3. How do hair transplants work?
In simple terms, hair is taken (typically from the back of your head) and transferred to the area of your head where your hair is thinner or balding. There are two methods in which a surgeon can perform a hair transplant: FUT (Follicular Unit Transplantation) or FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction).
Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) or Follicular Unit Strip Surgery (FUSS)
Step One – The surgeon will remove a piece of your scalp using a scalpel along the back of your head. The strip is usually 6-10 inches long.
Step Two – Using stitches, your surgeon will close the area of the scalp where the strip was removed.
Step Three – The scalp strip will then be separated into smaller sections using a scalpel – this strip of the scalp can be divided into up to 2,000 pieces, called grafts. These grafts may only contain one hair each.
Step Four – Using a needle or a blade, your surgeon will create small holes on your scalp where the hair will be transplanted.
Step Five – Your surgeon will then insert hair from the removed strip of scalp into the puncture holes – this process is called grafting.
Step Six: – Your surgeon will then cover both surgical sites with bandages to protect them.
How many grafts you get depends on a few factors depending on:
- The type of hair you have
- Size of your transplant site
- Quality/thickness of your hair
- Hair colour
Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE)
Step One – They shave the hair on the back of your head
Step Two – Your surgeon will remove individual follicles out of the scalp.
Step Three – The surgeon will then, similarly to the FUT operation, create small holes in your scalp and graft hair follicles into these holes.
Step Four – The surgeon will then cover the surgical site with bandages.