quote from dr woods

[homer]

"We wish to make it clear that a Micro-Graft is a grouping of 1 to 4 hair. The term 'Follicular Unit' is a description of this anatomical natural occurence. Modern day Strip Excision surgeons use the term 'Follicular Unit' in prefernce to the older term of 'Micro-Graft'".

 

People on this forum told me that a micro-graft was not a follicular unit. could someone please clear this up. Thanks.

[homer]

"We wish to make it clear that a Micro-Graft is a grouping of 1 to 4 hair. The term 'Follicular Unit' is a description of this anatomical natural occurence. Modern day Strip Excision surgeons use the term 'Follicular Unit' in prefernce to the older term of 'Micro-Graft'".

 

People on this forum told me that a micro-graft was not a follicular unit. could someone please clear this up. Thanks.

[Guest]

as far as I know mini-grafts are the ones you should avoid.

 

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic''. Arthur C. Clarke

[arfy]

A FU graft is (technically speaking) a specific type of micrograft or minigraft.

 

Micrograft= 1 or 2 hairs. No other requirements

 

Minigraft= 3 or more hairs. Smaller than 2 millimeters diameter. (anything bigger is called a "standard plug") No other requirements

 

FU graft= dissected under microscope, all excess tissue trimmed. Family structure never divided, always left intact. Never combined with other families. Number of hair shafts can vary from "one hair" to possibly even (according to some doctors) "sixes" or more, in certain patients (1 to 4 hair shafts is typical, a six would be very rare to see.) Most people think of FUs as 1 to 4 hairs.

 

The first 2 terms refer ONLY to "how many hairs per graft". 2 or less hairs counts as a micrograft. Micros and Minis can be strip harvested, or they could be big plugs that get divided. They could be harvested with a rusty spoon, it doesn't matter. The only thing Mini and Micro describes is "how many hairs". In almost all clinics where they are used, Minis and Micros are not trimmed under microscopes, and have excess tissue, which can result in a pluggy look, cobblestones, tufting, etc.

 

- Minis and Micros are dissected by a technician, to fulfill a set amount: The doctor specifically tells the tech "X amount Minis" and "Y amount Micros" and that's what the tech cuts.

 

- With an FU procedure, just the opposite: the tech divides the grafts the way they occur naturally in the donor tissue, and then tells the doctor what the final count is. The natural groupings dictate how many ones, twos, threes, fours etc.

 

Hopefully everybody knows by now that it's a little more complicated than just how many hairs are in a graft, if you want a top-notch result. Method of harvest, graft preparation under stereomicroscope, and respecting the integrity of the follicular family (not splitting families, and not combining them in the same graft) are all additional concepts that are part of "FU grafts".

 

Make sense? Mini and Micro are old terms, from way back before anybody used microscopes to dissect grafts, or recognized that follicles were arranged in "families" and you should keep them intact.

 

Read

the Best hair transplant procedure for a different explanation, photos etc.

 

In the case of FUE (follicular unit extraction) each FU is removed separately, with the least amount of tissue as possible. If there is any excess tissue after extraction, the "solo graft" could be trimmed under a microscope, but hopefully any excess tissue remains in your scalp... that's the whole point, to move the follicles and leave any excess scalp where it is.

 

[This message was edited by arfy on May 01, 2003 at 11:05 PM.]