Very early FUE result after 3 months : 3143 grafts

**Dr. Jean Devroye** · October 1, 2013

This patient received 3143 grafts for 6913 hair in two days.

The donor area was divided in two equal halves : right and left.

The first day, two kinds of punches were used 0.9 mm and 1 mm. Indeed, I often use two different sizes. The bigger punch for the bigger grafts and then, the small one to finish the area with the smallest grafts.

The result was : 1614 grafts for 3389 hair. So, 2.1 hair/graft for a FTR of 8 %.

(Definition of Follicle Transection Rate (FTR or TR)

This is the result obtained when the total number of transected hair follicles are divided by the total number of follicles that have been extracted, both intact and transected.)

The second day, for the second half of the donor area, I increased the size of the punch to 0.95 and 1.05 mm.

Result : 1529 grafts for 3524 hair, so 2.3 hair/graft for a FTR of 4 %.

This is a good illustration of the influence of the punch size on the result of the extraction.

A small augmentation of the punch size resulted in an increase of the hair number per graft (2.3 instead of 2.1) and a decrease of the transection rate at a very low level (4 % instead 8 %).

I'm not favorable to using the micro punch (0.7 mm). I think that it’s better to adapt the punch size to the size of the follicles to obtain as much hair as possible per graft, and in the same time less transection.

The reason is simple, the patient wants hair. And he wants a good result at the first surgery!

The picture of the grafts shows the quality of these ones.

The picture of the donor area was taken immediately after the surgery and showed the size of the gaps for a punch of 1 mm, with a density of 15 grafts extracted per cm2 (square of 4 cm2).

I will send you an update of this patient soon.