Three Reasons FUT is a Top Choice in Hair Restoration
When considering your options for hair restoration today, you no longer have to worry about ending up with unnatural tufts of hair sprouting from your scalp, advertising to the world that you underwent a hair transplant. Advances in hair restoration have given us techniques for transplanting hair that offer completely natural looking results. What’s more, these methods are minimally invasive, virtually painless, and require little to no downtime before you resume your active lifestyle.
The two procedures used most commonly in hair restoration are follicular unit extraction (FUE) and follicular unit transplant (FUT). The primary difference between the techniques is the method in which the hair is harvested from the donor area. In FUE, tiny individual follicular units (usually consisting of one to four hairs) are extracted one at a time to be prepared for transplant. In FUT, donor hair is extracted in thin strips, which are then microscopically dissected and prepared for transplant. With two such similar procedures, which one will offer you the best results?
Three Reasons FUT is Right for You
When you come in for a consultation with Dr. Arocha, he will examine your hair and talk with you about your goals and expected results. He will recommend the best technique for your specific needs, be it FUE or FUT. There are some significant differences, so let’s go over some of the reasons that FUT may be the better choice for you.- Larger transplant area - If the area on your scalp that you have targeted for implantation is a large one, FUT is likely the more efficient method for you. A potential downside is that since the follicular units are taken in strips, your recovery time will be a bit longer and there will be linear scars at the donor sites. However, if you are less concerned about those possible drawbacks, and more concerned about receiving grafts of high quality hair and achieving maximum fullness from those grafts, you should opt for FUT.
- Quality of hair - No matter what procedure you undergo, the object is to achieve the greatest benefit from the transplants. This means that the higher the quality of the grafts obtained from the donor area, the better your hair restoration will look. The FUT procedure tends to result in better quality hair for implanting, which is good news when thinking about the success rate of your procedure. During the FUT procedure, hair is removed from the scalp in strips, which are then dissected into smaller follicular units. Taking the donor follicles in strips (versus individually, as in the FUE procedure) keeps the grafts from damage, and retains their protective tissue around the root follicles. This protective tissue can keep the follicles from drying out as well as serving to safeguard them from injury during transplantation. The resection rate in FUT is much lower than in FUE (meaning that more roots and tissue are left intact) making them a better choice for high quality transplants.
- More affordable - While FUE is effective, removing follicular units one by one can be tedious and take quite a bit of time. Using the FUT method allows for a larger area of follicular units to be extracted at once, providing a higher yield of hair in a shorter time, and resulting a less complicated procedure overall. FUT also tends to be a bit more affordable.
