Understanding follicular unit hair transplantation

A few doctors have been aware of follicular unit hair transplantation for a long time now, but it is only recently that it made its way into hair transplant methods. Nowadays these ideas are being used in hair restoration every day.

So as to have a good understanding how follicular units have affected hair transplant surgery practices, it is very important first to first understand what a follicular unit is. A follicular unit is made up of several parts. All these parts are important to the whole.

The follicular unit is a living unit with muscle, blood vessels and nerves that are all tiny enough to fit into this small package. The unit is set off by a band of collagen that holds it together. If you look under a microscope at a scalp, you will see how follicular units grow in just this way.

Many people today are interested in getting more and more hair transplant surgery. A follicular unit graft comprises of one to four full hair follicles in the unit and one or two fine hairs as well. In the follicular unit there are sebaceous glands which produce oil.

The idea of bringing this information into follicular unit hair transplantation procedures led to innovative surgical methods. Surgeons actually moved a unit which contained everything the hair needed to keep growing rather than just moving around individual hair follicles.

Single strip harvesting is one way surgeons used to move the donor follicular units to the balding areas. This is normally done by moving small strips of tissue containing follicular units. Such method keeps the units intact and ready to transplant. Unlike older methods of follicular unit hair transplantation such as mini-grafting and micro-grafting broke up the follicular units.

A new microscope technique was used as The Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) called stereomicroscopic dissection. This technique means that the follicular units are carefully taken out of the donor tissue and kept individually intact.

When doctors use follicular unit hair transplantation procedures with FUT, they do not have to use quite as large of a donor site. The follicular units are so small that they can be separated from tissue that has no hair, under the microscope. By using this technique only the tissue that grows hair is transplanted. It is a much more efficient procedure in that way.

Follicular unit grafts placed during hair transplant procedures are put into tiny holes the size of needles. The insertion sites leave no marks and are healed. This will enable a more comfortable recovery and better results.

Follicular unit hair transplantation procedures can make a big difference in the number of times a patient will have to go back for more treatments. It is very possible to add more grafts at one session, so that the patient has to go back fewer times.

Hair transplantation done using follicular unit procedures is becoming more and more the norm. Possibly this is because it puts hair into the scalp in the same arrangement as it grows there naturally. This represents a leap forward in hair transplant technology.

More on follicular unit hair transplantation at www.hairlosstreatmentforbaldness.com