Follicular Unit Hair Transplant

What is Hair Transplant? Word "Transplant" can be seen as  made of two  words,  Trans fer and Im plant . So, hair transplant is simply transfer of living hair. These hair can be transplanted in any hairless area such as balding scalp or area of stable scar, eyebrow, moustache etc. Currently, this is the only technique that can give natural, permanent, growing hair in bald area. Who Needs It? Hair transplantation is used predominantly to treat the hereditary balding condition known as androgenetic alopecia ( Male pattern baldness). Patients with male pattern hair loss tend to loose hair from the front and top of their head. Since baldness is often ridiculed in society, it can undermine one's confidence and performance, especially if it comes at a young age. Women with diffuse alopecia, selected patients with burn alopecia, eyebrow and facial hair loss patients are other candidates who can benefit from the procedure. What Causes Hair Loss? Althou...

As I discussed in my last blog, the scalp hair is arranged in distinct anatomical and physiologic units called Follicular units. The knowledge of existence of follicular units have revolutionised the field of hair transplant, so that modern day transplant looks absolutely natural. These are the advantages of Follicular architecture that we use in modern hair transplant; Maximizing  growth The follicular unit is a family. some have only one member while some have more. These members (hairs) of a follicular unit share vital support system. If we remove hair from them, then neither of them grow well. This results in sub optimal growth and inferior result.  Natural Appearance Since Follicular unit is a natural phenomenon, transplant done using follicular units looks natural and easily mixes with existing hair. The unnatural clumpy appearance of mini and micrografting is avoided. Since the follicular units are small in size an even density can be provided, mimicking t...

The two most commonly performed procedures for hair transplant currently are Strip method (FUT - Follicular unit transplant) and FUE (Follicular unit extraction). Although FUT is currently most performed procedure, world over, FUE is fast emerging as a method of 1st choice especially when cost is not a constraint. I offer both procedures to almost all my patients who have good donor area and even now, most patients opt for strip method since it is cheaper. The only difference between FUT & FUE is in harvesting the hair from the donor areas. The method of placement and the final outcome is similar in both methods.. Why FUE? 1. STITCH: Strip method will always use stitch / staples in the donor area. Some patients, in spite of the best techniques and educated judgment by the surgeons across the world will encounter problems due to stitches such as foreign body reaction, delayed absorption, suture spitting, stitch abscess etc solely due to presence of stitches. Such ...