FUT or FUE ?

[augustya]

OK, I have met a couple of Doctors who do only FUHT (The Strip Mehtod) who do not talk good about the FUE method saying that though there is no Visible Scarring in the FUE method, there is a lot of damage that happens to the surrounding areas of the Donor Areas, also if say for e.g 10 hair follicles are extracted from the Donor Area out of that atleast 3-4 Hair Follicles are wasted, so there is a lof of wastage that happens in the FUE Method ?

 

is that True ?

 

And obviously Doctor who do FUE don't talk good about FUHT saying it s avery old technique with a scar and lot of limitations...

 

So which Method is the best ?

[Mickey85]

Any doctor that performs fue that says 4 out of ten grafts are wasted should not be an FUE surgeon. Any none FUE surgeon that says every 4 out of ten grafts is making a blanket statement to try persuade you to go with his method and fill his pocket. I wont tell you which method to choose buthave made threads that can help you choose.

[1978matt]

OK, I have met a couple of Doctors who do only FUHT (The Strip Mehtod) who do not talk good about the FUE method saying that though there is no Visible Scarring in the FUE method, there is a lot of damage that happens to the surrounding areas of the Donor Areas, also if say for e.g 10 hair follicles are extracted from the Donor Area out of that atleast 3-4 Hair Follicles are wasted, so there is a lof of wastage that happens in the FUE Method ?

 

is that True ?

 

And obviously Doctor who do FUE don't talk good about FUHT saying it s avery old technique with a scar and lot of limitations...

 

So which Method is the best ?

 

These do not sound like credible doctors. Are they recommended through the HTN?

[Mickey85]

These do not sound like credible doctors. Are they recommended through the HTN?

 

Radha made a similar assertion to a patient recently about fue yield so he agreed to undergo fut after much deliberation...

[augustya]

These do not sound like credible doctors. Are they recommended through the HTN?

 

One of them Yes !

[Mickey85]

One of them Yes !

 

Care to tell us who?

[augustya]

Care to tell us who?

 

 

I hope I don't cause a lot of Animosity by saying the name.

[Mickey85]

Upto you buddy. If the doc said it to you than he or she has said it to others.

[james84]

My guess, an FUT only Doc;)

[augustya]

Radha made a similar assertion to a patient recently about fue yield so he agreed to undergo fut after much deliberation...

 

:-) wasn't me :-)

[Mickey85]

Thought it was her. It is absolutely disingenuous that she keeps saying that and i hope some course of action is taken.

[splitting hairs]

Tbh the yield is something you need to consider for FUE. Every patient is different and in some patients there is a lot of transection of follicles leading to wasted grafts. No doctor can predict how much transection you will get, hence some perform a test of a few grafts first.

 

My advice is research on this forum. Both methods have their place. FUE in my opinion is better suited to people with minor hair loss who will not experience extensive hair loss.

 

If you have a family history of extensive hair loss I would go for strip surgery since with FUT you can generally get more grafts since when the dr removes the strip you can use all the grafts on the strip.

 

Hope it helps.

[1978matt]

Tbh the yield is something you need to consider for FUE. Every patient is different and in some patients there is a lot of transection of follicles leading to wasted grafts. No doctor can predict how much transection you will get, hence some perform a test of a few grafts first.

 

My advice is research on this forum. Both methods have their place. FUE in my opinion is better suited to people with minor hair loss who will not experience extensive hair loss.

 

If you have a family history of extensive hair loss I would go for strip surgery since with FUT you can generally get more grafts since when the dr removes the strip you can use all the grafts on the strip.

 

Hope it helps.

 

Oh dear..get ready for the backlash from the anti-FUT brigade!

 

One thing I certainly agree with is that not everyone is a great FUE candidate. If your 2,3 and 4 hair folicles are not closely packed it's harder to extract and a bigger punch size may be necessary.

[SamSpade]

Oh dear..get ready for the backlash from the anti-FUT brigade!

 

 

haha. exactly, wait for it....

[Mickey85]

Oh dear..get ready for the backlash from the anti-FUT brigade!

 

One thing I certainly agree with is that not everyone is a great FUE candidate. If your 2,3 and 4 hair folicles are not closely packed it's harder to extract and a bigger punch size may be necessary.

 

Anti fut brigade? Really are you that childish that you cant have a civil discussion? The man stated his opinion which is totally fine and actually did so with more class than you did. I have proven that fue has less drawbacks than fut, thats why i believe fue to be superior. Doesnt mean everyone has to. Did i offend your deity? No. Nor did i make a personal jab at you or your stance.

[augustya]

Tbh the yield is something you need to consider for FUE. Every patient is different and in some patients there is a lot of transection of follicles leading to wasted grafts. No doctor can predict how much transection you will get, hence some perform a test of a few grafts first.

 

My advice is research on this forum. Both methods have their place. FUE in my opinion is better suited to people with minor hair loss who will not experience extensive hair loss.

 

If you have a family history of extensive hair loss I would go for strip surgery since with FUT you can generally get more grafts since when the dr removes the strip you can use all the grafts on the strip.

 

Hope it helps.

 

 

Ok couple of things here that can help me take a decision from the points that you have made firstly I don't have any hair loss nor do I have a family history of hair loss. Also the Hair a graft brig considered in my case is also pretty less could be 500 Grafts to begin with and under any circumstances not going beyond a max of 1500 grafts so in that case should I be only doing FUE ?

[Mickey85]

Tbh the yield is something you need to consider for FUE. Every patient is different and in some patients there is a lot of transection of follicles leading to wasted grafts. No doctor can predict how much transection you will get, hence some perform a test of a few grafts first.

 

My advice is research on this forum. Both methods have their place. FUE in my opinion is better suited to people with minor hair loss who will not experience extensive hair loss.

 

If you have a family history of extensive hair loss I would go for strip surgery since with FUT you can generally get more grafts since when the dr removes the strip you can use all the grafts on the strip.

 

Hope it helps.

 

Yield is something that needs to be considered in all cases. I went for fut and the yield waa terrible. No doc can predict the yield with fue or fut. No doc can predict if a scar will heal thin or not either. Funny how i see a stretched scar thread at least once a week while i dont see failed fue threads very often. How come you guys dont pick on that correlation hmm?

 

You can think fue is for minor cases, thats fine. But is you are going to talk about the unpredictabilty of fue yield, dont forget to mention the unpredictibilty of getting a disfiguring scar.

[augustya]

Can someone here tell me what are talking about when we are talking about yield ?

[1978matt]

Funny how i see a stretched scar thread at least once a week while i dont see failed fue threads very often. How come you guys dont pick on that correlation hmm?

 

 

Like I said...anti-FUT brigade.

 

FUE will give a superior result to some people, just as FUT will for others. But you can't go around calling surgeons disengenious when you yourself 'scare' a lot of posters into believing there is a strong chance of getting a 'horrendous disfiguring scar'.

 

 

There must be 5000+ strip surgeries in the US every year collectively by HTN recommended surgeons and I'm sure the vast majority of patients are very happy with their results and no concerns with their scars. Otherwise, could you direct me to the 1,000s of stretched scar cases posted on here and I'd be most gratified to see them!

[Atticus]

Yield is something that needs to be considered in all cases. I went for fut and the yield waa terrible. No doc can predict the yield with fue or fut. No doc can predict if a scar will heal thin or not either. Funny how i see a stretched scar thread at least once a week while i dont see failed fue threads very often. How come you guys dont pick on that correlation hmm?

 

You can think fue is for minor cases, thats fine. But is you are going to talk about the unpredictabilty of fue yield, dont forget to mention the unpredictibilty of getting a disfiguring scar.

 

Exactly, how many upon many upon many of scalps have we seen being disfigured due to FUT. I mean, come on man. When I had some piece of shit try to talk me into doing a FUT for 6oo FUE into the hairline, I ran the hell out of the there. This bozo wanted to cut out a big ass strip of scalp from the back of my skull for what? Dr. Umar did FUE, I look great and have no smiley scar in the back of my head. - NO thanks, barbaric with todays options. I have said, and i will say it again.

[Mickey85]

Like I said...anti-FUT brigade.

 

FUE will give a superior result to some people, just as FUT will for others. But you can't go around calling surgeons disengenious when you yourself 'scare' a lot of posters into believing there is a strong chance of getting a 'horrendous disfiguring scar'.

 

 

There must be 5000+ strip surgeries in the US every year collectively by HTN recommended surgeons and I'm sure the vast majority of patients are very happy with their results and no concerns with their scars. Otherwise, could you direct me to the 1,000s of stretched scar cases posted on here and I'd be most gratified to see them!

 

You see me recommending a procedure that has almost double the advantages as disingenuous as a surgeon persuading a patient into a procedure he is wary of but that she is better at? oh how sinister of me!! You lost all credibility to me now.

[greatjob]

Ok couple of things here that can help me take a decision from the points that you have made firstly I don't have any hair loss nor do I have a family history of hair loss. Also the Hair a graft brig considered in my case is also pretty less could be 500 Grafts to begin with and under any circumstances not going beyond a max of 1500 grafts so in that case should I be only doing FUE ?

 

Well as it typically is now a days on this forum your thread has turned into a pissing match over what method is better and your questions are being ignored so I will help you out.

 

My first question to you is why you are considering a HT if you are not losing hair? When they are referring to yield they mean the percentage of grafts that are transplanted that actually grow. In general FUE has a lower yeild than FUT but can be negligible in the hands of the right surgeon or can be exacerbated by certain patient characteristics. If I am honest I am concerned as to why you want to have a procedure if you aren't suffering from hairloss, but in general if you are only looking for 500-1500 grafts I would recommend going the FUE route.

 

Now sit back and enjoy the shit show this thread is sure to turn into...

[Bill - Seemiller]

Guys,

 

I don't see any reason why we can't host a civil discussion about FUT via strip excision versus FUE.

 

One thing I want to point out despite the fact that it is often discussed - FUT and FUE aren't opposing hair transplant procedures. FUT stands for Follicular Unit Transplantation which is today's gold standard hair transplant procedure. Follicular units are hair groupings as they occur naturally in the scalp and typically contain 1, 2, 3 and 4 hairs. This has replaced mini-grafting (larger hair bundles typically in groups of 3 to 8 hairs) as the dominant procedure over a decade ago.

 

Follicular Unit Extraction and Strip Excision are two distinct sub-types of FUT that deal with how follicular units (typically referred to as grafts) are harvested from the donor area. Both harvesting methods produce follicular units and thus, falls under the category of FUT. How follicular units are handled and the process for implanting grafts into recipient sites are practically the same (although each clinic varies on how they handle and place grafts - ex: stick and place versus pre-made incisions, various implanting devices, etc.).

 

Given the above, it's much more accurate to compare FUE to strip excision, but both are sub-types of FUT.

 

You can read more about the above concepts by reading our recently revised content on "Follicular Unit Extraction" on the Hair Transplant Network and Dr. Ron Shapiro's article on "Understanding Hair Transplant Terminology" on our Q&A Blog.

 

As to whether or not strip excision or FUE is "better", it depends on the patient's goals, and physiology. Both procedures come with a list of advantages and disadvantages and ultimately, each patient considering hair transplantation should become familiar with both before drawing a conclusion about which procedure is right for them.

 

While I don't agree with any blanket statements about FUE yield (the quantity of hair growth from what is transplanted), there are greater risks of follicular damage due to the additional forces placed on the follicle during the extraction process. Furthermore, unlike microscopic dissection of follicular units via strip excision, FUE grafts are harvested blindly since nobody can see beneath the surface of the scalp.

 

The above aside, many world renowned surgeons have innovated techniques and tools that significantly minimize the risk of damage during FUE extraction and placement and thus, in many cases, FUE yield is comparable to strip yield.

 

FUE's biggest advantage is that it doesn't produce the linear scar associated with strip excision. FUE isn't scarless, but provides greater potential for patients to wear their hair cropped extremely short without showing signs of scarring. However, due to advancements and refined techniques in harvesting a strip and wound closure, in many cases, strip excision produces a pencil thin scar that's virtually undetectable even when hair is worn very short.

 

I recommend anyone considering hair transplantation to become familiar with the pros and cons of both procedures which will enable them to make an informed decision.

 

Keep in mind also that just because someone prefers a particular procedure doesn't mean that it's the best for them. Strip excision is still a very viable procedure of harvesting donor hair and often produces minimal scarring while maximizing grafts for transplanting. FUE has come a long way in providing patients who want to avoid linear scarring with an option of obtaining large quantities of hair for transplanting as well.

 

In some cases, both methods can be utilized to maximize donor availability for patients (like me) who started out with a lot of baldness and very little hair.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Bill

[Spanker]

Mickey85 has some good links there. He is an FUE proponent and I thought his thread would be heavily skewed, but it is pretty straight up.

 

Some of what the doctor said is true, there is a lot of scar tissue that can give problems for future procedures. A wide scar can give problems for future extraction too.

 

I really can't say 100 percent but almost certain Dr. Feller has stated that the yield is not as good or as predictable as strip. It also depends on how many you want to plant. You can get really really big cases with FUT, but then you have a longer recovery time. Most don't have a problem with the pain but some do every once and a while.

 

I will say that FUE vs FUT really becomes a harder and harder decision to make as time goes by. Just 2 years ago, I don't think the results compared. They are getting better and bigger though.

 

Very tough decision. Depends on your goals, your age, your hair loss level, etc. There is no single answer for every patient. Yet.

 

 

Maybe, someday, FUT will be like BHT's and only gone to to maximize available grafts.

 

Good luck in your decision.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Another thing I want to point out is that physicians who make statements about a particular procedure are often speaking from their own experience. It doesn't mean they're "right" or "wrong" as much as it's most likely what you can expect in their hands.

 

Some physicians are also more limited with a particular technique than others. While FUE has become an increasingly popular method of donor harvesting, both harvesting methods (FUE vs strip excision) have their place and those who employ one more frequently than the other will most likely prefer and even be better at that particular method.

 

Strip excision versus FUE is still heavily debated amongst hair restoration physicians despite it's increase in popularity. I genuinely believe it's a viable donor harvesting technique but I also feel that quality strip excision will always have a valuable place as well.