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Hair Sciences Center of Colorado - FAQs
Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) and Follicular Unit Hair Transplantation (FUHT)
- What are follicular units?
- Most people (including some doctors) believe that hair grows in single strands over the entire scalp. Not true. Look through a stereoscopic dissecting microscope at the Hair Sciences Center of Colorado and you'll see that hair grows in small bundles of one to four-and occasionally, five-hairs. These bundles, along with their support system (below-the-skin sebaceous glands, muscle and connective tissue) form what is known as a "follicular unit."
- What is Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE)?
- Follicular Unit Extraction is a very new technique that may help to eliminate scars in the donor area and to reduce healing time. Specifically, FUE is a method of obtaining follicular units from the donor area one at a time using a very small (one millimeter) punch (a surgical instrument used to obtain small samples of tissue). Surgeons performing this new technique select the follicular unit to be removed, the punch is then placed over the follicular unit and a small circular incision is made approximately half way down the unit's hair shafts. Next, the unit is grasped and extracted from the surrounding skin.
Inexperienced surgeons using this technique may damage more than 20-30% of the hair follicles. To minimize follicle damage, Dr. Harris has developed the SAFESM System and the SAFE Scribe for the patient's benefit (see below for a description of the SAFE System).
- What is Follicular Unit Hair Transplantation (FUHT)?
- FUHT is a specialized surgical procedure in which follicular units comprise the grafts utilized in transplanting a bald area. This calls for the precise dissection of each follicular unit from the donor tissue using a
stereoscopic dissecting microscope. As Dr. Harris will explain, several other important criteria separate this procedure from traditional "micrograft" procedures.
Once the units are prepared, they are carefully placed in thinning/balding areas in such a way as to achieve the most natural appearance. This means we rearrange the units-using one- and two-hair units to reconstruct the hairlines and three- and four-hair units to create density behind the hairline zone. This makes the results virtually undetectable.
- Are the end results of transplants using FUE better than those of FUHT?
- No, the appearance of the transplanted area is the same.
- How does FUE differ from FUHT?
- The difference is in how the individual follicular units are obtained. In the standard FUHT the donor units are identified and dissected away from the donor strip using operating microscopes. The donor strip (a portion of skin) is surgically removed from the donor area and the incision from the procedure always creates a linear scar. In comparison, FUE creates small (less than one millimeter) scars where each unit has been removed. No strip of skin is removed.
- What is the Harris SAFE System and Scribe?
- Dr. Harris, HSC director and lead surgeon, has developed a proprietary method of Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) called the Harris SAFE (Surgically Advanced Follicular Extraction) System. This patented breakthrough methodology is the most advanced hair replacement option currently available. The Harris SAFE System not only avoids donor-strip surgery - meaning there is less scarring and discomfort - but also minimizes graft trauma. The more grafts that survive, the better the outcome.
The SAFE procedure, uses a special instrument designed and patented by Dr. Harris known as the SAFE Scribe™. This new methodology means that individuals who were previously not considered good candidates for FUE-including African Americans and those with gray hair-have a viable option.
Additional patient benefits include:
- Virtually 100% of patients are candidates
- Increased available donor hair due to less follicle damage
- Increased donor capacity, as diminished scalp laxity is no longer an issue
- More natural-looking hairlines are possible, because the surgeon can select hair characteristics in addition to the number of hairs for placement. Specifically, the finer hair found at the nape of the neck or behind the ear can now be selected and transplanted.
- Decreased post-operative pain
- Reduced healing time
- No visible scarring
- This system is available to FOX Negative® patients
- Ideal for the patient who has been told nothing else can be done
- African American and gray-haired patients will benefit significantly and become better candidates for the surgery due to less follicle damage
Contact the HSC office to determine whether the Harris SAFE System is right for you.
- Is each follicular unit transplanted, irrespective of the number of individual hairs in that unit, considered to be one unit for purposes of your fees?
- Yes. It is the same price whether the unit has one or more hairs.
- Can hair from other areas of the body be transplanted on the head?
- It can, but this is usually only done when a patient has exhausted the scalp donor supply. The patient must be aware that body hair is not the same as the hair on the head. It usually grows at a different rate and has a different texture. Hair from other regions of the body will grow when placed on the head, but may have a slightly different characteristic than the existing scalp hair. Hair obtained from other areas of the body should be harvested by follicular unit extraction (FUE).
- Can you control the direction in which the transplants will grow?
- Yes. Dr. Harris carefully selects where to place each follicular unit that is transplanted. He chooses the recipient sites to maximize the natural look of the final outcome, as each recipient site made by Dr. Harris directly determines the direction and angle of growth. The direction will follow the pattern of hair native to that region.
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