Pros if any of FUT?

[HairEnthusiast101]

It seems nowadays people claim fue maximizes just as many lifetime grafts, can be taken from the safe zone in high numbers, and has just as high of yield if not better than fut. So what if any is the use of fut anymore? Or is there any benefit anymore?

[New_Barnet_Please]

There’s been quite a few threads on this over the time, I would just search tbh.

[arthurSam]

Max grafts extract for fue is 2000 in the safe area

Edited April 28, 2023 by arthurSam

[HairEnthusiast101]

7 minutes ago, arthurSam said:

Max grafts extract for fue is 2000 in the safe area

In the safe zone? Pretty sure it is way higher than that

[Bucky O Hair]

In my opinion, FUT will be extinct in a few more years.  

[BurnieBurns]

It is the only means of taking 100 percent of the most dht resistant donor hair and maximising scalp donor overall combined with FUE

[arthurSam]

Yes the better is first go to FUT and after make eventually second FUT or FUE and after FUe for the 3th

Edited April 29, 2023 by arthurSam

[BaldGuy]

Most doctors tend to stop doing FUT...in a few years from now i believe that 95% of hair transplants will be done by FUE..No one will risk a nasty FUT scar anymore..

[Bucky O Hair]

5 hours ago, BaldGuy said:

Most doctors tend to stop doing FUT...in a few years from now i believe that 95% of hair transplants will be done by FUE..No one will risk a nasty FUT scar anymore..

You could probably argue that we're pretty much there already.

When you look at the recommended HT docs on this forum, it seems like 9 out of 10 exclusively offer FUE over FUT.  

Edited April 29, 2023 by Bucky O Hair

[Jerome]

they say it has the best most consistent growth yields.

[Z--]

16 hours ago, HairEnthusiast101 said:

It seems nowadays people claim fue maximizes just as many lifetime grafts, can be taken from the safe zone in high numbers, and has just as high of yield if not better than fut. So what if any is the use of fut anymore? Or is there any benefit anymore?

If you strip out, you can utilize an additional 2-3k grafts according to Shapiro and Konior. 

A few doctors disagree, like Eugenix or H&W. 

It depends which doctors you believe. I’m inclined to side with the first on the basis that they offer both, whereas the latter either so exclusively FUE or have moved away from FUT to FUE and can charge more for FUE. 

That said, 85% of men shouldn’t do FUT - FUE is less intrusive for lower Norwoods, and you should only opt for FUT if you need the additional lifetime grafts. 

[HairEnthusiast101]

1 minute ago, Z-- said:

If you strip out, you can utilize an additional 2-3k grafts according to Shapiro and Konior. 

A few doctors disagree, like Eugenix or H&W. 

It depends which doctors you believe. I’m inclined to side with the first on the basis that they offer both, whereas the latter either so exclusively FUE or have moved away from FUT to FUE and can charge more for FUE. 

That said, 85% of men shouldn’t do FUT - FUE is less intrusive for lower Norwoods, and you should only opt for FUT if you need the additional lifetime grafts. 

Does taking 8k grafts from the donor via fue thin it out pretty good or is it negligible?

[Z--]

35 minutes ago, HairEnthusiast101 said:

Does taking 8k grafts from the donor via fue thin it out pretty good or is it negligible?

No procedure is scarless. You’ve got elite doctors like Zarev that can hide 10k grafts very well by homogenous donor extraction. I think any large procedure will thin out a donor, but the question is whether some thinning bothers you or not. 95%+ of people won’t be able to tell when an elite doctor does large sessions, whereas you have garbage clinics which totally deplete a donor taking out 4K grafts. 

It all depends on the doctors skill and your donor characteristics. 

[JoeD]

Do you think it would be fair to say that the shift towards majority FUE is a balance/mixture of advancement in technique/equipment, and also partially due to what majority of the patients want?  Ie Balancing the science with the business. 

[Melvin- Admin]

16 hours ago, arthurSam said:

Max grafts extract for fue is 2000 in the safe area

You can’t put a number because numbers depend on the individual. Everyone’s donor density is different. 

[HairEnthusiast101]

20 minutes ago, JoeD said:

Do you think it would be fair to say that the shift towards majority FUE is a balance/mixture of advancement in technique/equipment, and also partially due to what majority of the patients want?  Ie Balancing the science with the business. 

I think that is a very good question and one I can agree with also

[MisterBreakfast]

Here are the reason's I will probably get FUT as a first proceedure.

1) My native density and hair/skin contrast ratio is not ideal.  If I go FUE first, I may not have enough density left to hide an FUT scar.

2) I have light-ish skin, and my scars typically heal very well.  I have a few from bike accidents and such and they are barely noticable.

3) I am a high Norwood and would like to get 1 large session done first, and maybe a smaller follow up, as opposed to more smaller sessions.

4) It is my personal belief that there are better options to repair a bad FUT scar vs overharvesting the donor with FUE.

5) I can always rock the power donut and hide an FUT scar.

6) I do not particularly like the way a skin fade looks on myself.

Edited April 29, 2023 by MisterBreakfast

[HairEnthusiast101]

1 hour ago, MisterBreakfast said:

Here are the reason's I will probably get FUT as a first proceedure.

1) My native density and hair/skin contrast ratio is not ideal.  If I go FUE first, I may not have enough density left to hide an FUT scar.

2) I have light-ish skin, and my scars typically heal very well.  I have a few from bike accidents and such and they are barely noticable.

3) I am a high Norwood and would like to get 1 large session done first, and maybe a smaller follow up, as opposed to more smaller sessions.

4) It is my personal belief that there are better options to repair a bad FUT scar vs overharvesting the donor with FUE.

5) I can always rock the power donut and hide an FUT scar.

6) I do not particularly like the way a skin fade looks on myself.

Those seem to be very good reasons. In your case I can definitely see why. One of the biggest problems with fut is not many clinics do it. And you can tell even at clinics where it is performed they’d rather probably do fue for most people. Finding the right doctor is crucial. 

[Sunset Dune]

There really aren’t many pros to FUT anymore, when FUT was the main procedure for hair transplants back when I had no hair loss 7-8 years ago I always dreaded losing my hair one day if I had to get a transplant because it seemed so scary getting that scar. I’m glad FUE is now the mainstay for hair transplants and technology has improved a lot making FUE more superior to FUT. 

Doctors/techs are able to get better donor hairs with FUE extracting compared to FUT which is very important.

[HairEnthusiast101]

32 minutes ago, Sunset Dune said:

There really aren’t many pros to FUT anymore, when FUT was the main procedure for hair transplants back when I had no hair loss 7-8 years ago I always dreaded losing my hair one day if I had to get a transplant because it seemed so scary getting that scar. I’m glad FUE is now the mainstay for hair transplants and technology has improved a lot making FUE more superior to FUT. 

Doctors/techs are able to get better donor hairs with FUE extracting compared to FUT which is very important.

The biggest back and forth I see is which gets more lifetimes grafts and which from the safe zone. I am not for sure but I haven’t seen anything to show that fue gets more of either. Everyone has a different donor but assuming the worst donor I’d say fut seems to still have a place. And overharvest fue happens quite a bit 

[TEXAN35]

I came across an article about this topic which supports FUT. This is just an opinion from a Doctor who does FUT but of course a good doctor.

FUE Hair Transplant New York | Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) NY (fellermedical.com)

[HairEnthusiast101]

5 hours ago, TEXAN35 said:

I came across an article about this topic which supports FUT. This is just an opinion from a Doctor who does FUT but of course a good doctor.

FUE Hair Transplant New York | Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) NY (fellermedical.com)

That clinic is one of the last that still speaks highly of fut over fue. It just seems all talk nowadays points towards fue being far superior and fut being only necessary even for long term donor management in like 5% of cases

[Fue3361]

On 4/28/2023 at 7:42 PM, arthurSam said:

Max grafts extract for fue is 2000 in the safe area

Absolutely false.

As for the question itself, it's pretty much an outdated method in most cases.  The only advantage is for people with high scalp laxity, they can get more grafts in total if they do a combination of FUT + FUE.  For normal laxity, I'd say there's almost no advantages, and tons of disadvantages.  

[duckling]

Only a surgeon can tell if you are fut candidate. Then you have both options open in case you are good fut candidate. Else go with Fue as scar will be big with fut+bad laxity. 

[arthurSam]

Form Hair Transplan Forum International Volume 31 - Number 3 - May/June (2021):

Removed link

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New Strategies for Using Grafts Harvested from Outside the Safe Zone

With the emergence of follicular unit excision (FUE) as the predominant modality of graft harvesting in hair restoration surgery around the world, harvesting outside the traditional safe zone has become routine. This happens for three main reasons:

1. In a majority of cases, to get more than 2,500 grafts in a single surgery, the surgeon must harvest outside the traditional safe zone to avoid overharvesting (Figure 1).

2. In order for the donor area to look natural, particularly when the hair is worn short, the surgeon must harvest above and below the safe zone to create a homogenous appearance

3. In patients who are having their entire restoration done with FUE, the donor zone must be enlarged to obtain a large number of grafts beyond the approximate 6,000 that can usually be harvested otherwise.

 

Quote

For many patients, 25% or more of their grafts will come from outside the traditional safe zone

 

Quote

In androgenetic alopecia (AGA), the follicles on the sides and back of the head in the safe zone are the most resistant to DHT-mediated balding. The author proposes that there are also two intermediate zones—one above the safe zone and one below—that have follicles that may or may not be DHT sensitive (Figure 6), and these two intermediate zones may undergo balding in some patients

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In my opinion, preservation of transplanted hair is another indication for long-term medical treatment. I realize this statement goes against convention and is provocative. Nevertheless, probable loss of hair from grafts harvested from the intermediate zones is a good indication for long-term use of finasteride and minoxidil. I think it is our responsibility to explain to our patients that some of the harvested grafts (as much as 25%?) may stop producing hair earlier. Long-term use of minoxidil and finasteride will help to preserve follicles harvested and transplanted from the intermediate zones.

 

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When we identify patients at risk for balding in the intermediate zones, we need to have clear strategies on when and where we place intermediate zone grafts such that we avoid creating cosmetic problems arising from transplanted hair that stops growing prematurely