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FOLLICULAR UNIT: A follicular unit is a naturally occurring grouping of one, two, or three (and rarely, four) hair follicles found in the skin. The average follicular unit contains about 2.4 hairs.
Follicular Unit Extraction: Follicular Unit Extraction is a method of extracting single follicular units, one at a time, from the donor site by using a tiny punch excision. A punch used to extract single follicular units is typically 1mm diameter or less. This technique is mostly utilized for body hair transplantation, scalp as well as repair of previously transplanted scalp. One of the negative aspects of this technique is unable to perform mega sessions.
Advantages:
 Minimally invasive with shorter healing time.
Does not create a linear scar.
Performs in procedures that require a limited number of grafts.
Possible to use body or beard hair for transplantation if required.
Disadvantages:
There are limits on how many grafts obtained in one session.
Multiple sessions required to equal one strip method procedure.
Although the individual scars of FUE are small, the cumulative scarring from hundreds to thousands of open wounds, left to heal by secondary intention, is significantly greater than from a linear incision.
Patients with curly or fine hair are generally not good candidates for FUE.
Twice as expensive to achieve the same result as strip method.
* FUE gives prospective patients an additional treatment modality to choose from but disadvantages weigh more than advantages. |
