Follicular Units

• What are follicular units and why are they so important?
• How is Follicular Unit Transplantation different from mini/micro grafting?
• What is Follicular Unit Transplantation?
• What is Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE)?
• Why FUE?
• What is a bifollicular unit?

What are follicular units and why are they so important?

Hair grows out in groups of 1-4 hairs, with hairless skin between these units. Follicular unit transplanting consists of using stereomicroscopes to carefully remove these units intact from the skin to transplant to the bald areas. The hairless skin between the follicles is removed so that you get a genuine “hair” transplant. It is important to do this because the last thing a patient with a bald skin needs is to have more bald skin transplanted along with the hair.

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How is Follicular Unit Transplantation different from mini/micro grafting?

A micro-graft is a graft containing 1-2 hairs and a mini-graft is a graft containing 3-6 hairs. Therefore, follicular unit grafts are actually a form of mini/micro grafting. But that is where the similarity ends. Mini/micro grafting does not respect the follicular units. They are prepared by removing the donor strip with a multi-bladed knife, which results in more hair transection than with a single bladed knife. After the strip removal, the grafts are prepared and cut-to-size using little or no magnification and with little respect for the natural follicular units. This causes three problems: 1) more transection 2) transplanting the hairless skin and 3) less density in the recipient area due to the hairless skin being transplanted and the larger size of the grafts. The main advantages of mini/micro grafting are that is faster for the surgeon and requires less skill and manpower for the assistants and is therefore cheaper. The results, unfortunately, often reflect this.

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What is Follicular Unit Transplantation?

Follicular Unit Transplantation is the transplantation of very small, individual, naturally occurring groups of hair called follicular units. Follicular units are comprised of one, two, three and sometimes four hairs each. These units are placed in thinning/balding areas following natural hair growth patterns.

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What is Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE)?

Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) involves the removal of individual follicular units from the donor area, one by one, without a standard surgical incision. It is an extremely expensive and time consuming procedure which has yet to be proven to be as effective as a mega session of follicular unit transplantation. Until it is a time-proven surgical procedure Hair Restoration Blackrock. will not be offering this service for large mega sessions.  However when only a small number of follicular units are required such as in the repair of a small scar, we do offer this service. 

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Why FUE?

Follicular Unit Extraction was developed because some patients were unhappy with the appearance of the "donor" scar on the back of the head.  With proper surgical technique the donor scar should be virtually invisible in the majority of cases.  FUE for large transplant sessions is really only indicated in extremely unusual situations, where a patient, having had a hair transplant previously, wants to shave his head.

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What is a bifollicular unit?

Some follicular units can occur very close together so rather than separating them into two individual grafts, they are carefully dissected out using the stereomicroscope into a tiny piece of tissue containing just two follicular units. Placed in the forelock area they provide extra density beyond that which can be achieved using single follicular units on their own.

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