Tue 16 Jun 2009
The Evolution, Advantages and Disadvantages of Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) Hair Transplant Surgery
Category: Donor Issues , FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction) , FUT (Follicular Unit Transplant) , Hair Transplant Surgery , Session SizesThis hair loss article was written by Dr. Ron Shapiro of Bloomington, MN who is a member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians.
What is Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE)?
Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) is a method of obtaining donor hair for Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT), where individual follicular units are harvested directly from the donor area, without the need for a linear incision. With the FUE technique, a .8mm to 1 mm punch is used to make a small circular incision in the skin around the upper part of the follicular unit, which is then extracted directly from the scalp.
Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) and Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) are sometimes mistakenly viewed as being two totally different hair transplant procedures. FUE, in fact, is a sub-type FUT where the follicular units are extracted directly from the scalp, rather than being microscopically dissected from a strip that has already been removed. To say it another way, in Follicular Unit Transplantation, individual follicular units can be obtained in one of two ways; either through single strip harvesting and stereomicroscopic dissection, or through FUE. Therefore, when comparisons are made between FUT and FUE, what is really being compared is the way the follicular grafts are obtained (i.e. strip harvesting and dissection vs. direct extraction). The process in the recipient area is the same.
The main advantage of FUE is that it does not cause a linear scar. Therefore it is useful in patients who for one reason or another may in the future want to have their donor area very short. (<1cm in length). This advantage was the main reason for the development of the technique.
A hair transplant procedure is usually considered a success if it looks natural and all the transplanted hair grows. But a beautiful head of hair with an obvious scar is not very appealing to patients. Thankfully, with today’s state of the art surgical hair restoration donor closure technique, scars are usually easily concealed by the surrounding natural hair even when cut very short. But are there conditions when the donor scar may be more obvious? What about when your hair is wet coming out of the shower or from swimming?
If your pulse truly did reach 230 during hair restoration donor removal, that is not directly from the epinephrine, but almost certainly has to be a brief supra-ventricular arthythmia.
Those of you who’ve already had
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Much of the hair transplant industry has been cleaned up since the advent of hair loss forums and websites like the 