Hair Transplant without prior blood test

[greywe]

I have noticed that all hair transplant institutions ask for some blood tests to screen for some diseases before doing hair transplant. Now I'm not in the mood of discovering that, God forbid, I have diabetes or something like that by getting those blood tests.

So my question is if there are surgeons who would do hair transplant without requiring you to have those worrisome blood tests.

[Kalin]

I know the doctor does not require a blood test in young and healthy patients. If you're in good shape I see no reason why you'd need one.

[John]

Guys,

The preliminary blood tests that some HT doctors require are screening for HIV and possibly some forms of hepatitis, and for the most part, really nothing else. Not all clinics/doctors require this preliminary screening anymore.

I am a firm believer however in that every patient enrolled for a procedure should have a thorough medical history taken including all current/past health conditions and also their medications. Ideally the doctor then reviews this information with the patient during the consultation. The patient needs to then "be cleared" for the procedure ahead of time.

There are times when the doctor may want further clarification from the patient's PCP or any other specialist who may be prescribing the patient medications like blood thinners which may need written consent to the HT procedure. There are ceratin meds that need to be stopped prior to surgery and sometimes the HT doctor will want written consent or approval from the other doctors before pulling their patients off certain meds.

There may be other issues disclosed in the medical history that the doctor may want to screen for such as acute diabetics. Typically, acute diabetics will have their glucose levels evaluated during "patient check-in" on the morning of surgery. If the blood sugar is too high, the HT surgeon may want to re-schedule or stop the procedure altogethor.

This is why preliminary screening is so important. And off the record, if a patient should test positive for HIV or hepatitis, the surgical team needs to be aware so they can take the extra precautions of protection and sterilization methods. It does not necessarily mean that they cannot have the procedure done.

Hope this adds some additional insight.