Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) or Strip Harvesting
Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT Hair Transplants), or strip harvesting, is the most popular hair transplant procedure at HairAge Clinic. FUT allows the surgeon to safely transplant thousands of grafts in a single session, which maximizes the cosmetic impact of the procedure. During the hair transplant, a strip of hair is taken from either the sides or back of the scalp, and transplanted to the affected area.
Why have an FUT hair transplant?
A third of men are losing their hair by the time they are 30; 40% are losing it by the time they are 40 and more than half of men over 50 are showing signs of baldness. Nine out of ten patients at HairAge Clinic are men seeking a permanent remedy to their baldness. Around 10% of our patients are women who have experienced problems with thinning hair, and half of women will experience some kind of hair loss in their lives. With hair loss an issue for both genders, both men and women can benefit from an FUT procedure.
We treat hair transplant patients for the following reasons:
- By far the most popular reason is cosmetic: men find that hair loss can damage their self-esteem and even their career prospects. Hair transplantation is a permanent solution to this problem. The transplanted hair is permanent and will last the patient for the rest of his or her life.
- Virtually all men, even those in the advanced stages of baldness, have a permanent horse-shoe of hair on the back and sides of the scalp. This gives the surgeon a stable supply of donor hair which can cover current and future areas of hair loss.
- We tend to operate on patients aged 25 and over – by this age, we are able to establish what the eventual pattern of hair loss might be. Prior to 25, the pattern is not established and it is not in the patient’s best interests to operate.
- Physical trauma-facial injury and scarring resulting from events such as road accidents, industrial accidents, thermal and chemical burns.
- Medical and surgical treatments. Surgical treatment of injury or tumor that results in removal of hair and tissue scarring; radiotherapy or chemotherapy for cancer that results in loss of hair.
After-care
Within 30 minutes of the hair transplant ending, you are able to go home, though we recommend that you do not drive.
With modern hair transplantation techniques used at HairAge Clinic, we can produce results that are virtually undetectable – even under the closest scrutiny.
An FUT hair transplant will leave a scar on the scalp but this is generally not be detectable beneath the hair of patients, unless they shave their head around the scar tissue new hair growth will start to grow back around three or four months after the procedure. However, it will take at least six to eight months for the new hair to make any significant cosmetic difference to your appearance.