18/12/2020
How does a hair transplant work?
Simply put, a hair transplant takes hair you have and transfers it to an area where you don’t have hair. It’s typically taken from the back of your head, but can also be taken from other parts of your body.
Before starting a transplant, your surgeon sterilizes the area where the hair will be removed and numbs it with a local anesthetic. You can also request sedation in order to stay asleep for the procedure.
Your surgeon then performs one of two transplant methods: FUT or FUE.
Follicular unit transplantation (FUT)
FUT is sometimes known as follicular unit strip surgery (FUSS). To perform a FUT procedure, your surgeon follows these steps:
Using a scalpel, the surgeon removes a piece of your scalp, usually from the back of your head. The strip size is typically about 6 to 10 inches long but can stretch from ear to ear.
They close the area where the scalp was removed with stitches.
Your surgeon and their assistants separate the scalp strip into smaller pieces with a scalpel. They may split the piece up into as many as 2,000 smaller fragments, called grafts. Some of these grafts may contain only one hair each.
Using a needle or blade, the surgeon makes small holes in your scalp where hair will be transplanted.
The surgeon inserts hairs from the removed piece of scalp into the puncture holes. This step is called grafting.
They then cover the surgical sites with bandages or gauze.
The specific number of grafts you receive depends on the:
type of hair you have
size of transplant site
quality (including thickness) of hair
hair color
Follicular unit extraction (FUE)
To perform a FUE procedure, your surgeon takes these steps:
They shave off hair on the back of your head.
The surgeon then takes individual follicles out of the scalp skin. You’ll see tiny marks where each follicle was removed.
As with the FUT procedure, the surgeon makes small holes in your scalp and grafts hair follicles into the holes.
They then cover the surgical site with bandages or gauze.
