Hair transplant surgery isn’t something that’s new, but over the last couple of decades the technology involved in their procedures have advanced rapidly. Nowadays, there are two main types of hair transplant techniques that are used in surgery, these are the FUT (follicular unit transplantation) method and the FUE (follicular unit extraction) method. Both of these methods are incredible at restoring the appearance of your hair and giving you a thicker and natural looking head of hair. But there are some differences between the two procedures, most notably in the way they are performed, and the specific grade of your hair loss can define which procedure you are applicable for.
What is an FUE hair transplant?
FUE hair transplantation is a form of hair transplant procedure where every individual follicle is harvested from the scalp by itself. The follicles are removed in a “random” way, which is performed to allow the surgeon to harvest the hair that is required from the donor area with a level of thinning that is much less noticeable. Each follicle is harvested using a specialised extraction tool that’s less than 1mm in diameter to minimise any potential scarring.
Once the follicles have been extracted, they are prepared and individually transferred to the recipient area of the scalp where they are implanted in small groups between one to four hairs to accurately mimic the natural growth pattern of the hair. The procedure is considered to be minimally invasive and only requires a local anaesthetic, which means that any recovery time or complication risks are very low.
What is an FUT hair transplant?
FUT hair transplantation is very similar to the FUE method but varies in the way in which the follicles are actually harvested from the scalp. Where the FUE method takes individual follicles, the FUT method is performed to remove a small strip from the rear or sides of the scalp where hair loss is considered to be much less common. Due to this, the FUT hair transplant method is also commonly known as the strip harvesting method.
Once the strip has been extracted, the donor tissue is required to be separated into individual follicles so that it can be prepared for transplantation. Once this has been performed though, the remainder of the procedure is mostly the same. The recipient area is prepared in the same way as it would be for the FUE method so that it is ready to accept the transplanted follicles and these are implanted to mimic the natural appearance of the existing surrounding hair.
Your donor hair is precious
It doesn’t matter which of the two methods you opt for, during a hair transplant your donor hair is the most precious resource that you have. The single most important thing to bear in mind before surgery is that during a hair transplant, all that is being done is your hair follicles are being moved from one part of your scalp to another and as such, means that your hair is a finite resource. During surgery, the surgeons performing your hair transplant will ensure that they take the utmost care to protect every single follicle that has been extracted at every step of the procedure, from extraction through preparation and finally to the implantation stage.
It’s also very important to know that any hair that is not your own cannot be used during a hair transplant as your body knows that this is a “foreign object” and will reject it. Because the follicles used are being moved from one part of the scalp to another, your body knows that it is genetically attached to those follicles.
Unfortunately, what this does mean is that after you have suffered hair loss, depending on the severity of the loss you may not actually have enough follicles remaining on your scalp to be able to effectively undergo a hair transplant surgery.
What is the scarring like?
This one differs hugely based on the form of surgery that you have performed. Both are guaranteed to leave you with some form of scarring, but of the two it is the FUE method that is less likely to be visible. This is thanks to the way in which the follicles are extracted using the special tool which leaves an array of small scars that can be hidden away on the rear of the scalp, and thanks to the way the follicles are extracted “randomly” this is even more likely to be hidden when your hair has grown through.
The scarring associated with an FUT hair transplant is considered to be much more visible, but providing that your head isn’t shaven it should still be undetectable. Because it is extracted as a strip of follicles, the scarring tends to be linear across the rear of the scalp and depending on how many follicles were needed, the scarring can be quite large.
What happens after a hair transplant surgery?
After surgery, your new hair will need to be given some time to grow through, hair transplants are not a miracle cure for hair loss that will resolve it overnight. The newly transplanted follicles will show a small (very small) amount of growth and will then shed from the scalp, this is completely natural and nothing to worry about. Approximately 3 months later, you should see a noticeable amount of growth coming through but please bear in mind that this is just an average and some patients can take much longer to see any cosmetic differences.
As it is your existing hair that has simply been moved from one part of your scalp to another, you’ll see it grow as normal and will blend in naturally with your hair (thanks to some super work from the surgical team). The other bonus is you won’t need to take any medication to prevent any hair loss, it’s considered to be completely permanent as a solution to hair loss (but if you want, you can choose to take supplements to provide your newly transplanted hair with everything it needs to grow to its potential).
So which hair transplant surgery is right for me?
Well this all depends on the level of hair loss that you have already experienced and the kind of results that you are looking to achieve, but your best bet to figuring it out is to take a look at out FUT hair transplant and FUE hair transplant pages as they can give you more knowledge to make an informed decision. From there, all you need to do is book a consultation with a member of our team who will be able to give you all the information that you need and prepare you to take the first steps on your journey to better hair.