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Many people are affected by baldness, whether premature or advanced. It is primarily men that suffer, but women can also be affected by alopecia and balding. The sad truth is that a great many people affected by this natural problem also suffer low self-esteem, low self-confidence, and an inability to thrive in social situations.
Imagine having a full and luxurious head of hair for most of your teenage years and then suddenly finding that you are losing your hair at a rapid pace at an unusually early age. The advancement seems uncontrollable, and all of a sudden you find yourself feeling awkward in social situations, even isolated. This is something that millions of people deal with on a daily basis, but fortunately there are effective treatments available that can halt baldness in its tracks.
The Advantages of FUE – Follicular Unit Extraction
There are two primary methods of hair transplantation for balding patients: Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) and Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT). Both are considered effective at restoring a relatively normal hairline and normal hair growth in areas that were previously bald. Of the two, FUE is the more expensive but offers certain benefits over the FUT method. FUE involves the removal and harvesting of tiny units of healthy hair follicles and transplanting them to recipient sites at areas of baldness or poor hair growth. This type of procedure is internationally recognised and practised by clinics such as GetHair in the UK.
Here are some of the many benefits of the FUE method of hair transplantation:
- Because both methods involve cutting, they also involve scarring on the scalp. Of the two, FUE does not leave large linear scars on the scalp. In some FUT patients lengthy train track-like scars can be left, which look unsightly. FUE does leave very small circular scars on the scalp, but they can be covered quite easily with new hair growth.
- FUE may cause less nerve damage than the FUT method. The sites of removal are very small and nerves tend to repair themselves more rapidly in this procedure. This minimises the chance of long-term nerve damage, which can cause numbness and tingling sensations.
- The FUE procedure does not leave the patient with increased scalp tension. When larger tracts of scalp are removed, as in the FUT method, tension on the scalp increases once the flesh is sutured together. This can require scalp stretching exercises to be performed post-surgery. Because the donor sites in the FUE procedure are much smaller, there is no scalp tension created.
- A FUE patient experiences a faster recovery time after surgery because there are no large sutures to heal, no scalp exercises to perform, and no scalp tension.
- Whilst FUE is the more expensive option, it does allow the surgeon to carefully select each hair follicle for grafting. This means that different thicknesses of hair can be harvested and grafted in areas where fine hair would grow. Similarly, thicker hair can be selected for areas where thicker and coarser hair is needed. In some cases, hair from other parts of the body can be used, making it a very flexible solution for many types of patients.
Living with a New Head of Hair
Even though baldness affects millions of people around the world, there are effective treatments available. Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) is an internationally renowned and recognised treatment and can potentially provide a full head of hair that is both natural looking and healthy.
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