The FUE grafting method
(Follicular Unit Extraction)
The FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction) grafting method: Presentation
The FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction) grafting technique, which is more recent than the strip technique, has become the most widely used technique because there are no visible scars.
The FUE session is longer than the strip technique, the duration depends on what is decided in consultation. Typically about 4 to 6 hours.
The FUE technique and its variants allow :
- Hair transplants for men and women.
- Beard transplant.
- Eyebrow transplant.
- Grafting of visible scars of the scalp of traumatic origin or following after-effects of surgery.
This technique is more and more associated with medical techniques of hair regeneration in order to optimise the result such as PRP, mesotherapy, laser, food supplements and pharmaceutical treatments (minoxidil, propecia…).
Before the intervention of a
hair transplant by FUE technique
Before an FUE transplant, a consultation is essential with Dr. Diacakis, a plastic surgeon in Paris. A consent and an estimate will be given to you. A blood test may be requested. No other special measures are necessary.
The operation can be performed on long or short hair.
Even if it is a local anaesthetic for this type of operation, the patient is advised to take precautions for his return by taxi or accompanied. It is strongly advised against driving or taking public transport.
How an FUE transplant
is performed
You are seated in an armchair. In all cases, the harvesting area at the back of the head is shaved, the surface area of which depends on the number of grafts desired.
A local anaesthetic is administered. The grafts are removed using a circular scalpel (punch) whose diameter will be according to the size of the desired grafts and reimplanted in the bald area.
The operation is not very painful. A “hylarant” kalinox gas is available at the surgery in order to make the session practically painless for the most sensitive patients. The residual orifices will be filled within two to three hours without the need for stitches. With the new techniques and very fine punches, this sample leaves no trace.
The regrowth of shaved hair on the donor area (back of the head) means that no traces will be visible after 8 to 10 days.
After a hair transplant operation
using the FUE technique
The post-operative after-effects of an FUE graft are painless or not very painful with a type of tingling.
Edema is rarer but can exist if the area to be covered is the forehead or the golf courses.
The micro-orifices of the graft heal in a few days and the hair grows back in 8 to 10 days.
A first shampoo is authorised from the third day, gentle and careful “by tapping” and should be done during the following 7 days.
The implanted hair often falls out around the 10th day. In fact, only the germinal cells of the bulb, which will produce a new hair, remain implanted. They will give birth to a new hair.
In the same way, often at the end of the first month, “your hair”, in contact with the re-implanted grafts, will fall out. It is therefore to be expected that during the second month less hair will remain than before the operation.
Then towards the third month the reimplanted hair and the hair that has fallen in contact with the grafts will systematically grow back.
For sports, swimming, exposure to the sun or sea bathing, it is strongly recommended to respect a period of three weeks so as not to alter the healing of the grafts.
Result of a hair
transplant by FUE technique
For the vast majority of cases the result is estimated at 6 months but will be definitive after one year.
In the conditions described above, the hair transplant gives satisfaction with an Aesthetic, Natural and Dense result.
- The advantages of hair transplant by the “FUE method” compared to the “strip method” :
- No “surgical” sampling, therefore no scarring.
- Less oedema.
- Disadvantages of hair transplantation by the FUE method compared to the strip method :
- Shaving of the collection area
- More expensive
- Longer
Price of an FUE transplant
The price of the consultation by Doctor Richard Diacakis, plastic surgeon in Paris is 100 euros.
The price of an FUE graft varies according to the number of grafts. The price starts at 3000 euros. An operation with 1000 to 1500 grafts (i.e. more than 4000 hairs) costs between 5000 and 7000 euros.
This is a global budget which includes all the acts, all the consultations before, during and after the hair transplant.
None of these acts are covered by social security or mutual insurance companies.