Know your MODERN options:
There are several different types of hair transplant procedures available today, but most may be categorized into three basic kinds:
As you do research for your own hair transplant these terms will become very familiar to you.
- FUT- Follicular Unit Transplant (also known as the “strip procedure”) – Is the most popular hair transplant procedure performed in America today. It is considered the gold standard and is the measure by which all other hair transplant procedures are compared. During this procedure a hair bearing strip is removed from the back of the head leaving a linear scar that is easily concealed under the hair. The strip is divided into follicular unit grafts (hair roots) by technicians and these grafts are then implanted into the thin and balding areas where they actually take root and grow new hair. In every way FUT is the superior of the three hair transplant methods, however there is a small percentage of the population who are not candidates for this procedure and so the other two kinds were made available. To learn more about FUT click here.
- FUE- Follicular Unit Excision (also known as the “one by one procedure”) – When a strip can’t be removed from the scalp the FUE procedure may be employed for people requiring 1,500 grafts or less. Rather than taking a strip of hair bearing skin, grafts are punched out one at a time leaving tiny round holes in the back of the head that will heal as tiny round scars. The grafts are then replanted into the thin or balding areas where they will take root and grow. However, there are some major drawbacks to the FUE procedure- the first of which is that it traumatizes the grafts far more than the FUT procedure does and thus consistently produces a result significantly inferior to the same sized FUT surgery. The donor area also suffers far more scarring and damage which will reduce the overall number of grafts available if needed in the future. To learn more about FUE click here.
- NSH- Non Strip Harvest– Is the middle ground between FUT and FUE. In this procedure small groupings of grafts are removed that do not leave a long linear scar, but rather multiple small scars only about 1 inch long scattered randomly throughout the back of the head which are easily concealed by surrounding hair. Because this procedure is not as traumatic as FUE the grafts grow better and more consistently, similar to FUT grafts.
