FUT HAIR TRANSPLANT
Follicular Unit Transplant (FUT) continues to be the Gold Standard of hair transplant. FUT through Strip Harvest is the most common and successful hair transplant procedure. With this technique, hair is restored with naturally occurring follicular units which are a group of 2-5 hair strands. These follicular units are used as hair grafts in the surgical procedure. The first step is to remove the hair-bearing skin from the back of the patient’s head, with the help of a scalpel. The gap is precisely stitched, which leaves behind a linear scar and is noticeable only if the person shaves off his head completely. The grafts obtained from the hair strip are divided into follicles. The last step is the implantation of grafts in the desired area.
An entire strip of hair is removed from the back of the head by an experienced surgeon, this process is known as strip harvesting. The area is stitched precisely, leaving a linear and hardly noticeable scar especially when done by an experienced plastic surgeon. From the extracted hair strip, smaller hair strips are dissected, by a process called slivering, with the help of a stereomicroscope. Follicular units are obtained by the experts from the dissected hair strips, which makes grafts for the FUT procedure. Each graft or follicle consists of 2-5 hair.
This is a safe procedure, which is performed by experienced surgeons. The after results of the surgery are satisfactory and visible within 6 - 8 months.
Patient Preparation - Before the planning of the surgery, the patient’s blood tests are done for the utmost safety of the patient and staff. Once the surgery is planned, the trained staff prepares the patient for the successful implementation of the procedure.
Local Anesthesia - For the painless procedure, local anesthesia is given to the patient. Sometimes depending upon the patient’s requirements, the combination of local anesthesia and strong sedative can also be given. Once the skin on the scalp gets numb, the patient feels no pain during the entire procedure.
Donor Tissue - In FUT surgery, to increase the yield and for minimum scarring, a thin single strip is removed from the scalp, which acts as donor tissue. For long-lasting results, the donor area is chosen carefully, with the maximum density of hair. After the donor's hair is removed from the scalp, they put in a chilled ringer’s lactate solution, which preserves the hair till the surgery is being performed.
Slivers and Dissection - After a strip is harvested from the head, it is divided into several single layers of follicular units, known as slivers. To remove any extra tissue, every sliver is trimmed off. Before implanting the grafts in the bald area, the obtained grafts are separated.
Creating the Recipient Sites - To create a recipient site is the most important step and for this, accuracy, precision, and experience is required because the final look completely depends on this step. The holes created thus is what determines the density to a large extent. The instruments used for this step are sharp blades and needles. In this phase, the angulation of the hair growth is also decided, and it depends on the patient’s natural hair growth. An experienced surgeon always ensures that the site creation is in the best possible manner for natural looking results.
Graft Insertion - After the selection of the recipient side, the last and most time-consuming step is to insert the grafts into the created sites, one by one. This is a long procedure and the patient needs to keep his/her head still as far as possible as the placement of hair grafts is a rigorous process. Once the placement of hair grafts gets complete, the positioning of all grafts will be cross-checked and the post-operative instructions are explained to the patient.
For all the hair transplant surgeries, the post-operative instructions are similar, which are mentioned below:
The surgical steps involved in the procedure are as follows:
Although FUE is an outpatient surgery, still there are chances of risk which should be analysed carefully. You should immediately consult your surgeon if you see the following symptoms:
The cost of FUT hair restoration surgery depends on several factors such as the length of the procedure, location of the clinic, experience and reputation of the surgeon, and lastly but most importantly the number of hair grafts that need to be implanted. Remember you won't be able to count the hair, choose the surgeon with reputation and experience. Don’t just consider the total amount, because that may mean less implants. Focus on how much hair you need and cost per hair and assurance that the surgeon has experience and a reputation for delivering results.
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