Follicular Unit Hair Multiplication with FUE

Ergin Er, et. al.

Follicular unit extraction is a technique of removing one follicular unit at a time from the donor region. The most important limitation of this hair transplant procedure is a high transection rate during the extraction process. In this clinical study, the authors transplanted different parts of transected hair follicle when harvesting with the Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) technique. Five male patients participated in the study.

In each patient, three boxes of 1 cm2 were marked at both donor and recipient sites. The proximal one-third, one-half, and two-thirds of 15 hair follicles are extracted from each defined box and transplanted in recipient boxes. The density is determined at 12 months after the procedure.

The authors concluded that the survival rate of the transected hair follicles was directly related to the level of transection. The authors demonstrated that even though some of the transected parts of the follicles can survive after being transplanted to the recipient site, the growth rate is not satisfactory and the hair is thinner than the original follicles. As a result of this study, the researchers recommend that the hair transplant surgeon not transplant the sectioned parts and that they should be careful with the patients whose transection rate is high during Follicular Unit Extraction procedures.