A hair transplant is a procedure that removes hair follicles from one part of the body, called the ‘donor site’, to a bald or balding part of the body known as the ‘recipient site’. Typically, grafting contains the hair follicles that will be transplanted from the donor to the recipient site. Hair transplantation can also be used to restore eyelashes, eyebrows, beard hair, chest hair, pubic hair and to fill in scars caused by accidents or surgery.
Two main techniques are used to obtain follicles for transplantation: FUT and FUE.
• In follicular unit transplantation (FUT):
The surgeon uses a scalpel to cut out a strip about several inches long of scalp skin from the back of the head and removed a portion of the scalp into small sections. When implanted, these sections will help achieve natural-looking hair growth.
• In follicular unit extraction (FUE):
The hair follicles are cut out directly from the back of the head through hundreds to thousands of tiny punch incisions. They gently place hairs in these holes. During one treatment session, a surgeon may transplant hundreds or even thousands of hairs.