Why the Latest Hair Transplant Techniques Won't Disappoint You
Plugs / Old Technology
The first hair transplant method was the use of a machine similar to a drill. Surgeons would remove a plug of hairs (8 to 15 or even more hairs at a time). This is where the terminology 'plugs' comes from. It gave the patient instant hair density but no artistry was applied so the result was an unsitely corn row look.
Grafts
Then came the newer method of harvesting where the surgeon would remove a whole section of hair without the use of drills. Each section contained anywhere between one and six hairs per graph according to the patient's hair density. This resulted in a much more natural look and could be very good for certain patients. This method is still in use by many doctors today and produces positive results.
Follicular Units / Latest Techniques
This state of the art method used by our office for hair transplantation is cutting the hair harvested into its original units of hair or hair follicles. Cutting the hairs the way they are planted naturally in the scalp in groups of ones, twos and threes allows for more softness, a closer placement and a more natural outcome.
Techniques include:
Hair Transplant Surgery
- follicular multi-unit grafting
- follicular unit grafting
- micrografting
The only permanent way to restore living and growing hair is through hair transplant surgery. Natural looking transplant surgery requires the use of artistically placed micrografts.
Follicular multi-unit grafting …“Giving density to certain areas”.
What follicular multi-unit grafting means to you
- Captures as many hair follicles in the graft to achieve density
- For patients with very good density in the donor area
- Recommended for African-American hair and curly Caucasian hair
Follicular unit grafting …“Preserve the architecture of the entire follicular unit”.
What follicular unit grafting means to you:
- For patients who need total frontal reconstruction and construction of hairlines
- Recommended for people with thin straight hair, poor to average density
Micrografting …“Provides softness to hairlines”.
What micrografting means to you:
- One or two hairs will grow from this grafting giving the softness you desire
- Recommended for people looking to fill in a crown area and wanting soft hairlines
Recipient Site Preparatio
What is Recipient Site Preparation?
The recipient area (the bald or thinning area of the scalp) is the area where the micrografts are meticulously planted. This “planting” is done in one of three ways:
Slits
- The most common way to prepare the donor area
- Uses different types of blades
Punches
- Still used by doctors for larger grafts and to camouflage grafts
- Used in the extraction of the follicular units directly from the donor area technique called follicular nit extraction (FUE)
Needles
- Used for the smaller follicular unit grafts and the single unit ones
- Maximum dense packing uses needles where the donor site has the most amount of hair per centimeter square area