Follicular Unit Extraction – The Need For A Good Doctor.
Although there is a lot to know when it comes to Follicular Unit Extraction, as a potential patient, you would only need to have a firm grasp of the basics.
As you may have already learned, FUE is a technique used for harvesting the donor hair follicles. Instead of removing a strip to obtain these grafts, punches are used to extract individual follicular units of 1-5 follicles. Therefore, there is no linear scar that you would need to worry about.
Aside from this basic concept, it is still essential that you try to find the best hair transplant surgeon, even if you have to look all over the world. Again, Follicular Unit Extraction simply focuses on obtaining the grafts. This is just the first phase. The next phase involves inserting the grafts. The doctor needs to create natural patterns of hair growth by taking into account the direction, angle and orientation of the shafts. He or she would then need to create slits in the head according to these details. And the grafts are inserted into the slits.
This second phase of creating the slits requires a combination of artistic and technical ability. The results should ideally look as though the patient never faced hair loss in the first place.
What To Expect The Day Of A FUE Hair Transplant
When you arrive at the clinic the morning of surgery, you will be asked to take “before” photographs. Photographs are helpful to appreciate the final results.
Then, the patient will lie face down on the operating table. A local anesthesia will be administered to the donor area, and intramuscular hypnotics will be given to the patient to take by mouth. The purpose of these hypnotics is to help the patient relax, and calm the body before the surgery begins.
The surgeon will then begin the extraction step of the procedure. Follicular unit groups will be carefully chosen from the donor site. It is recommended to make sure the surgeon does not implement any automated machines for this step. The results will not be the same. Automated machines are not as accurate as the human hand.
After each follicular unit has been harvested, the follicles will then be placed in a holding solution. The follicles will sit in the holding solution for some time.
The patient will then be able to sit up and use the bathroom. After the patient has had a break, another local anesthesia will be administered to the bald recipient area. Using customized blades, microscopic slits are made in this area for implantation. During this step is when the hairline is created. Surgeons are able to re design a hairline at this point. Building a gradual wall of hair, which is filled in by units containing two to three hairs, creates the hairline.