Bernstein Medical Tip: These days lasers are often replacing the use of traditional scalpels and other cutting tools when it comes to surgeries. Cosmetic surgery has long been using lasers as a more accurate and noninvasive cutting procedure. Yet when it comes to hair transplants is using a laser a better option?
In a laser hair transplant, the laser is used only for creating the slits in the scalp that the donor hairs will be transplanted into. The laser is not in any way used to harvest the hair, nor is it used to dissect the follicles into units to be transplanted. Therefore, the term laser hair transplant is a bit misleading as the laser plays a very small role in the hair transplant procedure.
There are myths about a laser hair transplant that should be cleared up before a patient undergoes a hair transplant with this process. One of these myths is that using a laser makes a hair transplant a painless procedure. As with a regular scalpel, the area cut by the laser will still feel pain. A local anesthetic is still required in order for the patient to feel comfortable during the procedure.
