Hair Max’s FUT is a simple outpatient hair transplant procedure that works by replacing or restoring your lost hair and hairline.
Unlike old-fashioned hair replacement options such as wigs or plugs, hair transplant surgery is a permanent, natural looking solution that doesn’t require any ongoing maintenance. And because it takes only a day to complete, you’ll be back to your regular activities in no time.
How FUT - Follicular Unit Transplantation works
During FUT, a surgeon cuts a strip of skin from your scalp, usually from the back of your head. The exact size of the strip depends on the number of follicles needed to cover bald spots. The strip usually doesn’t exceed 1 to 1.5 centimeters (0.4 to 0.6 inches) wide. Once the individual follicles are removed from the strip, they’re re-inserted into your scalp.
Hair transplant surgeries take between 4 and 8 hours. FUT surgery is generally quicker than FUE surgery. Most people stay awake during the surgery with a local anesthesia that numbs their scalp.
FUT Hair Trasnplant Procedure
- Removing the Donor Tissue
- We identify the thinning areas (known as the “recipient” areas) that you are interested in restoring and work to personalize a plan to help you achieve the most natural-looking hairline possible.
Next, we prepare the hair from the back of your head (known as the “donor” area) by trimming the area and preserving the surrounding hair - After administering local anesthesia to numb the donor area so that you’re completely comfortable during the procedure, our physician removes a strip of tissue in the donor area containing your permanent, lifelong hair follicles.
- Once we’ve removed the donor hair, we suture the area and use the surrounding hair to conceal the sutured area.
- We identify the thinning areas (known as the “recipient” areas) that you are interested in restoring and work to personalize a plan to help you achieve the most natural-looking hairline possible.
- Preparing the Donor Hair
- Our clinical staff prepares the donor hair for placement by trimming or dissecting the donor strips into their follicle groupings, also known as units. Each unit comprises of one, two, three or four hair follicles.
- While the units are being prepped for transplantation, you’re free to read, take a nap, watch a movie or relax.
- Placing the Follicular Units
- Once the follicles are prepared and ready to be transplanted, our physician makes a tiny incision on your scalp for each follicular unit, paying close attention to the location, angle and depth of each unit to ensure natural-looking results and to maximize the density and coverage of the thinning areas.
- Based on your custom plan, our hair transplant surgery team places the individual follicular units into the donor recipient sites created by your physician.
- After the Procedure
- Our clinical team will give you instructions on how to care for your donor and recipient areas, as well as provide medication for sleep and any discomfort you might have.
- The day after your hair transplant surgery, you’re encouraged to return to have your hair washed and to have the recipient sites and donor area inspected. While you might experience some soreness, tightness or numbness, most patients are able to return to work in just a couple of days.
- A week after your surgery, any swelling and redness will usually be gone.
- Three months after the procedure, new hair will usually begin to regrow. After six months, you should notice significant hair regrowth
Who can go with FUT procedure?
Both FUT and FUE transplants require you to have enough hair on your head to use as a graft.
Men with androgenic alopecia (commonly called male pattern baldness) make the best candidates for FUT. In men, this condition commonly appears in the Norwood pattern or an M-shaped hairline with hair loss at the temples. Women with this condition usually experience the Ludwig pattern, which causes hair loss along the hair part or thinning at the top of the head.
If a medical condition like a thyroid disorder or alopecia areata is causing your hair loss, FUT surgery likely won’t be an option.
The following conditions also make you a good candidate Trusted Source for FUT surgery:
Age. FUT is generally performed on people over the age of 25. Hair loss patterns are less predictable in younger people.Diagnosis. Men with the Norwood pattern of hair loss tend to respond best to hair transplantation.
Hair thickness. People with a high hair follicle density generally receive better coverage.
Area of balding. FUT is most useful for treating hair loss at the front of the head.
Hair color. People with a hair color similar to their skin color generally make better candidates since they have less color contrast.
Precautions with FUT Procedure
Complications after FUT are rare. A large supply of blood to the head allows it to heal quickly and helps prevent infections. Less than one percent people develop an infection from the surgery.