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Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT)

Follicular Unit Hair Transplantation is today’s “gold standard” in hair restoration surgery and is worlds ahead of the older hair transplant procedures still performed by some of today’s surgeons.

To understand why the results of this hair transplant procedure look so natural, you must first understand how hair actually grows.

follicular units

How hair grows naturally on the scalp.

If you look closely at naturally growing hair using magnification you will see that hair actually grows in groupings of one, two, three, and four hairs.

These naturally occurring hair groupings grow in irregular patterns on the scalp similar to how grass grows on a lawn. These groupings are technically referred to as “follicular units”.

Natural hair transplantation results come from copying nature, hair for hair.

By relocating these carefully prepared bald-resistant follicular units from the back and sides of the scalp, physicians doing “follicular unit hair transplantation” recreate a natural pattern of hair in the balding areas.

To do this properly is a very time consuming process. It requires a team of skilled and meticulous medical technicians working closely with the hair transplant surgeon.

smaller follicular units

Advantages of a Follicular Unit Hair Transplantation over standard procedures:

Smaller grafts with minimal incisions.

Carefully prepared follicular unit grafts contain a minimum of excess scalp tissue and are very tiny, compact structures. As a result, the grafts fit into very small incisions that produce very little trauma to the scalp.

The use of smaller grafts, with less invasive incisions, permits a larger number grafts to be transplanted in one session. In addition, the small grafts can be placed closer together.

microscopic graft disection

Careful trimming of the donor tissue using microscopes produces more grafts.

By carefully trimming donor tissue into the naturally occurring follicular units under magnification (using high powered microscopes), the maximum number of intact and undamaged grafts are produced from a given amount of donor tissue. And since a patient’s donor tissue is limited, this enables the balding patient to ultimately achieve the fullest coverage possible.

Hair Transplant Videos

follicular unit hair transplantation results

A Follicular Unit Hair Transplantation looks natural, even on close examination.

Because the follicular unit hair transplant procedure replicates, hair for hair, the way hair grows naturally, it produces results that look natural – even under close inspection.

The follicular unit hair transplant also looks natural after only one surgical session. Additional procedures are only needed to increase the density of the hair transplant or to address additional areas of balding if the hair loss progressed.

This is in stark contrast to mini-micrograft procedures, where one session will generally not “stand on its own” and where additional surgical sessions are required in order to refine or soften the appearance of the previous hair transplants.

Recent advances and refinements in follicular unit grafting -

"Ultra Refined Follicular Unit Hair Transplantation."

While the standard micro “follicular unit” hair transplant does produce natural looking results, its ability to achieve high density in only one surgical session is limited. Thus patients may have to do subsequent surgical sessions in a transplanted area to achieve a full look.

However, leading hair transplant surgeons have evolved this follicular unit procedure into a highly refined procedure that is minimally invasive and enables the follicular unit grafts to be placed very close together. This new "ultra refined" procedure enables patients to achieve cosmetic density in a given area in one surgical session, while experiencing rapid healing.

Learn more about "Ultra Refined Follicular Unit Hair Transplantation" and the surgeons who provide it.

folicular unit

Respecting the Follicular Unit

Each follicular unit is surrounded by small glands, blood vessels, nerves, and a connective tissue sac making it a tiny self contained unit.

If these follicular units are damaged during removal or dissection, the hair may grow poorly.

Therefore it is important to cut only in the loose tissue between the follicular units to keep each follicular unit intact and avoid damaging it.

Find a quality hair transplant surgeon in your area

While follicular unit hair transplantation can yield optimal results for a patient it must be performed by an experienced and skilled staff.

Click the link to locate a prescreened hair transplant surgeon in your area who is dedicated to performing follicular unit hair transplantation.