Follicular Units in Hair Transplant Procedures

Many doctors have known about follicular units for a while but it is only recently that knowledge about follicular units are being applied in hair transplant procedures. Today, information on follicular units are used by surgeons for hair restoration procedures.

But before we could truly understand the impact of follicular units to the practice of hair transplantation, we need to have a basic knowledge of what follicular unit is. In essence, an entity made up of several parts is referred to as a follicular unit. Each of these parts are important; an entity is now whole if one of its parts is missing.

The hairs are the first part of a follicular unit. They are what people undergoing a hair transplant procedure are most interested in. A follicular unit typically has one to four full hair follicles and one to two fine hairs. Sebaceous glands are also a part of a follicular unit. These glands are responsible for producing oil.

Inside this follicular unit, there are nerves, muscles and blood vessels so tiny. A band of collagen holds them together. Try looking at a scalp under a microscope and you'll see that follicular units grow this way.

This knowledge on follicular units and their makeup has led to innovative hair transplant surgical methods. Instead of simply moving individual hair follicles, a follicular unit, which contains everything that will sustain hair growth, can be moved.

To move these follicular units from donor sites (these are areas of the head that have healthy hair growth) to the transplant sites (these are areas of the head that are balding), surgeons use a method called single strip harvesting. In this method, small strips of tissue that contain the follicular units are moved to the transplant sites. With this method, the follicular units remain intact. In the past, mini-grafting and micro-grafting were used, but these methods did not keep the follicular units intact.

With Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT), a new microscope technique was introduced. Known as stereomicroscopic dissection, this technique has the surgeon carefully taking out the follicular units from the donor tissue, keeping them individually intact.

When FUT is used in hair transplant procedures, the donor site need not be large. Even though the follicular units are very small, they can be separated from hairless tissues with the help of a microscope. Basically, only tissues that have follicular units or are able to sustain hair growth are transplanted. In essence, FUT helps make a hair transplant procedure a more efficient procedure.

During the procedure, the follicular units are placed into tiny, needle-sized holes. Insertion sites heal rather quickly and there are no marks left by the procedure. This in turn makes for a more comfortable and faster recovery with better results.

In addition, hair transplant procedures that use FUT means fewer treatment sessions for patients, which in turn means it's more convenient for them. This is because a doctor can do more grafts in one session.