Source: https://www.fuehairtransplantclinics.co.uk/
Follicular unit extraction is the single most popular method of hair transplantation in the world. As a result, it is the procedure most people first read about when they begin researching the possibility of restoring their hairline to its former glory. Despite the countless articles detailing FUE that are available online, many people still find it difficult to wrap their heads around the procedure. This is largely because many of the aforementioned articles fail to mention that there is more than one type of follicular unit extraction. You see, FUE is, in many ways, an umbrella term. There are a number of procedures which follow the basic FUE format, while tweaking things ever so slightly. In this article, we’ll be examining the three most popular strains of follicular unit extraction. This will hopefully help you decide which, if any, is right for you.
Traditional Follicular Unit Extraction
Source: https://www.trichostem.com/
For a long time, those who wanted to undergo a hair transplant were forced to resign themselves to follicular unit transplantation, or “FUT”. FUT generally produced the desired results, but only through invasive surgery and extended recovery time. You can learn more about FUT – which, by the way, is still available – by taking a few minutes to examine this article when you’re done here. When the first method of follicular unit extraction was introduced, it knocked FUT off the hair transplant throne. While FUT required surgeons to remove physical strips of skin from a patient’s scalp, FUE removed the follicles themselves. These follicles were then preserved only to be later inserted into small incisions in the patient’s scalp. This method of FUE remains the go-to hair transplantation procedure to this day. Its appeal largely comes from its brief recovery time, which allows most patients to return to work in the space of a week.
Sapphire Follicular Unit Extraction
Source: https://miro.medium.com/
If minimizing recovery time is your primary concern, you should consider pursuing sapphire follicular unit extraction. Sapphire FUE removes and implants follicles in much the same way as its predecessor. However, the procedure calls for incisions to be made using a sapphire blade rather than a steel one. The steel blade used in traditional follicular unit extraction comes topped with a U-shaped pin. This can make it difficult to control the size of the incisions made on the scalp. The sapphire blades used in this procedure, however, feature a V-shaped pin. This results in smaller incisions on the patient’s scalp, allowing for more accurate placement of hairs and an even shorter recovery time than the traditional procedure examined above. It is not unusual for a sapphire FUE patient to return to normal activity just two days after the procedure!
DHI Choi Follicular Unit Extraction
Source: http://www.cellhair.com/
DHI Choi follicular unit extraction is one of the more controversial methods of hair transplantation out there. While it is certainly effective when performed by a suitable surgeon upon a suitable patient, it is a temperamental procedure that requires everything to be just right. When performed correctly, DHI Choi FUE utilizes a small pen-like device to store follicles prior to inserting them into the scalp. When a follicle is ready to be implanted, the device opens a channel on the patient’s scalp and inserts the follicle into that channel in one smooth motion. The DHI Choi method of FUE is about an hour shorter than the rival procedures examined above, so if you don’t have a whole lot of time to dedicate to your hair transplant, this may be the way to go.
