Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney confirms hair transplant
6th June 2011
Follically challenged football superstar Wayne Rooney has joined the growing list of celebrities to undergo a hair transplant operation. After being mercilessly ribbed by his team mates for his premature balding, he took to Twitter over the weekend to reveal the news. "Just to confirm to all my followers I have had a hair transplant. I was going bald at 25 why not. I'm delighted with the result." Other celebrities to have undergone a hair transplant include actor James Nesbitt, Chef Gordon Ramsey, and Dancing On Ice judge Jason Gardiner.  Rooney later revealed more to his 740,000 Twitter followers, commenting “It's still a bit bruised and swollen when it dies down u will be first to see it. Anyone recommend any good hair gel. Haha” and “'I had it done in Harley street hair clinic London. Thanks to all the staff who looked after me.” Not only is the procedure a painful process, as evident in Rooney’s post on the social networking site, but it is a very expensive one too. Dr Maurice Collins, of the Hair Restoration Blackrock clinic outside of Dublin, is the surgeon who performed the two operations on actor James Nesbitt.  Dr Collins charges a staggering £7.60 for each hair follicle he transplants. Therefore the procedure would cost a minimum £7,000 as the average patient would probably require between 1,000 and 4,500 follicles to be transplanted. It is rumoured that fiery Chef Gordon Ramsey, paid £30,000 for his treatment at the Alvi Armani Centre in Beverly Hills. Dr Collins explains the process – “The hair at the back of your head is immune to the balding process, there's always a "horseshoe”. We take little strips of skin from there, meticulously dissect each hair follicle and transplant them one by one, using microscopes. I'm pleased to say 98 per cent of the transplanted hairs go on to thrive” Basically, a patient does not get any “extra hair”. The hair gets transported from an area it won’t be missed to an area that requires it. Usually there are a team of approximately 18 people working on a transplant, which can take roughly eight hours to perform. The technicians, nurses and surgeon need to ensure the hair is kept alive when it is deprived of oxygen outside the body, and it is vital the hair is back inside the patient’s head as quickly as possible. Professor Andrew Messenger, a consultant dermatologist at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield and president of the Institute Of Trichologists, clearly backs the procedure – “With a good surgeon, transplants work very well,' he says. So long as the patient 'has got good hair density at the back of the scalp — and quite a lot of money'.