Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy: Benefits for Hair Transplant

The popularity of hair restoration continues to grow as new technologies lead to better outcomes and experiences. If you are considering hair restoration, you want to do everything you can to ensure success – that is where hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) comes in. HBOT offers several hair restoration benefits including fewer complications, accelerated healing and improved recovery.

What is Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy?

Never heard of HBOT? Not sure what it entails? HBOT is a medical treatment which involves breathing pure oxygen. You enter a specially designed chamber which provides a pressurized environment. During HBOT, you breathe in pure oxygen, which raises the oxygen level in your body’s tissue and encourages the growth and development of new blood vessels. The goal of HBOT is to increase oxygen delivery to the body on a micro-cellular level leading to a number of health benefits.

How is Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Used in Hair Restoration?

HBOT is prescribed by a medical provider, often your transplant surgeon, and the therapy is administered in a hair transplant clinic. To benefit from HBOT you need more than one treatment. Your provider will determine the number and duration of your HBOT treatments. Typically, you would receive several HBOT sessions both before and after your hair transplant surgery.

HBOT supports the efforts of hair transplant surgery by lowering the likelihood of complications, accelerating healing, decreasing swelling/inflammation and improving recovery and results. HBOT is a tool to help you achieve hair transplant success.

Benefits of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

The use of HBOT in conjunction with hair transplant therapy has produced significant benefits.

Fewer Complications

While proven safe, hair restoration, as with any surgical procedure, can result in complications such as infection. HBOT can lessen this risk. By raising the oxygen level HBOT can increase immunity and safeguard tissue from disease. HBOT can also work to ward off complications by increasing the efficiency of white blood cells as they work to destroy disease. The use of hyperbaric oxygen creates an environment that is unfavorable for some types of bacteria that thrive among low oxygen levels, yet another way complications can be reduced. Finally, by increasing blood flow to the scalp and oxygen to the tissue, the scalp is healthier and less prone to infection and post-procedure bleeding.

Accelerated Healing

HBOT helps increase the flow of blood and oxygen-rich plasma to the scalp which aids in the healing process. HBOT can also accelerate healing by encouraging the creation of new blood vessels and stimulating the production of fibroblasts (cells that contribute to the formation of connective tissue) and collagen (the main component of connective tissue). By increasing oxygen and nourishing connective tissue HBOT aids in overall health and speeds up the healing process after hair restoration.

Decreased Swelling/Inflammation

As with any surgical procedure, swelling, inflammation and mild discomfort are common after hair transplant surgery. Blood vessels may be broken during the procedure leading to fluid moving into the surrounding tissues and subsequent swelling. HBOT has anti-inflammatory properties which lessen swelling and the discomfort caused by inflammation.

Significant post-procedure inflammation can have a cascading effect that leads to tissue damage, similarly, swelling can lead to tissue death due to oxygen restriction. HBOT reduces or stops tissue damage caused by swelling and inflammation by restoring appropriate oxygen levels.

Improved Recovery and Results

It makes sense that recovery from a hair restoration procedure is improved in cases when there are fewer complications, accelerated healing and decreased swelling and inflammation, but HBOT improves recovery in other ways as well.

Transplanted hair requires ample blood supply to thrive, HBOT improves blood flow and oxygenation which increases the success rate of hair grafts. Another benefit of increased oxygenation and blood flow is the stimulation of hair follicles and a resultant improvement in the density and growth of the grafted hair. After a transplant, follicles are inactive. By boosting oxygen flow HBOT can revive dormant follicles and aid in their recovery, encouraging hair growth, a mark of a successful transplant.

HBOT is considered safe and effective, but you should consult with a hair transplant specialist before pursuing treatment. While HBOT is a useful tool to support hair restoration, it is not used to treat hair loss or thinning on its own.

Take The Next Step

The success of your hair transplant procedure will depend on a variety of factors. That doesn’t mean that you have to leave it up to chance, though. To make your hair transplant as successful as possible consider HBOT as part of your treatment. Only a medical professional can tell you if HBOT is right for you. But it is a tool many have used to improve their transplant experience and outcome. Talk to your transplant surgeon about what HBOT can do for you as you embark on your hair restoration journey.