What is Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) Technique for Hair Transplantation?
Dr. Hootan Zandifar, MD FACS, is a facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon at the ZandifarMD in Beverly Hills, CA. A native of Los Angeles, he received his medical degree from the prestigious David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He completed his residency in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and was then accepted... more
Over the decades, hair transplantation has undergone significant changes in technique and results. Early on in the history of hair transplantation, the grafts included several follicular units and the type of graft was called a macro graft. These macro grafts, however, gave the "hair plug" appearance to hair transplantation results.
Macro grafts were then replaced by micro grafts were only a few follicular units were harvested and transplanted next to each other. The appearance was more natural, however, the limitation of this technique was in the reconstruction of the hairline.
In the late 1990s came the introduction of the follicular unit transplantation technique. The FUT technique used the extraction of the hair follicles from the back of the scalp via a strip technique. The hairs were then divided into their individual follicular units and these units were transplanted individually. This technique allowed for a very natural appearance and a perfect reconstruction of the hairline. However, the FUT continued to be limited by the appearance of a long linear scar in the back of the scalp.
The follicular unit extraction technique has now revolutionized the harvesting technique and removed the need for a linear scar in the back of the scalp. The FUE technique of hair transplantation uses small (less than 1 mm) punches to individually harvest the follicular units. Using this punch technique hairs can be harvested without a need for a strip excision. There are no sutures along the harvest site and after one week you typically can not see where the hairs were harvested from. This leaves very limited scarring in the back of the scalp. The hair follicles are then transplanted in a similar fashion as the FUT technique allowing for a very natural appearance of the hair and hairline.
To learn more, you can visit us here: What is hair transplantation? | ZMDHair & Zandifar MD Hair Transplant Specialist in Los Angeles
