The concept of follicular unit transplants is to relocate hair and their respective follicles from the donor area (the safe zone in the back and sides of the head) to the recipient areas (front, top or crown of the head, eyebrows, eyelashes and facial hair).

There are currently two methods to harvest the donor hair: The strip method or follicular unit extraction.

Strip method: The strip method involves removing a small strip of hair, which may include thousands of follicular units.  The strip is then divided into the individual grafts (follicular units) by utilizing the stereoscopic microscopes for magnification. It is essential to do this step with the use of the microscope to avoid damaging these grafts.   Each of those graft may contain a single, two or four hair.

This type of dissection approach allows us to transplant thousands of follicular units and ultimately thousands of hair in one surgery at one time. A session may vary from few hundred grafts to more than 3000 grafts in one procedure.

This method will leave a tiny donor scar that is covered by your surrounding hair. The only time you could see the scar is if a patient decides to shave the whole head.

We currently employ, on all patients, a unique way of removing the strip and closure, known as the trichophytic scar.   The advantage of this scar closure technique is to allow the hair at the closure point to grow right through the scar. This will add camouflage to the scar and reduce its visibility.

 

step 1 removal of strip

Step 2 graft dissection