Hair Transplantation – Other Methods

FUE made by HAND (Traditional Technique)

With Follicular Unit Extraction or FUE harvesting, individual follicular units containing 1 to 4 hairs are removed under local anesthesia; this micro removal typically uses tiny punches. FUE takes place in a single long session or multiple small sessions. It is considered to be more time consuming than FDI depending on the doctor’s skill, and there are restrictions on patient candidacy.

FUE can give very natural results. The advantage over strip harvesting is that FUE negates the need of a specific area of scalp tissue to be harvested, so there is no linear incision on the back of the head and it doesn’t leave a linear scar. As no suture removal is required, recovery from FUE is within 2 days.

Disadvantages include, increased surgical time and higher cost. It is used when the client chooses the traditional hair transplantation technique.

SEMI ROBOTIC FUE

The extruction of the follicular units from the surrounding tissue is achieved by automatic medical device.

The advantages include, decreased surgical time and therefore lower cost.

STRIP

Strip harvesting was the most common technique for removing hair and follicles from a donor area. The surgeon harvests a strip of skin of the posterior scalp, choosing an area with a good hair growth.

Each incision is planned in such a way that intact hair follicles are removed. The excised strip is about 1–1.5 x 15–30 cm in size. While closing the resulting wound, assistants begin to dissect individual follicular unit grafts, which are small, naturally formed groupings of hair follicles, from the strip. Stereoscope is used to avoid damage to the follicles. The latest method of closure is called ‘Trichophytic closure’ that is covered by the sourounding hair.

The recovery period is around 2 weeks and will require the removal of the stitches/staples to be removed by medical personnel.

Nowdays this method tends to be abandoned.

Combination

In rare and selected cases, we can combine the Strip with other techniques in one surgical application, called “mega – session”.