Follicular unit transplantation (FUT) is the classic method of hair restoration. It entails cutting a strip of hair from your head’s donor area, leaving a visible linear scar that is challenging to conceal with short or shaved hair.
In FUE, hair follicles are extracted individually using 0.8-1.0 mm special micro punches. Here are some reasons why you should consider this technique:
Natural Appearance
Follicular unit transplantation is a more natural-looking hair restoration method than older techniques. Older processes involved taking large strips of healthy hair from the back and sides of your head to transplant to areas of thinning or baldness. These grafts would have many hair follicles clustered together, which can lead to an unnatural-looking result. The advanced follicular unit transplantation technique involves taking smaller grafts that contain one to four strands, producing a much more natural-looking effect.
The surgeon will use a local anesthetic to numb the area on the back of your head, where they harvest the follicular units. They will then remove the strip of hair-bearing skin and cut it into slivers that they will dissect under a stereo microscope to determine how many follicular units are within each stripe. This is an exact process, and it allows for fewer follicular units to be damaged, which results in the best possible result.
The follicular units will then be transferred to the new openings in your scalp using a specialized punch. This is another part of the procedure that takes a lot of skill and experience to do well. When the follicular unit transplantation is done correctly, it will blend in perfectly with your natural hair growth, and you will not be able to tell that there was ever a surgery performed on your scalp.
No Damage to the Donor Tissue
Follicular Unit Transplantation Technique uses a less invasive method to extract hair from the scalp. While the surgical procedure itself does cause some damage, it is minimal and can heal quickly. This is an advantage over older hair restoration methods such as strip surgery.
In this method, surgeons use 0.8 or 1 mm special micro punches to harvest a follicular unit from the donor area. This is done under 2.5 – 5x magnification. The short side of the energy is used to score the scalp’s epidermis. Then the dull effectiveness is introduced with a twisting movement to separate the follicular unit from the surrounding tissue.
The follicular unit is then held with forceps and extracted. This quickly and easily removes the needed number of follicular units without damaging the donor tissue.
After the follicular unit is removed from the scalp, it is transplanted to the area that needs regrowth. Hairs that are transplanted in this way look wholly natural and can resist the effects of DHT for a long time.
Hair grows in small groups of 1-4 inches called follicular units, so this transplantation technique mimics how they grow naturally. When performed by a skilled surgeon, it can produce great results and restore a full head of healthy hair that looks very natural.
Shorter Recovery Time
The follicular unit transplantation technique is minimally invasive and has a shorter recovery time than traditional hair restoration techniques. This is because, unlike other procedures that involve removing a strip of skin from the back of the head, it separates individual groups of hair follicles with one to four hairs each into separate grafts, which are then implanted into the bald or thinning areas of the scalp.
During the Follicular Unit Transplantation technique, the surgeon uses a specialized punch less than 1mm in diameter to extract each follicle from the scalp. This process is usually done without shaving the entire scalp, although it may need to be trimmed very short for easy access. The specialized punch is also used to avoid any twisting motion that can cause unnecessary transactions of the hair follicles.
The specialized punch leaves small circular openings in the scalp that heal very quickly. In addition, the follicular unit transplantation method allows you to have your natural-looking and growing hair again. This will also be possible if you experience another hair loss round.
However, you will still have scars in the donor area. Whether these will be visible depends on your scalp condition and how you wear your hair. Some patients have difficulty accepting that they will have dots on the back of their scalps, but the good news is that these scars will fade over time.
No Scars
Follicular Unit Transplantation is a minimally invasive procedure. In contrast to the Classic Technique, or Strip Method, where a strip of scalp tissue is removed from the donor area and used to transplant hair follicles to bald spots, technicians can extract individual follicular units directly from your scalp.
Once the follicular units have been removed from your scalp, they will be inserted into balding areas of your head and secured in a way that is natural looking. During this process, you will be under local anesthesia so that you won’t feel any pain during the procedure.
Many solutions was introduced, follicular unit transplantation required manual work by a surgeon who would use incisions and forceps to remove each graft from the scalp. This time-consuming and tedious process has now been replaced with the robot.
The robot uses a punch tool to create a small hole in the skin around each follicular unit, pulled out from the loose connective tissue beneath it. The small opening will heal in a few days; no linear scar remains. The fact that this is a less-invasive process means that your healing time is shorter, and you will experience fewer complications following the procedure. Additionally, your doctor can perform the function without shaving your entire scalp, which can help reduce your recovery period even more.