Chapter 1 - Defining a Hair Transplant Chapter 7 - Who gets Transplants? Chapter 2 - Follicular Unit Transplants Chapter 8 - Expecting the Best Chapter 3 - Suggestions for your Surgery Chapter 9 - Corrective Procedures Chapter 4 - Post Surgery Experience Chapter 10 - Learn to be Cautious Chapter 5 - Doing the Research Chapter 11 - Myths and Legends Chapter 6 - Setting Expectations Chapter 12 - Credits

The reason for using only Follicular Units

The fact that scalp hair grows in follicular units, rather than individually, is most easily observed by densitometry, a simple technique whereby scalp hair is clipped short in a very small area and then observed via magnification in a 10mm2 field. What is very obvious when one examines the scalp by this method, is that follicular units are relatively compact, but are surrounded by substantial amounts of non-hair bearing skin. The actual proportion of non-hair bearing skin is probably on the order of 50%, so that its inclusion in the dissection (or, conversely, its removal) will have a substantial effect upon the outcome of the surgery. When multiple follicular units are used (as in minigrafting and micrografting) the additional skin that is included will adversely affect the outcome of the surgery, by necessitating larger wounds, making the healing slower and often causing irregularities of the skin surface.

A great advantage of using individual follicular units is that the wound size can be kept to a minimum, while at the same time maximizing the amount of hair that can be placed into it. Having the flexibility to place up to 4 hairs in a tiny recipient site has important implications for the design and overall cosmetic impact of the surgery. This is one major advantage that follicular unit transplantation has over extensive micrografting. Follicular Unit Transplantation can minimize or eliminate the "see through" look that is so characteristic of micrografting.

The main reason for transplanting only individual follicular units is to duplicate the way hair naturally grows. By mimicking the way hair grows in nature, the doctor can insure that the transplant will look totally natural. Any grouping larger than the naturally occurring follicular unit will run the risk of a pluggy, tufted look.

Recommended Resources

	Ask questions and get information on Hair Transplants in our Men's Forums and Women's Forums! Information provided courtesy of the New Hair Institute, taken from "The Patient's Guide to Hair Transplantation" William R. Rassman, MD and Robert M. Bernstein, MD