Question for HT vets and Docs

[Guest]

Hey fellas

 

Im very new to HT and doing alot of research before i might go ahead with my first procedure.

 

Im just beggining to learn the difference between micro/mini's and fu's and fue's ,etc.

 

When a strip of donor is cut out the follicles in the donor hair are made up of 1,2,and 3 hair grafts.Can the 2 and 3 hair units then further be dissected into individual 1 hair units?

 

Basically my question is if i were to request a HT with ONLY 1 hair grafts throughout---is that possible?

 

My main concern is naturalness and if i have to suffer a little density well then so be it.

 

Thanks for any info.Take care.

[Guest]

Hey fellas

 

Im very new to HT and doing alot of research before i might go ahead with my first procedure.

 

Im just beggining to learn the difference between micro/mini's and fu's and fue's ,etc.

 

When a strip of donor is cut out the follicles in the donor hair are made up of 1,2,and 3 hair grafts.Can the 2 and 3 hair units then further be dissected into individual 1 hair units?

 

Basically my question is if i were to request a HT with ONLY 1 hair grafts throughout---is that possible?

 

My main concern is naturalness and if i have to suffer a little density well then so be it.

 

Thanks for any info.Take care.

[Guest]

OK, there are no dumb questions, right?

 

So ...

 

"Can the 2 and 3 hair units then further be dissected into individual 1 hair units?"

It's physically possible to cut them up, but these 2 and 3 hair follicles are natural units, and you would be damaging them severely to cut them apart.

 

"Basically my question is if i were to request a HT with ONLY 1 hair grafts throughout---is that possible?"

Possible? Yes, but I doubt if you could find a doctor anywhere who would do this, as it's a really bad idea. I believe the graft survival rate would be very low.

 

"My main concern is naturalness and if i have to suffer a little density well then so be it."

You hair has 1 to 4 hair follicular units, which is how they come naturally, in everbody. You don't need to get 1-hair grafts for naturalness. There is little to gain in such an idea, and everything to lose.

 

In other words, there are a lot of things you should think about before before you make your decision, but this isn't one of them.

[DZ]

Dear Yankeeman,

 

I'm pre- 1st HT but have been doing a lot of research, which you HAVE to do if your even thinking of going this route. This website is incredible for that purpose but there are also others. dont read the posts yet. start with the research library and Pat's basic descriptions of follicular unit transplantation. know the numbers, the math and the science of it. then talk to some guys out here on the forum who have been through this a time or two like futzyhead, Jotronic, Arfy, NW and others. talk to some doctors too, and THEN...you will have a better idea of what questions you still have. believe me, its taken me a good 4-5 months of intensive reading and chatting to feel confident that i know a bit about this. dont give in to the pressure to do something and keep smiling.

 

cheers,

 

DZ

[R. Jones]

YankeeMan,

 

Your questions are valid, pertinent and are frequently asked.

 

On of the problems in the area of hair transplantation is that transplant surgeons do not necessarily speak the same "language." This is particularly true when talking about mini-grafts and micro-grafts. Generally speaking, a micro-graft is a graft that contains 1-3 hairs while a mini-graft is larger and should contain 4-6 hairs. The problem is that some surgeons who still utilize these grafts will use mini-grafts that are larger than 4-6 hairs and call grafts slightly larger than 1-3 hairs, micro-grafts. There are no accepted standards.

 

With follicular unit transplantation the language problem does not exist. In every human, hair occurs in groups called follicular units, containing, for the most part, 1-4 hairs. The vast majority of FU's contain one, two or three hairs, with only a few four-hair FU's being found. When follicular units are cut from a strip (and this must be done with a microscope to avoid unnecessary damage) the number of grafts obtained should be equal to the number of follicular units present. With mini-grafting and micro-grafting, the grafts are cut to size according to the hair numbers desired in each graft, without regard to follicular units. Even a micro-graft may contain more than one follicular unit, making them slightly larger than follicular units. Mini-grafts by definition contain two or more FU's.

 

FU's can be safely cut into smaller grafts, but there is no point in doing so. The only exception would be if an individual had an insufficient supply of single hair FU's to complete the hairline. And this discussion draws us to one of your other questions regarding the use of all single-hair grafts.

 

The hairline is probably the most critical aspect of a hair transplant and the hairline is intolerant of improper graft use. If you had looked at your hairline before you ever lost hair, you would have noticed that all the FU's in front were single hair FU's. This should be the goal in reconstructing a hairline, for if large grafts are used on the front of the hairline they will look like "grafts." I generally place several rows of single hair FU's in the front hairline, followed by two-hair FU's. Slightly anterior to the hairline I will scatter a few single hair FU's to "feather" the hairline and soften it. Three and four hair FU's are not used in the hairline. If I do not have a sufficient number of single hair FU's, I will cut some two's into one's until I have enough, but it is rare that I have to do this.

 

Once the hairline is completed, I would prefer not to use single hair FU's, and would rather have the larger FU's to provide greater density and therefore coverage. Scalp FU's normally exist approximately 1mm apart. With most current techniques, we cannot replace them at such a close distance and can only expect to place them around 3-4mm apart in a single pass (perhaps) slightly closer. The reason we would not recommend cutting all FU's into ones is that you would have significantly less density and coverage, as you correctly pointed out. Disregarding the hairline and perhaps the crown, if you have 1000 holes to fill, you would rather fill them with larger FU's than single hair FU's. Oftentimes if we have an excess of single hair FU's, we will double them into a single hole (site) to inprove the density (i.e., coverage). And a three or four hair FU will look perfectly natural, simply because that is how hair is normally distributed in the scalp, as I mentioned earlier. The beauty of FU's is their naturalness.

 

Roy Jones MD

San Jose, CA