The University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC) will start performing hair transplants as a form of plastic surgery for bald persons by the end of the year.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines hair transplant as a surgical procedure where hair is moved from one part of the body (the donor area, often the back or sides of the scalp) to a bald, thinning or recipient area.
The Director of Medical Affairs at the UGMC, Dr. Baffoe Gyan, said the centre was in the final stage of escalating the innovation to the public after successfully piloting it.
In an interview with Graphic Online, he said the venture formed part of the vision to make the facility a world-class centre for all medical solutions.
He said the surgeon leading the hair transplant innovation underwent training in New York and returned home to practice it, “and we are getting results.”
“The trial was done on our own doctor, whose hair is very fine now.
What we are left with is to escalate it to the rest of the population, but before you open the service here, we need to make sure that we have enough doctors to cover the service such that if demand becomes too high, we will be able to handle it,” he said.
According to the WHO, baldness or hair loss could be caused by a variety of factors, including genetics, hormonal changes, medical conditions, stress and certain medications.
The world body further states that the most common type of baldness, androgenetic alopecia (also known as male or female pattern baldness), is largely hereditary and related to ageing and hormones.
Dr Gyan said a team of medical staff was being built and groomed to get the required expertise for a full rollout of the service.