female pattern hair loss.

 

The following characteristics also make you a good candidate for hair transplantation:

 

  • Age. People who get hair implants should be over age 25. Hair loss before this age is more unpredictable.
  • Hair diameter. People with thicker hair usually achieve better results than people with thinner hair. Thicker hair gives each hair follicle more coverage.
  • Donor hair density. Patients with a hair density of fewer than 40 folliclesTrusted Source per square centimeter at their donor site are considered poor candidates for hair transplants.
  • Hair color. People with light hair or with a hair color close to their skin tone often achieve the best results.

• Expectations. People with realistic expectations are most likely to be satisfied with their results.

DHI vs FUE

  • DHI and FUE both involve taking follicles from one part of your scalp and implanting them into balding areas.
  • In DHI and FUE surgeries, individual hair follicles are removed directly from your scalp. During FUE, a specialist  manually cuts a series of canals in your scalp to insert the hair follicles. The DHI technique allows specialist s to make these incisions and implant hair at the same time.
  • DHI method involves no scarring. 
  • DHI and FUE avoid the long scar caused by more traditional hair transplantation procedures such as FUT

DHI hair transplant side effects and precautions

Here are a few potential complications of DHI surgery.

Negative reaction to anesthesia

During DHI, local anesthesia will be applied to your scalp to numb it. Anesthesia is generally safe, but it may cause negative reactions in some people.

The overwhelming majority of reactions are related to fear or anxiety and not a topical sensitivity to the anesthesia.

Infection

It’s possible to develop an infection either at the donor site or at the area where hair follicles are implanted. If patient follows the post operation instructions  infections are rare and occur in less than 1% of hair implantation surgeries.

Shock hair loss

Shock hair loss can occur within 2 months of surgery. It refers to a temporary hair loss at the site of the hair transplant. A full recovery is almost always made in 3 to 4 months.

Other potential complications of hair transplant surgeries include:

  • bleeding
  • dizziness
  • pain
  • increased heart rate
  • inflammation of hair follicles