Fol­lic­u­lar unit extrac­tion is a method used to har­vest grafts in the least inva­sive way.  Fol­lic­u­lar unit extrac­tion enables the sur­geon to extract hair fol­li­cles using a tiny punch, with­out the need to remove a strip of hair bar­ing skin. This method of har­vest­ing hair fol­li­cles is what makes FUE dif­fer­ent from the stan­dard hair restora­tion pro­ce­dure. In the typ­i­cal sur­gi­cal hair restora­tion pro­ce­dure a strip of skin con­tain­ing bald resis­tance fol­li­cles is removed, this strip is then dis­sected care­fully under mag­ni­fi­ca­tion to pro­duce indi­vid­ual hair grafts. Both the extrac­tion and the strip exci­sion pro­ce­dure pro­duce com­pa­ra­ble micro grafts. The major dif­fer­ence between the two meth­ods is the har­vest­ing of the grafts.

The Pros and Cons of Fol­lic­u­lar Unit Extraction

Pros

·         Fol­lic­u­lar unit extrac­tion is the min­i­mally inva­sive way which fol­lic­u­lar unit grafts are removed.

·         There is less trauma to the graft dur­ing the extrac­tion process then with the tra­di­tional method

·         Patients who have reduced donor den­si­ties, due to poor hair qual­ity in the donor area, have a bet­ter, health­ier selec­tion of grafts.

·         Patients with tight scalps, where tra­di­tional strip har­vest­ing can be prob­lem­atic, are able to receive hair restora­tion now that this method is being used.

·         There is no vis­i­ble scar, patients who like to keep a short hair cut would ben­e­fit from this

Cons

·         The max­i­mum amount of grafts can­not be harvested

·         Grafts har­vested from places other than the donor area will not be permanent

·         The cost is twice as much as the tra­di­tional procedure

·         Prob­lems of “cap­ping” (this is when the top of the graft pulls off dur­ing the extraction)

·         Mul­ti­ple ses­sions are required to equal one strip method procedure

·         Patients with curly or fine hair are gen­er­ally not good can­di­dates for FUE