The process and cost of getting a hair transplant in Kenya

Do you have a bald head? Before you think of joining ‘bald men/women association’, maybe you should consider getting a hair transplant instead.  

The hair transplant procedure can now be done in Kenya, and one of the people who provide this medical service is Dr. Arshni Malde.

Speaking on Citizen TV’s daybreak show, Dr. Arshni said that there is need to create awareness on hair transplants, to do away with popular stereotypes that transplanted hair is fake.

In a hair transplant procedure, a root of hair is removed from other parts of the head, and replanted on the section that is bald.

Dr. Arshni describes the process as a natural one, saying that hair from the back of the head is mostly used since it is the strongest.

When a patient walks into a clinic to get a hair transplant, the first procedure is to shave their whole head.

“We only need the root. Take the root at the back of the head, make a small hole on the front (bald area) and then replant the hair,” Dr. Arshni said.

She added that a hair transplant is an outpatient procedure that can be done in two days, and only local anaesthesia is used. The patient walks into the clinic in the morning, and in the evening they are allowed to go back home and return the next day for dressing.

After getting a hair transplant, a patient goes on regular check-ups weekly, then monthly for about four months.

Within this period stem therapy is done on the transplanted hair to give it nutrients and enable its growth.

In the first 7 days, one is not allowed to wash their head, but instead uses use a medicated spray before a doctor washes your hair for the first time.

It takes about 8 months- 1 year for the transplanted hair to fully grow and within the first 4 months, one should not trim it. Thereafter, it can be trimmed with scissors.

Additionally, you are not to style, braid the transplanted hair or wear a cap for at least 8 months as the cap suffocates the baby hair.

“It takes long for the hair to grow because it goes through a cycle for about 90 days, and then it falls off and starts growing again. But that is only the transplanted hair, the rest is still natural and original

According to Dr. Yashni, a hair transplant has no side effects if done in the correct way. She dismisses myths that a hair transplant can cause brain damage, cancer of memory loss.

A hair transplant procedure in Kenya could cost you between Ksh 200,000 – Ksh 700,000, depending on the intensity of the baldness.

According to Dr. Yashni, a hair transplant in her clinic costs Ksh 100 per root.

“We gauge on the extent of baldness, when your baldness is about two inches, it takes about 2000 roots,” she said.

You will spend an additional 60,000 on the stem therapy and other costs for 8-months care, supplements and blood tests.