Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) is a hair restoration procedure where hair is transplanted exclusively in its naturally occurring groups of 1-4 hairs. These groups, or follicular units, are obtained through the microscopic dissection of tissue taken from a single donor strip or extracted directly from the donor area (Follicular Unit Extraction). Because Follicular Unit Hair Transplants mimic the way hair grows in nature, the results, in expert hands, will look completely natural and be indistinguishable from one’s original hair.

Another advantage of Follicular Hair Transplant Surgery is the ability to place these tiny grafts into very small recipient sites. The small sites cause minimal damage to the skin and allow the surgeon to safely transplant thousands of hair grafts in a single session and to complete the hair restoration as quickly as possible. The tiny needle-sized recipient sites heal in just a few days without leaving any marks.

Follicular Unit Hair Transplantation was conceived by Dr. Bernstein and first described in the 1995 landmark publication “Follicular Transplantation.” The paper stressed the importance of using large sessions of follicular unit grafts to maximize the aesthetic outcome of the follicular hair transplant surgery and of using very small recipient wounds to facilitate healing. It laid the foundation for Follicular Unit Transplantation by explaining why these naturally occurring units should be kept intact. It detailed the way to assess the patient’s donor supply and, most importantly, described how to distribute follicular unit hair grafts according to a long-term plan.

H.T BASICS

Hair Transplant Basics:
What exactly is a hair transplant? Well, here are some of the basics that you need to know before deciding whether this procedure is right for you…

A hair transplant is a procedure in which healthy hair is taken from the back or sides of the head (donor site), and placed in the balding area on the scalp.

The area from which the hair is taken is commonly referred to as the “horseshoe fringe”. It is the hair that extends from behind both ears to the back of the head. Usually, this area is not affected by male-pattern baldness.

Once the hair has been extracted, it is transplanted into tiny slits that the doctor has created with his or her surgical tools on the balding areas of your scalp.

These hair extractions are called grafts. Grafts refer to the donated hair, hair follicles, surrounding tissue, and skin of the extraction. Each graft contains one or more hair follicles (ideally no more than four).

The front and top of your head will receive transplanted hair first because these are the areas that frame your face and make the most impact on your appearance. Unless it's your only balding area, the crown is usually the last area to receive hair.

A hair transplant takes a few sessions to complete. The number of procedures depends upon the extent of your hair loss, the projected hair loss rate, the amount of donor hair you can spare, and other artistic and medical considerations. Men can often have the results they're looking for in just one or two hair transplant sessions, while women need more sessions to achieve proper density.

The average session lasts between five and ten hours.

What is the procedure like?
Let’s take the method of follicular unit extraction as an example, and go through the various steps a patient would experience during a session:

1. When the patient arrives at the office he or she might be offered a drug to calm them down if they are feeling a little anxious
2. Next the doctor reviews the procedure with the patient
3. The patient sits in a reclined chair throughout the procedure, where they may watch television, chat with other people, or take a nap
4. Blood pressure is taken
5. A general anesthetic or local anesthetic is used
6. The doctor along with his technicians will dissect and insert the grafts with a small pair of tweezers
7. After about six hours, the first session is complete and the patient is ready to go home
8. Bandaging of the head is usually unnecessary

Hair Transplant Methods:
Hair restoration technology is continuously providing patients with better options for hair loss treatments. Transplants have come a long way since the 70’s and 80’s, when hair plugs were used to treat hair loss. These hair plugs consisted of grafts with about 15 to 25 hairs in each. These plugs gave the hair transplant a very unnatural and obvious look.

Strip Incisions were traditionally used to transplant hair before more modern methods existed. The strip incision involves surgically removing strips of skin from the donor area, extracting the hair follicles, and then implanting them on the recipient area. While some surgeons are practicing more modern techniques in hair transplantation, this method of surgery is still effective and quite common.

The strip incision method has now been improved upon by micro grafting. Surgeons are switching to this method because it doesn’t involve making any type of incision (scalpel-free). Hair follicles are extracted from the donor area using the micro grafting procedure and transplanted into the recipient area with ease.

The Follicular Unit Extraction method uses micro grafting to achieve unbelievable results. This procedure involves the extraction of individual hair follicles from an area on the scalp, and reinsertion of the hair follicles into the hairline. This type of hair grafting surgery is usually performed using just a local anesthetic.
Advantages

• No scarring
• Faster healing time
• Less discomfort
• No incision
• No stitching
• No bandaging to keep hairs in place
• Mimics your own hair pattern
• More natural look
• Larger amount of grafts can be transplanted at one time resulting in fewer sessions

For further information on the cost of follicular unit extraction, visit the Price Comparison of Surgeons page.

Mini-micro grafting is similar to follicular unit extraction, with the main difference being that the graft size is determined by the doctor. He or she cuts the donor tissue into the size pieces that they see fit.

With the mini-micrografting procedure, surgeons use a multi-bladed knife to quickly generate thin strips of tissue and then use direct visualization (rather than microscopic control) to cut the tissue. The resulting grafts are generally larger than follicular units and since the excess skin is not trimmed away the donor sites (wounds) are also larger.

Mini-micrografting requires a smaller staff and each procedure is cheaper and shorter.

However, follicular unit extraction is superior in producing a natural, undetectable result.

If performed properly, hair transplant surgery is safe and effective. However, as with any other surgical procedure, there are rare cases in which complications may follow. Most of these problems are not serious, and are curable.

Be aware of the following risks:

• Slow growth
• Infection
• Scarring
• Pigmentary changes in skin
• Cysts and pimples
• Swelling around forehead and eyes
• Numbing of scalp

Trichophytic closure

For strip incision hair transplants, the use of Trichophytic Closure minimizes the appearance of a scar in the donor area. This is done by cutting off the top of one wound edge and suturing it so that the hair from that edge grows through the scar. Either wound edge can be trimmed in the technique, but removing part of the upper edge is most common.

Treatment Options:
There are many options to choose from when it comes to repairing hair loss. Although hair transplantation is the only permanent solution, there are some temporary solutions available as well.

The most advanced method used today is Follicular Unit Extraction. This is the preferred method because its results are the most natural looking.

If you are interested in contacting a doctor in your area see the Price Comparison of Surgeons.