Q: I am trying to have my donor scar repaired after a 1000 graft hair transplant. I was told the FUE’s placed into the scar would conceal it enough to shave my head? I would like to shave my head completely bald with a razor.
A: In general, after a scar correction with follicular unit extraction you can clip your hair very short, but not shave your head. If you shaved your hair completely bald, you would generally see a vague outline of the linear scar as well as the small scars from FUE.
Q: Why are strips used so much in a hair transplant when there is now Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE)?
A: Strip harvesting is used in the majority of hair transplant procedures because it allows the surgeon the ability to perform hair transplant sessions using large numbers of grafts while minimizing injury to the patient’s hair follicles.
This is possible because once a strip is removed from the back of the scalp, the tissue can be placed under a stereomicroscope where dissection is accomplished using direct visualization of the follicular units. This allows the grafts to be dissected with minimal trauma.
This degree of accuracy is not possible with other hair restoration techniques, such as FUE, where the separation of follicular unit grafts from the surrounding tissue is accomplished “in vivo” (directly from the scalp).
Q: I am Norwood Class 6 and have read about both Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) and Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT). Which will give me more hair?
A: In general, FUT will give you more hair since, in FUT, the best hair from the mid-portion of the permanent zone of the scalp (also called the “sweet spot”) can be utilized in the hair transplant.
With FUE, since only the hair follicles are extracted and not the surrounding bald skin, if too much hair is removed, the donor area will begin to look thin as hair is removed. This will limit the amount of hair that can be harvested.
Although in FUE additional areas of the scalp can be utilized to some degree, this will generally not compensate for the inability to access all of the hair in the mid-permanent zone and the total amount available for the hair restoration will be less.
Q: Is it possible to do a hair transplant using follicular unit extraction without shaving the donor area?
A: In follicular unit extraction, the area that is extracted is clipped to about 1-mm in length. However, if the session is not too large, then the clipped area can be long and thin so that the patient’s existing hair will cover it. The person’s hair should be left long for the procedure.
Q: How did Follicular Unit Transplantation and Follicular Unit Extraction get their names?
A: The first paper on Follicular Unit Hair Transplantation was published by Dr. Bernstein and Rassman in 1995 in the International Journal of Aesthetic and Restorative Surgery. The title of the paper used the abbreviated name Follicular Transplantation. The longer name “Follicular Unit Transplantation” was formalized by Bernstein et. al. in the paper “Standardizing the classification and description of follicular unit transplantation and mini-micrografting techniques.” This paper appeared in Dermatologic Surgery in 1998.
Follicular Unit Extraction derived its name from Rassman and Bernstein’s publication “Follicular Unit Extraction: Minimally invasive surgery for hair transplantation” that appeared in Dermatologic Surgery in 2002.
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Disclaimer: The purpose of the Hair Transplant Blog is to provide the public with general information on hair restoration. Information provided on this site should not be used for medical diagnosis and/or treatment.
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