Bernstein Medical - Center for Hair Restoration

Tag Archive: FUE Hair Transplant

Is it Safe to Implant 6,000 Grafts in 2 Days Using FUE?

Q: Is it safe to implant 6,000 grafts in 2 days with an FUE procedure? — L.P. ~ Port Washington, N.Y.

A: A 6,000-graft procedure would be a very large hair transplant. Transplanting this many grafts at once would necessitate grafts being placed very close together. In this situation, the blood supply may not be adequate to support the growth of the newly transplanted grafts.

Another reason for concern is that when harvesting, FUE yields about 20 grafts/cm2. A 6,000-graft procedure would require 300 cm2. Since the donor area is about 30 cm long, this would require a donor height of 10 cm, clearly extending beyond the permanent zone of the scalp of most patients.

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Posted by Updated 2019-03-05

New Nomenclature for FUE

There has been a change in the terminology of the FUE procedure, it will now be called Follicular Unit Excision. This describes the two main components of an FUE procedure, incision (the separation of the follicular unit from the surrounding tissue) and extraction (the removal of the follicular unit from the scalp once it is separated). It is important to note that this is just a change in terminology, not in the technique itself. Click to read more!

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Posted by Updated 2018-07-03

When is it Best to Feather in Robotic FUE?

Q: I thought that FUE extraction is performed in a way that it cannot be detected. Therefore, it is best to distribute the pattern evenly starting from the safe zone and fading out on the sides. The ARTAS results often show a smaller extraction area and harder edges (no transition from extraction to non-extraction area). Does this lead to a higher risk to detect the surgery? — H.K. ~ Chicago, I.L.

A: Feathering of the extraction zone in FUE is a technique where the distance between the extractions gradually increases as one reaches the border of the extracted zone. When this technique should be used depends upon the short- and long-term goals of the patient. If the patient’s main goal of the FUE procedure is to wear their hair very short, then the technique of feathering and rounding the edges to have a less distinct border is appropriate, as this will decrease the visibility of the harvested area.

However, if a person does not wear his hair very short (nor plans to) and maximizing the donor supply is paramount, then a more organized pattern, with less feathering, will give a greater long-term yield and a more even distribution. The reason is that the healing of FUE wounds distorts adjacent follicular units making subsequent extraction in the same regions more difficult and increases the risk of transection. For this reason, in subsequent procedures we generally prefer to harvest in new areas. If we need to harvest more hair from the same area, we rarely go back more than once.

When one feathers extensively in the donor area, this utilizes a larger surface area of the scalp with less graft yield, so it may become necessary to go back over the same area to obtain additional grafts, often multiple times. This risks increased transection and an uneven, mottled appearance to the donor area.

If a person wears his hair very short, then feathering is critical (even though it makes subsequent extraction more problematic). It is very easy to feather and round edges with the ARTAS robot, but we make the decision to do so based upon the specific needs and goals of the patient.

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Posted by Updated 2018-07-03

Would A Hair Transplant In Turkey Be Performed Just By Technicians?

Q: I was thinking of having an FUE procedure done in Turkey, but I am concerned that it will be done with just technicians. Any thoughts? — E.E. ~ Mount Vernon, N.Y.

A: I do not have first-hand information on the clinics in Turkey, but there is a recent “Letter to the Editor” in Hair Transplant Forum International, the official publication of the “International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery” that you might find informative. From the article:

“In Turkey, there are 300 FUE clinics in Istanbul alone, but unfortunately at only 20 of them operations are done by doctors. We do not exactly know how many of those 300 clinics have legal permissions, but we know very well that an average of 500-1,000 FUE operations are done per day.”

If you would like to read the entire article, the reference is: A Report from Turkey – the situation in a top FUE destination. Hair Transplant Forum International July/August 2017 p 162.

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Posted by Updated 2018-07-03

Is Manual FUE Better Than Robotic FUE Because The Physician Can “Feel” The Follicle During Extraction?

Q: Is it true that performing FUE hair transplant procedures by hand is better because the physician can better adjust and feel the follicle when extracting? — M.H. ~ Great Neck, N.Y.

A: The ARTAS robot is a physician controlled, computerized device that uses a three-dimensional optical system to isolate follicular units from the back of the scalp in a hair transplant. The robotic system assists the physician in the extraction of grafts with precision and speed. Although there is some advantage to having “human feel” for the tissue, this is far outweighed by the fact that repetitive procedures performed manually thousands of times lead to operator fatigue and result in increased transection and damage to grafts. With the ARTAS robotic system, the quality of the first and the last graft harvested will be the same.

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Posted by Updated 2018-07-03

Why Visit a Practice That Specializes in Both FUT and FUE?

Q: Why go to a practice that specializes in both FUT and FUE? — L.P., Bayside, NY

A: This is a great question, but the answer may be counterintuitive in today’s age of specialization. The answer is that you should always go to the practice that offers both. To deliver the best care, hair restoration physicians should have expertise in both Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) and Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) techniques and should offer both in their practices. There are at least five good reasons why.

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Posted by Updated 2022-06-13

Dr. Bernstein in New York Magazine ‘Best Doctors’ Issue for Seventeenth Consecutive Year

Robert M. Bernstein, MD, MBA, FAAD, FISHRS, a Clinical Professor of Dermatology at Columbia University in New York and distinguished pioneer of modern hair transplant surgery, was included for the seventeenth consecutive time in the ‘Best Doctors’ edition of New York Magazine. Dr. Bernstein was selected by his peers as one of New York’s top doctors on account of his prominent work in developing Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT), Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE), and Robotic Hair Transplantation (Robotic FUE).

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Posted by Robert M. Bernstein M.D. Updated 2017-06-05

Interview on Hair Loss and Hair Transplantation

Part 1

Hair Loss in the Younger Person

Interviewer: I brought a fair number of questions related to aspects of androgenetic alopecia and hair transplantation, but I will also ask you some questions regarding two other types of hair loss, like alopecia areata and cicatricial alopecia. Most of our listeners are fairly educated about the different hair restoration options available to them, so I’ll tailor my questions primarily for this type of audience.

The first question that I want to direct here is the dilemma that many young people face when they’re losing their hair and are considering getting a hair transplant. They typically don’t know the degree to which their hair loss is going to progress. When you’re in your 20s and 30s, you want to have a decently low-running hairline and you want to have a crown that looks full. But given that you don’t know how far your hair loss is going to go, how would you address this scenario for people in that age range?

Dr. Bernstein: That is the main problem with treating younger people. We don’t really know how they’re going to progress. It is so important to wait, usually until the person is 23 to 25 before you can really get a sense of how much hair loss they are going to lose. And even at that age it’s sometimes very difficult to tell. That’s even after considering things such as family history.

A problem with treating a younger person with surgical hair restoration is that they often want things that are unrealistic. A person in their 20s is what we call “backward-looking.” They’re looking to when they were a teenager and they want their flat hairline back and all their old density. But hair transplants are forward-looking. We need to consider what they’re going to be like in ten or twenty years – not how they looked in the past.

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Posted by Robert M. Bernstein M.D. Updated 2017-04-21

What are Follicular Unit Transplantation and Follicular Unit Extraction, and How do They Differ?

Q: What is Follicular Unit Transplantation and how is it different from Follicular Unit Extraction? — H.L., White Plains, NY

A: Follicular Unit Hair Transplantation, called FUT for short, is a procedure where hair is transplanted in the naturally occurring groups of one to four hair follicles. These individual groups of hair, or units, are dissected from a single donor strip using a stereo-microscope. The area where the donor strip was removed is sutured closed, generally leaving a thin, fine, line scar.

In Follicular Unit Extraction, or FUE, the individual units are removed directly from the back or sides of the scalp through a small round instrument called a punch. There is no linear scar. There is, however, scarring from the removal of each follicle. Although the scars of FUE are tiny and round, the total amount of scarring is actually more than in FUT.

In addition, since in FUE the bald skin around each follicular unit is not removed, the total amount of hair that can be removed in FUE is substantially less than in FUT. This is because if one were to remove all the hair in an area, it would be bald. In FUT, the intervening bald tissue is removed along with the follicles in the strip.

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Posted by Robert M. Bernstein M.D. Updated 2017-12-11

Can I Have an FUE Hair Transplant Using Beard Hair?

Q: Can you use beard hair for a hair transplant using Follicular Unit Extraction? — A.C., San Francisco, CA

A: It is possible to use beard hair for a hair transplant, but there are three main differences between harvesting from the donor area and harvesting from the beard that should be taken into account. These are: 1) scarring 2) ease of extraction and 3) hair quality. Let’s explore these differences in turn.

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Posted by Robert M. Bernstein M.D. Updated 2017-12-11

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