FUE hair transplant technique
People with thinning or balding hair often suffer from psychological discomfort. A FUE hair transplant can help.
Nobody likes to lose hair. Hair loss often comes suddenly, and in many cases hair growth does not return on its own. Skin diseases, burns, injuries, and above all genetic hormonal hair loss (also called androgenetic alopecia), are the most common causes.
To provide those affected with replacement hair, FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction) hair transplants use the patients’ own transplanted hair to ensure the long-term and lifelong replacement of the original lost hair.
Follicular Unit Extraction Hair Transplant
In a FUE procedure the patient’s own intact hair follicles are removed from an area of the scalp where hair still grows strongly, and transplanted to the balding area on the scalp. This allows the patient’s own hair to form new roots and grow back naturally.
In Follicular Unit Extraction, individual follicular units are removed from the donor area using a hollow needle known as a punch. The units are then carefully prepared and then implanted into the scalp. Unlike the damaged units, the follicular hair units harvested with the punch tool are resistant to the hormone (DHT) that causes hair loss, and this guarantees the treatment’s success.
The healthy follicular unit, also called a hair graft, forms the foundation for new hair growth.
A follicular unit (graft) is a group of 1-4 hairs that are centred and close together. Human scalp hair does not usually grow from several scattered individual hairs but is arranged in small clumps (follicular units).
In hair transplantation, these units are removed and used to grow a natural hair pattern. Follicular units can be removed using a scalp strip and transplanted again. This is the traditional technique FUT (Follicular Unit Transfer), although this is used less these days as it often leaves scarring in the donor area.
FUE Hair Transplants: reliable and safe
The part of the operation where the surgeon directly punctures the scalp with a punch (the hollow needle) is called Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE). The extracted follicular units are then placed in the areas where there has been hair loss. They have strong resistance to hair loss even in areas strongly influenced by the hormone DHT.
After between 6 and 12 months, hair will grow back permanently. Even in areas that were completely bald, a year after an FUE transplant, there is usually full hair growth.
In FUE Follicular Unit Extraction hair transplantation, a punch used usually has a diameter of 0.9 mm. The decisive factor here is the diameter of the hair roots. So that the surgeon can see exactly what they are doing, the patient will usually have their head shaved first. This means there are no hairs getting in the way of the surgeon’s delicate work.
The grafts are usually extracted with the punch needle from the sides of the head, the nape of the neck, and the areas around the ear. This is where hair growth usually stays the strongest for patients who are suffering hair loss.
If the hair roots in the upper part of the ears are thinner, punches with a diameter of 0.6 mm are used. For this, the surgeon will use only local anaesthetic and there are no visible interfaces or sutures.
Although the hair in the donor areas is thinner after the transplant, this is not visible.
The Hair Transplant Punch ensures that the grafts are removed without leaving a trace and with minimal infection risks.
Uncomplicated and long lasting - FUE Follicular Unit Extraction Hair Transplantation
After only 10 days, the areas where the grafts were taken are no longer visible and the natural hair has grown back. Most patients are pleased with the quick recovery and the less painful and gentle treatment method. The transplanted hair grows for about a month and then falls out for a short time. But there is no need to worry.
As the hair roots have now adapted to the transplanted areas, only the hair strands will fall out. After around 2-3 months, the hair begins to grow in the long term and after only half a year, those affected can look forward to an even and natural hair growth. After 12 months it is as if the hair was never lost in the first place.
Those who have the FUE method performed by experienced doctors and under the right conditions will have a lifetime of full and healthy hair again.