By anna-si May 27, 2017 - 4:35am

Alopecia (hair loss) can be treated in different ways: special shampoos, laser treatments, topical lotions and oral treatments that prevent or delay hair loss. When none of this works, the next step is to evaluate whether or not we are candidates for the hair transplant.

There are two options for hair transplant surgeries: FUT (Follicular Unit Transplant) and FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction). The main difference between the two lies in the way the follicular units are extracted.

Regardless of the technique used, the implanted hair begins to grow at the tenth month and the year can already be observed the total growth. There are patients who have more hair growth than others, between 95 and 98% of implanted hair grows.

Old FUT technique

In the first image, we see the old technique called FUT, in which a "slice" of skin is extracted, which is cut from ear to ear and then implanted hair by hair. The grafts are implanted into the small incisions made on the surface of the scalp with the help of specific micro-scalpel. With this technique is a large scar (1mm wide).

The procedure lasts several hours, under local anesthesia and without any pain. After the intervention, it is not necessary to wear a bandage and you can return to normal activities. When several sessions of micrografts are performed, old scar is removed with the new strip so that at the end is a single scar.

The grafts are going to anchor in the skin quickly and from the next day, they can be touched without fear of leaving. Implanted hairs grow during the days following the procedure.

It has the advantage that it is a fast technique, in which approximately 3,500 hairs can be implanted in 6-hour procedure. This surgery is already in disuse because it involves a large scar, which is often visible and produces pruritus (itching).

New FUE technique

This new technique called Follicular Unit Extraction is performed with a special machine (not all clinics have it) that manages to extract the hair follicles from one to the other, without having to leave a visible scar. It is a slower procedure (it is possible to implant approximately half of hair than with the old technique in the same 6 hours). The hair implant is performed with local anesthesia and depending on the amount of hair that needs to be implanted will depend on the number of sessions.

The greatest advantage of the FUE hair transplant technique is that when removing the hairs (follicular unit) from one, it leaves no visible scar. Another benefit of this new technique is that when extracting unit by unit you can extract hair from different areas of the body (back, pubis, etc.)