On average, adults lose a hundred strands of hair from their scalp on a daily basis. While most people are fortunate enough to grow it back, others see a bald spot approaching way before old age. Several factors obstruct the growth of new hair. These include hormonal changes, hereditary genes, age, poor nutrition, medical conditions, and medical treatment side effects and stress. 

There are some treatments that you can opt for to prevent hair loss or even reverse it if possible. Those include:

• Laser therapy
• Hair transplant
• Medicines such as and Rogaine

The question, however, is which is the better treatment or a more suitable option for you. In this article, we are going to compare the hair transplant vs. laser treatment to help you make a comparison and choose the best for yourself.

Laser Therapy

In laser therapy, experts usually use cold lasers that produce a unique kind of red light. After decades of research, studies proved that red light, with coherent wavelengths of 670 and 630nm, is at the optimal frequency to revive the growth of new hair. 

What we can translate in simple terms is that red light, a form of energy, treats your hair follicle base and is able to re-energize and stimulate the mitochondria present in your cells. It’s basic science knowledge that the mitochondria act as a powerhouse for your cells. The process of successfully reviving them is similar to breathing new life into an old, worn-out power plant. 

Once these recover to the point where they regulate a healthy functioning, the mitochondria are then capable of repairing and reproducing hair follicles on your scalp. This is just like restoring them to their original purpose and function. What you experience, as a result, is the growth of noticeably healthier and thicker hair. In fact, with time, you will also experience new hair growing from the follicles that had preciously become dormant. 

Devices that Emit Laser Light Therapy

There are several devices on the market today that use low level laser light therapy to regrow hair on the scalps of men and women. There are laser hair growth caps, hair combs, and in clinic machines. These devices use the laser therapy which are emitted through diodes to stimulate the scalps tissue. From here, blood is stimulated and helps to regenerate the hair follicle cells.

Hair Transplants

A hair transplant, on the other hand, is a surgery in which hair from one part of your body is moved to another. This procedure is minimally invasive, and we have seen it happening quite commonly since the 1950s in the USA and now globally. It is most evident in treating male pattern baldness. 

Hair transplants have two most popular types, FUE, and FUSS.

FUSS is short for Follicular Unit Strip Surgery. In this, professionals remove a strip of your skin from a non-balding area, which is usually the back of your head. They then close the cut and hide it with your surrounding hair. 

The experts then further divide the strip of your scalp into sections we know as grafts. These usually contain just one or at the most, a few hairs. They relocate each of these to your balding areas under treatment. 

One disadvantage with FUSS is that there is usually a scar left behind, where your donor site is. In some extreme cases, people even experience swelling and pain in this area. 

Opposed to FUSS is FUE, in which experts shave the back of your head and then remove each individual follicle of hair. In this transplant form, the donor sites heal comparatively well and leave only a few noticeable dots behind. Your surrounding hair, however, also covers these dots.

Transplant vs. Laser

Laser therapy is pain-free as it does not involve an invasive process. Therefore, as a result, you do not even require a recovery period after using a laser cap. A laser cap has many benefits, and we see many people preferring this form of hair treatment.

Surgery, on the other hand, is an altogether completely different matter. Your scalp can possibly become quite tender post-surgery. At the very least, you will most certainly have to wear bandages for a couple of days and take pain medications your doctor will prescribe. Furthermore, you will also need to take antibiotics to keep infection away or anti-inflammatory drugs to reduce swelling. 

Furthermore, in a hair transplant, there is no certain recovery period as it varies for FUSS and FUE. Although relatively speaking, FUE requires a lesser time span for recovery. 

However, we generally see people returning to work after a week of the procedure. If you sustain stitches during the surgery, you will likely heal from them in ten days.

As per professional plastic surgeons, most of the hair from the transplant will fall outpost six weeks of the surgery. You must see the new growth of hair visibly in your recipient areas in a matter of months. Your new hair should grow at a rate of half an inch per month.

Cost Comparison

Generally, most laser caps will cost you around $1000 or even less. You get to keep its technology for continual use. The laser caps will have a monetary worth based on how many diodes are present in the cap.

Hair transplant, on the contrary, varies greatly, and many factors influence it. Generally, the cost lies around $15,000 but can vary depending on the team of experts and other factors. These include:

• The type of procedure you opt for
• The amount of hair your doctor will remove
• Location-where you are opting for surgery from and what quality of doctors and organization you are approaching.

Final Thoughts

This article should of given you some detailed information between hair transplant vs. laser treatment. You can choose from several options to treat your hair loss problem. Laser therapy and hair transplants are the most common and popular types of treatment. The effectiveness of each method also depends on the severity of your hair loss problem and other factors. With our guidance, it will be easier for you to verify which treatment option would suit you best. Regardless of which treatment option you settle for, remember that each hair regrowth journey needs the practice of a healthy hair-care routine as well.

Hair Transplant vs Laser Treatment FAQs