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Hair Sciences Center of Colorado - FAQs
Micrografts and Minigrafts
- What are micro and minigrafts?
- The term "minigraft" was introduced in the 1980s and refers to small plugs that were modified from larger plugs. These grafts range in size from 1.75 mm to 3.0 mm, and they are placed into holes made with punches or into tiny slits. Because minigrafts are harvested from strips of skin taken from the back of the head and cut to fit the size of the recipient site, they usually have a tufted or pluggy look - no matter how small. This is because a minigraft is comprised of multiple follicular units, an artificial grouping of hair that does not occur naturally on the scalp. Thus, the hairs in the minigrafts can be compressed together by the skin and have the visual appearance of a tuft of hair surrounded by bald skin.
Micrografts also came into use in the United States in the 1980s as technicians began taking one- and two-hair grafts off the side of larger plugs. They were never intended to be placed all over the scalp, but along the frontal hairline where they would soften the transition zone from bald forehead to the hair contained in the minigrafts. As doctors began to move away from the minigraft because of its pluggy look, they turned to the micrograft, the forerunner of the follicular unit now used so successfully.
- Is there a difference between micrograft surgery and follicular transplant surgery?
- The implantation of both micrografts and follicular units is the same. There is, however, a technical difference between the grafts. Healing and recovery processes are identical as well.
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