AIIMS-Patna

The fear of going bald is enough to give any person sleepless nights but in the new year, AIIMS-Patna would make lives easier.

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna, would start a hair transplant facility at the health hub in January. So, residents complaining of baldness will soon have another option at hand.

Another option because Patna Medical College and Hospital, among the state’s health hubs, provides the service at present. Surgeries are at the hospital are irregular though.

At AIIMS, the facility would be inaugurated under the dermatology, sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and leprosy department.

The details of the surgery such as the cost component are yet to be worked out, said doctors at AIIMS-Patna. Dr Rajesh Sinha, the head of the dermatology, STD and leprosy department, said: “It has not yet been decided but patients would be charged just for things such as bandage to be used during the surgery. It would come to around Rs 2,000-2,500.”

He added that the procedure would only address patients with androgenetic alopecia in which a person goes bald at the back of the scalp.

“We would perform the hair transplant surgery with the follicular unit extraction procedure. Individual hair follicles are extracted from the back of the scalp with the help of a machine and then implanted. If someone is completely bald, chest hair or body hair would be extracted. To address baldness, some hospitals also follow the strip harvesting process. In this technique, skin, along with hair, is cut from the scalp and then transplanted on the bald area. Here, there is a possibility of a scar on the scalp,” said Dr Sinha.

At a time when PMCH is not conducting the hair transplant surgeries regularly, the step of AIIMS-Patna would be a boon for those with receding hairline or completely bald. Doctors at the health hub even claimed the surgeries would be conducted regularly.

Over at PMCH, V.P. Choudhary, head of department, plastic surgery, said lack of support staff has led to the department’s failure to regularly perform hair transplant surgeries. Since its launch nine months ago, only six hair transplant surgeries have been done at the hospital.