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FUE Hair Transplant
comparing the advantages and disadvantages of FUE hair transplant vs traditional strip procedures.
Dr. Prabdeep Sohi
Compare FUE vs Strip Hair Transplant
FUE is now the most sought after alternative to traditional strip hair transplant procedures.
FUE stands for Follicular Unit Extraction. It is a process wherein individual follicular units containing 1 to 4 hairs are removed under local anesthesia; this micro surgical hair restoration procedure typically uses tiny extraction tools or punches measuring anywhere from 0.6mm and 1.0mm in diameter. Each follicle is then inserted into tiny recipient sites made by the surgeon using a placement tool. Because individual follicles are removed, only small, punctuate scars remain and any post-surgical pain is minimized. As no suture removal is required, recovery from FUE is a lot faster than traditional strip technique.
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Comparing the Pros and Cons of FUE vs Strip Hair Transplant |
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| Strip Hair Transplant | FUE Hair Transplant | |
| Stitches | Cutting open the skin and closing it with stitches So can have stitch related problems | No stitches Minimally invasive |
| Stretching of scar | Can prolong healing period and one has to avoid physical activity for weeks | No such problem and one can start physical activity soon after transplant |
| Recovery | 2 – 3 weeks usually need 1 month of rest for atheletes, body builders etc | 3-4 days. Exercise, weight training, sports, can be resumed in 4-5 days |
| Donor complications | Not uncommon e.g. wide scar, painful scar, delayed healing of stitches and give away of stitches | Practically nil |
| Short hair style | Scar becomes visible, so sporting long hair style is mandatory | Can easily sport short hair style |
| Numbness above stitches | Numbness above the stitches often last for months or permanently due to division of nerves in the line of cut | No numbness because there is no division of nerves |
| Pain in the stitches | Pain for 10-30 days and sometimes even permanently due to entrapment of nerve in the area of cut | Practically no post operative pain |
| Tightness in the donor area | Common for few months | Nil |
| Blood loss in surgery | More | Minimal |
| Operation time | Less | More |
| Donor hair availability | 3000 and sometimes 3500 in one sitting Usually not more than 6000 in two or three sittings | 5000 in one sitting Could be even more than 10,000 with body hair transplant |
| For grey hairs | Difficult to visualize and can have more transactions | Procedure and transaction rate remains unchanged with grey hairs |
| For limited or poor donor area | You cannot select good number of 3 and 4 hair grafts | Maximum number of 3 and 4 hair grafts can be selected to increase the number of transplanted hairs |
| For patients with tight scalp | Larger sessions and multiple sittings become difficult | Ideal method |
| Shock loss | More chances due to more invasive nature of procedureesp in the donor area | Rare, due to minimally invasive nature of the procedure |
| For those with more risk of scarring like Asians | More chances of stretched out scar and hypertrophic scar | Minimum such chances |
| Control on graft harvesting | It is possible that the strip may have less or more hairs than pre calculated | You can calculate and control the exact number of grafts extraction as you wish |
| Special advantages |
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| Time for transplant | 3000 grafts in 5 hours | 3000 grafts in 10 hours |
| Surgeons time | Surgeon spends 20% of time Technicians spend 80% of time on the procedure | Surgeon spends 80% of time Technicians spend 20% of the time on the procedure |
The above is provided by Dr. Prabdeep Sohi and do not necessarily represents the opinions of HairSite.
