FUE or FUT Hair Transplant - HRBR - Hair Restoration Blackrock

FUE or FUT hair transplant explainer video from HRBR - Hair Restoration Blackrock. http://www.hrbr.ie

FUT or FUE. There are two surgical techniques by which hair can be removed from a patient’s scalp. Follicular unit transplantation, FUT, and follicular unit extraction, FUE.

Regardless of which technique is used to remove the hair, the method for transplanting each of the grafts is exactly the same.

When carrying out a hair transplant the surgeon must ensure that the donor hair is only taken from the safe donor region.

In an FUT transplant a thin strip of hair is removed from the donor region. In an FUE transplant each hair graft is removed from the donor region one by one, using a punch tool.

Both techniques form scars. FUT forms one linear scar, whereas FUE forms multiple circular scars, spread across a large area.

Many clinics promote FUE over FUT. This is mainly due to the fact that a smaller team is needed to carry out this procedure.

When carrying out in FUT procedure, a skilled consultant surgeon is required to complete the surgery to an acceptable standard, without putting the patient at risk.

However, both techniques have their advantages and disadvantages.

For patients undergoing an FUE procedure, in most cases the entire scalp must be shaved in advance of the procedure.

For patients undergoing an FUT procedure, only the strip of hair to be removed is trimmed, allowing patients to return to their normal lives much more quickly, without others being aware they have had a transplant.

As the FUE technique only allows a technician to take every second hair graft from the safe zone, the yield of grafts from the area is lower, with many clinics forced to go outside of this zone, which means as the patient ages, these transplanted hairs may thin and be lost.

It can also result in the circular scars outside of the donor region becoming visible as time passes.

The survival rate of grafts in an FUE procedure is lower as the accuracy of the punch tool is lower than that of a technician using a microscope.

An FUT procedure requires a stitch to be used and the patient must return seven to ten days later to have this removed.

In an FUE procedure no stitches are needed.

For patients that like to wear their hair very short, FUE may be the preferable option, as the scars resulting from the FUE procedure may be less noticeable in very short hair as they are more spread out.

At a later stage, should a patient decide to have a second or third hair transplant, with the FUT technique a skilled surgeon can go back and remove the linear scar from the first procedure, leaving the patient with still only one scar.

This is not possible in an FUE procedure, where the surgeon will always create new additional scars.

A hair transplant surgeon should always assess the patient's individual needs and advise on the best technique for each individual case.

At HRBR we will favour the FUT technique for larger hair transplants as the results are generally superior. For smaller transplants and the transplantation of scars and eyebrows often the FUE technique is the preferable option.
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