Recent Advancement in the FUE Technique

Baldness is becoming very common worldwide, especially in young individuals and that’s why hair transplant is becoming a very popular hair loss solution. There are two common hair transplant techniques in which hair can be removed from a patient’s scalp – Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) and Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE). Both the methods are similar with respect to transplanting the removed follicles back into the scalp after their removal. The difference lies in how the hair follicles are removed.

The initial Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) hair transplantation methods began almost a few decades back. Since that time, this hair transplant surgery has grown to a market size of approximately $1.2 billion annually and is continuing to grow speedily.

What happens in a FUE hair transplant?

The entire scalp hair is usually trimmed in advance while undergoing a FUE procedure. The yield of hair follicles from the area is lower as the FUE technique only allows a surgeon to take every second hair hair follicle from the donor zone. In the FUE technique, each hair follicle is removed from the donor area one by one using a miniaturized tool similar to a punch. Both the FUE and FUT technique can result in certain level of marks – FUE forms multiple circular marks spread across a large area whereas FUT forms one linear mark. However, these marks fade away with time depending upon the skill of the surgeon who is performing the transplant.

How the follicular unit extraction method works:

1. In the beginning, the surgeon anesthetizes the scalp.
2. The surgeon makes a circular incision using a small microneedle, of less than 1 mm in diameter, around a follicular unit on your head, to isolate a hair follicle.
3. Then, the surgeon extracts the follicular unit from your donor area using a tweezer-like instrument. Multiple follicular units are taken this way.
4. Tiny holes are drilled on the scalp before the process of harvesting the follicular units, where hair loss has occurred.
5. The follicular units are then placed in these holes, from where they regularly start yielding hair.
6. After the procedure is complete, a disinfectant is gently applied to your head.

Some recent advancement

Research is getting better in the hair restoration and hair transplant procedures and more advancements are expected in the future. As per recent advancements in this technique, FUE hair transplant is now becoming very popular because there is no linear cut and no suture is needed after the procedure. Previously, Follicular unit transplant was usually done in which a large linear cut was given to yield the appropriate amount of hair follicles.

Another most recent advancement is the transplant of body hair to head. In this procedure, hair follicles are harvested from the scalp donor area by using the FUE technique. Most commonly hair follicles are taken from chest, beard, abdomen and other parts of the body. However it has to be understood on a very serious note that beard hair is the only nearest option as it gives thicker hair and hence gives the fuller effect.

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