Hair Loss Treatment, Hair Transplant FUE/FUT

FUE

In FUE, the extraction of intact follicular unit is dependent on the principle that the area of attachment of arrector muscle to the follicular unit is the tightest zone. Once this is made loose and separated from the surrounding dermis, the inferior segment can be extracted easily. Because the follicular unit is narrowest at the surface, one needs to use small micropunches of size 0.6–0.8 mm and therefore the resulting scar is too small to be recognised. The main anatomical limitation of the technique is that it is not possible to identify the bulge of the hair from outside and hence the procedure is blind. Also, since the hairs with intact unit splay at the lower end and diverge in different directions, the process of extraction can result in a higher transection rate. The procedure is also slow as each unit has to be pulled out slowly. However, with experience, the hand eye coordination and speed of the surgeon, transection rate can be improved.

FUT

Hair After the advent of follicular unit hair transplant (FUT), older techniques like punch grafting, mini grafting have become obsolete. Follicular units in hair transplant surgery contain 1-4 hairs per unit with minimal amount of non hair bearing surrounding skin. The ultimate goal of this technique is to give naturally appearing hair line. Human hair emerges from the scalp in groups known as follicular unit. This follicular unit may contain 1-2 hairs in the frontal area and 2-4 hairs in the mid scalp area. Keeping this in mind the follicular units from occipital area are shifted to the frontal and mid scalp areas as units.

Indications of Hair transplant

Male pattern baldness.
Female pattern baldness.
Cicatricial alopecia.
Restoration of eyebrows, moustache (cleft lip), beard, pubic hair.

Male Pattern Hair Loss

Hair Transplant Growth Timeline

1

Permanent hair removal can only occur during this active growth stage.

2

Club hair transitions upwards toward skin pore and dermal papilla begins to seperate from follicle.

3

Dermal papilla fully seperates from folicle.

4

Dermal papilla moves upwards to meet hair follicle once again and hair matrix begins to form new hair.

Procedure of Hair Transplant

The donor strip is then cut with a 10 number or 15 number scalpel blade taking care not to transect the hair roots –
It is primarily used to treat male pattern baldness. In this minimally invasive procedure, grafts containing hair follicles that are genetically resistant to balding, (like the back of the head) are transplanted to the bald scalp. Hair transplantation can also be used to restore eyelashes, eyebrows, beard hair, chest hair, pubic hair and to fill in scars caused by accidents or surgery such as face-lifts and previous hair transplants. Hair transplantation differs from skin grafting in that grafts contain almost all of the epidermis and dermis surrounding the hair follicle, and many tiny grafts are transplanted rather than a single strip of skin.

Planning of the recepient site should be done in such a way that the hair line looks natural throughout ones lifetime. The hair line usually begins 7-10 cm above the brow region. A natural hair line is a zig-zag line comprising of 1-2 hair follicular units –
Reconstructing a new hairline is a skill requiring surgical as well as artistic skill. It is critically important to one’s appearance that a hairline not only be age appropriate the day of the procedure, but look natural as he ages.