Surgery For Men

Hair Transplant

at Cadogan Clinic, London’s Leading Cosmetic Surgery Specialists. 

Get in touch

Award Winning Specialist Clinic

We've won 12 top industry awards since 2010 and regularly feature in the national and international press.

Industry Leading Consultants

We've invited only the very best consultants in the country to practice with us.

Care Quality Commission

We're regulated by the independent regulator of health and social care in England.

GMC Registered Surgeons

All of our surgeons are registered with the General Medical Council.

Medically Reviewed April 2023, by Mr. Bryan Mayou (GMC: 1414396) - founder of the Cadogan Clinic and one of the world's leading plastic surgeons

What Is Hair Transplant?

More and more men are now combating male pattern baldness with hair transplants which result in a head of fuller, thicker hair.

Baldness has traditionally been associated was a symptom of ageing, although it is something that can happen no matter how old you are.

Hair loss affects more than 50% of men over the age of 50, and Hair Transplants are the only hair restoration solution which offers permanent results. 

Get in touch

Hair Transplant At a glance

Surgery Time

Up to 5 hours

Time off work

3 days

Hospital Stay

Day Case

Shower

Wash hair after 1 week

Reasonable Mobility

Immediately

Exercise

4 weeks

Sleeping on back

1 week

Full Recovery

4 weeks

Driving

Immediately


Before and After


Why do people have it?

Hair transplants are considered the most effective and permanent hair restoration technique available to combat early onset male pattern baldness.

Male pattern baldness affects around a third of white men under 30 years old, increasing to around 80 per cent of men over 70. Statistics reveal that it is less common in black men and occurs more slowly in Asian men.

Whilst there are cheaper alternatives to surgery, including prescription medications which can helps blood flow to shrinking hair follicles to slow the onset of balding, none are as effective as transplant surgery.

More than 100,000 hair restoration procedures are successfully completed in Europe every year, amounting to a huge surge in popularity in recent years.

Who is suitable?

Cadogan Clinic considers individuals fit for the procedure, if all of the following are true of them:

  • Worried about the appearance of their hair and hairline
  • Over the age of 30, and have a settled hairline
  • Still have some hair on their head, and have strong donor sites
  • Suffering from early onset male pattern baldness, as opposed to other types of hair Loss, such as alopecia areata
  • Aware of what transplant surgery can and can’t achieve in their specific case 

Words from our clients:


How does it work?

At the Cadogan Clinic we only work with trained plastic surgeons with a specialism in hair transplant procedures.

Over the course of the procedure, our surgeons redistribute existing donor hair from thicker parts of the scalp to your thinning areas.

The hair transplant procedure is minimally invasive, leave no linear scars and result in natural looking and densely packed hair.  The hair transplant is usually carried out under local anaesthetic, meaning you will be awake during the procedure although you will not feel any pain or discomfort.

Transplanted hair tends to behave in a similar way to the hair in the area it was taken from, as the hair in the donor area is genetically different to the balding hair, and instead similar to the hair where the graft has been taken from. You will therefore find that it will not fall out in the same pattern as any previous balding.

If done correctly, the procedure will last a lifetime for most people – or at least well into old age.

Occasionally, as a patient gets older, you may experience some hair thinning in the donor areas – generally the back and sides – and if this does happen then you may expect the transplanted hair to also follow the same pattern.

Whichever surgery you choose, be prepared for the transplanted hair to fall out within two or three weeks of the procedure, but you will start to notice new growth within a few months.

What is the difference between FUE and FUT techniques?

There are two types of procedure to solve the problem of hair loss – Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) and Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT).

FUE is generally the more popular of the two procedures since it usually results in less intense scarring as individual hairs are removed from the back of the neck and moved to the transplant site using a specialist micro surgical needle.

FUT involves the harvesting of a strip of hair from the back of the head, and can in some cases be more effective for some patients.

Your surgeon can discuss the merits of the two procedures at your consultation.


Surgeons

We have invited a selection of the country's very best consultants to join us at the Cadogan Clinic so that you can be sure that whatever the nature of your treatment, you will be seeing one of the top practitioners in the country.


Frequently Asked Questions

Every case is unique so your surgeon will discuss the type of hair transplant they recommend specifically for you, and why.

There will also be follow up consultations to ensure you are fully satisfied with the end results.

When considering any procedure it is important to find the right surgeon for you, so always do your own due diligence. Meet with a surgeon and ask questions such as what level of care can be expected after the operation, and what happens in the unlikely event of something going wrong.

Ask how much it will cost, and check if aftercare is included in the price.

Male hair loss is caused when a modified form of testosterone, the hormone dihydrotesterone (DHT) attacks hair follicles on the scalp. The hairs produced by the affected follicles become progressively smaller in diameter, shorter in length and lighter in colour until they eventually shrink completely and hair stops being produced.

Usually, the follicles at the back and sides of a man’s head are specially coded to fend off DHT which is why it is common for men to keep their hair there.

As well as hereditary male hair loss, medical conditions such as alopecia areata and alopecia universalis can cause the loss of either small patches or all of your hair but unfortunately, hair transplants cannot fix these conditions.

Hair loss can also be caused by taking certain drugs, including those prescribed for cancer, arthritis, depression, heart problems, gout and hair high blood pressure. Stress can also contribute to hair loss, as well as certain hairstyles such as tight braids or dreadlocks.

Follicular Unit Extraction means the back of the head is shaved and then individual hairs are removed one by one.

The patient lies face down while around 3000 hair follicles are plucked from the back of the head. The surgeon will drill down into the root before they are plucked out. This stage can take several hours.

Once the hair has been extracted, the surgeon makes tiny incisions so that the hair grafts can be placed into tiny cuts made into the scalp.

Patients are sometimes advised to wear headphones during the piercing as it can be uncomfortable. Although you will have lots of tiny scars, they will hardly be noticeable.

These type of hair transplants usually take a full day, but you will not need to stay at the Clinic overnight.

If you would like a large area to be treated, your surgeon may recommend two or more sessions a few months apart.

Follicular unit transplantation, or strip method, involves a thin strip of skin with hair being removed from the back of your head and divided into pieces, each containing between one and four individual hairs.

The grafts are then placed back into tiny cuts made into the scalp, and the site where the hairs were taken is closed with stitches.

You will have a scar on the back of your head, but it should not be noticeable unless you have very short hair.

The head does not need to be shaved – only the area where the skin is removed will need to be trimmed.

Your surgeon will give you plenty of advice about how to take care of your graft. You will be given a spray to help recovery and hair growth, and most people are usually able to return to work about three days after having an FUE hair transplant.

However, patients do need to be very careful to look after the newly transplanted hair, especially in the first two weeks following the procedure as the grafts will not yet be secure.

Your surgeon will probably advise restricted exercise for the first month to reduce the risk of permanent scarring.

After two to five days the bandages can usually be removed, but patients must be careful to avoid touching the grafts.

By Day Six you should be able to wash your hair, gently by hand, and after ten to fourteen days any remaining non-dissolvable stitches can be removed at the clinic.

A few weeks later you may find that the transplanted hair will fall out, and later start to grow back normally – new hair will generally begin to appear after six months.

After twelve to eighteen months the full results should be seen.

Following a hair transplant procedure it is common to have a tight, achy and swollen scalp for a few days, as well as some temporary scabbing where the new hair grafts have been transplanted. There may also be a single scar, or possibly a number of very tiny scars on the scalp.

Some patients experience difficulty sleeping as your head has to be kept straight because the hairs have to link up with your bloodstream, so as soon as the blood gets to the hairs they can glue in.

This takes three nights so you must be very careful, and many patients say this is the most difficult stage.

A hair transplant is a very common, and generally very safe procedure. But as with any type of surgical operation there is always a small risk of bleeding, infection or the possibility of an allergic reaction to the anaesthetic.

However, your surgeon will be able to treat any of these problems quickly and effectively.

There is also a small risk that the hair follicles are rejected by your body, but instances of this happening are extremely rare.

The other risk is that you may not like the results, which is why a thorough consultation process is vital to address any concerns you may have in advance.

There is also a very small risk that the transplant will not take, and the hair falls out, or a noticeable scar may form. These risks are rare and your surgeon can explain how likely such problems are to occur, and recommend effective methods to treat them.

It is possible that your hair might continue to thin around the transplant, but your surgeon will plan the design of the transplant with the intention of ensuring that the hair looks as natural as possible as time passes.

If anything does go wrong, you suffer any pain, or the results are not quite as you had expected, consult your surgeon immediately.

Minoxidil is an over-the-counter treatment, often sold under the name Regaine or Rogaine. It comes in the form of a foam or liquid which you massage into the scalp. Most people need to use this medication regularly for around four months to see any benefit.

Finasteride, usually sold under the brand name Propecia, is a prescription tablet taken once day. It works by preventing testosterone in your body from converting into DHT.

Scalp micropigmentation is a non-invasive hair treatment for people who have balding, thinning or receding hair. The doctor essentially gives the patient a medical tattoo that uses little dots to mimic the look of short hair.

But  if you want to slow down hair loss and reduce the likelihood of a hair transplant, it is important to understand the root cause of the problem. For example, if hair loss is the result of work-related stress then a change of job or career could potentially cause your hair to reappear.

The food that you eat and the shampoo you use will also affect the condition of the hair on your head. Hair need sufficient amounts of protein, iron, zinc and B12 to keep it healthy.

Look for shampoos which are engineered to remove any debris such as sebum, fatty acids and environmental residue that might be clogging up your hair follicles and affecting growth. Volumizing shampoos will temporarily give the appearance of a thicker head of hair.

The price of a hair transplant at the Cadogan Clinic varies depending on the amount of hair to be transplanted during the procedure.

As a rough guide we say that the procedure costs around £2.50 per transplanted hair. For someone with an average amount of hair loss, this procedure should cost somewhere between £6,000-8,000. 

The maximum price you should expect to pay will be around £9,000 for more comprehensive procedures, although for more extensive hair restoration you may need more than one procedure, albeit with a significant amount of time between them.  

Hair transplant costs include the costs of your surgeon, their team of technicians, the facility and all after care



Trustpilot

Laurel Wreath for Awards

2023

Aesthetic Awards

Highly Commended Best Clinic in London

Laurel Wreath for Awards
Laurel Wreath for Awards

2021

Aesthetics Awards

Highly Commended

Laurel Wreath for Awards
Laurel Wreath for Awards

2021

My Face My Body

Best Clinic Winner

Laurel Wreath for Awards
Laurel Wreath for Awards

2020

My Face My Body

Best Clinic Winner

Laurel Wreath for Awards
Laurel Wreath for Awards

2019

My Face My Body

Winner

Laurel Wreath for Awards
Laurel Wreath for Awards

2018

My Face My Body

Highly Commended

Laurel Wreath for Awards
Laurel Wreath for Awards

2018

Aesthetics Awards

Highly Commended

Laurel Wreath for Awards
Laurel Wreath for Awards

2017

Aesthetics Awards

Winner

Laurel Wreath for Awards

0207 901 8500

Get in touch