What's the difference between mini and micrographs and FUT's?

[forlife]

What are the differences from the mini and micrographs fron the 90's to Todays FUT's???

[forlife]

What are the differences from the mini and micrographs fron the 90's to Todays FUT's???

[Rugger]

mini and micros...were circular plugs of skin that were just bored out of one spot and put in a circular hole pre-bored in another area of your scalp...the hair counts in these plugs could be as high as nine to 12..or higher...picture a greenskeeper changing the pin location on a green by removing a plug of grass and dirt, then putting the cup in its place..resulted in doll hair looking scalp, especially along the hair line where its most noticeable...

 

FU's are natural groupings of hair that are found in your scalp..either 1,2,3,or 4 hairs per grafts..under a microscope you can see how many hair are sort of "rooted" together in a sense..technicians then cut these natural grouping down to where no unnecessary skin is used....the receptor sites are small slits as well..hopefully depth controlled, which then accept these FU grafts quite tightly...no skin is "removed" at the donor site, merely a small slit is cut....thus allowing less trauma to the scalp, a tighter fit, less bleeding..and definitely a more natural look...like sliding a letter into an envelope...

[arfy]

Minigrafts and Micrografts originally began as plugs that were punched out and then subdivided into smaller sections to create Minigrafts (this was mid 80s). Later they were harvested via strip excision and cut into sections by technicians (the way most HT are done).

 

Technically speaking, a FU graft is a specially prepared type of Micrograft. Many people refer to FUs as "Follicular Unit Micrografts".

 

A true FU transplant will contain FU grafts only, and no Minigrafts.

 

Here is a brief article on the difference between FU grafts and Mini and Micrografts:

Best Hair Transplant

 

Here is a longer article that explains the logic behind the all-FU transplant:

What is Follicular Unit Transplantation

 

To be a true Follicular Unit graft, it must be dissected and trimmed under a high powered microscope. Also, the natural grouping of follicles must not be divided, and must not be combined with other natural groupings to make a larger graft.

[EastCoast]

Arfy,

 

Still don't understand mini/micro compared to fu. Dd they trim m/m? Was it just the size of the m/m that made it look odd.? I had coupled fu's, that seems like a trimmed m/m. A lot of guys have had good density using m/m and fu together. Please elaborate.

[arfy]

Minigrafts and Micrografts are not trimmed under microscopes, like an FU is. This leads to 2 problems:

 

-Too much excess tissue. Your transplanted hair will appear to be growing from a skin graft. When grafts are trimmed of excess tissue, it looks more like your transplanted hair is emerging from virgin scalp (not a skin graft). Excess tissue also contracts during healing, leading to a tufty look. The grafts can get compacted and look pluggy.

 

-Superior visualization during dissection of the donor strip when using microscopes. If microscopes are not used, follicles can be damaged during dissection, and follicles can be missed by the tech and thrown away.

 

A "coupled FU" is supposedly trimmed with microscopes, so it should be slightly better than a Minigraft. The docotrs who use coupled FUs would not turn off their microscopes, when dissecting a coupled FU (would they?)

 

So it seems like a coupled FU is a trimmed Minigraft... a graft containing more than one 'follicular family' with some extra tissue connecting the follicular families.

 

Read the article "the Logic of Follicular Unit Hair Transplantation" to read why coupled grafts are an inefficient way to use your donor supply (you get better coverage with lots of small [FU] grafts, then with fewer grafts that contain a few more follicles than a single follicular family [Minigrafts].

The Logic of Follicular Unit Hair Transplantation

 

Here's another article that discusses the difference:The Cosmetic Significance of Follicular Units Vs. Small Minigrafts

[Telephone Man]

Welcome to the club, as the world of HT has changed over the years the FU has become one of several methods of HT. Many doctors feel that a combination of FUT for the front hairline and larger Mini-Micro can be utilized for the mid and back to create larger fill areas. Many doctors utilize a combination of procedures for their patients depending on the application, budget, desires and longterm picture. The total FUT or partial may be the answer for many people according to my research, which consisted of a bar conversation with a former HT technician after 8 Boilermakers.

 

While I agree with many of the points here it really depends on the person and the consult with their individual doc of choice, this is the important factor I think we can all agree on.

 

Anyway enough from me, back to the bar I go, BTY my 6 week posts will be up soon, I am sure you are all excited by the prospect.

[arfy]

The idea that Minigrafts can 'fill in' better than all FUs is a myth. Read the article "The Logic of Follicular Unit Hair Transplantation" (which I posted a link to, above) to see a mathematical explanation of why Minigrafts do not lead to better density than FUs. Instead, Minigrafts mean that you will have bigger gaps in between grafts.

[EastCoast]

I have a lot of coupled fu's in ignorance. I had shock in some area's that never returned. My hair looked ok in the area's of no shock loss where existing hair blended in with the coupled fu's; butI needed a 1k touch up for all areas where shock loss never returned. Coupled fu's can not stand alone. You must have hair as close as 1 millimeter as possible for a ht to look natural. I had coupled fu's spaced as far as a 1/4 inch apart with no hair in between. It looked like plugs. You will need extra fu's to conceal coupled fu's where as it would have been easier just to have them spaced right in the first place. Also my couple fu's compressed; where they were sticking almost straight up. I also have some small white (scar tissue) dimples. I believe it is from an ht surgeon using a larger that average slit to accompany a larger graft. I had lateral slits from Dr. Jones that left no scaring.

[Telephone Man]

I never said that M/M fill better than FU I simply stated that many docs use this method. Many times it is for budget reasons or the doc is a good artist with this method, which many are.

 

Bottom line is do the research on the docs and choose who you are comfortable with.