Choose the content to read
- What conditions does FUE hair transplant treat?
- What is the FUE hair transplant procedure?
- What are the side effects of FUE hair transplant?
- Who is suitable for the FUE hair transplant?
- What are the benefits of FUE hair transplants?
FUE Hair Transplant
FUE (follicular unit extraction) hair transplant is a minimally invasive procedure for treating hair loss, thinning hair, or baldness involving removing healthy hair follicles from the donor site, from the back of the head or other sites, and transplanting them onto the scalp to grow strong, healthy hair until it fully covers the hairless scalp. FUE hair transplant is an innovative hair transplant with tiny wound sizes and less pain, using special micropunch tools to extract hair follicles containing stem cells before soaking them in a specialized solution and harvesting them onto the scalp until the head is fuller. FUE enables new hair to grow to 3-4 hairs per follicular unit graft, resulting in strong and dense hair from the root to the tip. FUE is a hair restoration procedure that is widely accepted and can truly grow new hair.
Why FUE hair transplant?
In the past, doctors treated hair loss, thinning hair, and baldness by surgically removing strips of hair (hair plugs) with hair follicles from the back of the head or the nape of the neck and transplanting them to the thinning area. Although this hair transplant procedure allows doctors to obtain many hairs follicular units at once, it leaves a large, visible scar on the back of the head. The surgical incision is more painful, causes more tissue damage, looks less natural, has a higher risk of infection, and takes a longer healing period.
FUE is a hair transplant technique evolved from the previous technique, using a special 0.8-1.0 mm micropunch to harvest donor hair one hair graft at a time and transplant it into the thinning area without excising a strip of the scalp, leaving tiny inconspicuous scars. The FUE hair transplant technique regrows new, strong, high-quality hair to intact follicular units, increases graft survival rates, reduces pain from the extracted punch, causes less tissue damage, lowers infection risks, and yields highly natural-looking results.
What conditions does FUE hair transplant treat?
FUE hair transplant can treat the following conditions:
- Male-pattern baldness (Androgenic alopecia)
- Female-pattern baldness (Androgenic alopecia)
- Hair transplant on scar
- Brow, beard, or sideburn transplant
What is the diagnosis before FUE hair transplant?
The doctor will assess the hair loss, thinning hair, and baldness by inquiring about the medical history, hair loss symptoms, underlying diseases, medications, and supplements to determine the cause of the thinning scalp and whether the patient is a candidate for FUE hair transplant or other hair transplant techniques, including calculating the number of hair follicular units (grafts) needed for transplantation. For those with certain health conditions, the doctor may request additional specific examinations depending on the individual's health, at the doctor's discretion, such as
- Blood tests: blood sugar testing and examinations for underlying diseases, including diabetes, as poorly controlled diabetes will directly impact treatment success outcomes.
- Hormonal tests: hormone level testing, as decreased hormone production can shorten the hair life cycle, resulting in more hair loss and scalp thinning.
- Hair and scalp examination looks for lesions, infections, and indentations in the scalp hairline, such as sudden hair loss, patchy hair loss, or thinning hair on the top of the head, as well as the examination of the scalp condition where the hair transplant will be performed.
What is the FUE hair transplant procedure?
FUE hair transplant at MedPark Hospital adopts the gold standard of hair transplantation, prioritizing patient safety and treatment success outcomes to achieve the treatment goal of curing hair loss, thinning hair, or baldness; restoring a newly dense hairline with natural-looking results; and regenerating healthy, strong, fuller scalp hairs.
Preoperative FUE hair transplant
- Stop taking antiplatelets such as aspirin or Plavix and vitamin E for 1 week before the hair transplant.
- Refrain from smoking or drinking alcohol, or consuming caffeine for at least 2 days before the hair transplant.
- On the day of the surgery, avoid wearing pullover shirts and turtleneck t-shirts for the first 2-3 days after surgery.
- Due to the influence of local anesthesia during the procedure, which may cause dizziness and drowsiness, do not drive yourself on the day of the hair transplant; bring along relatives to drive you home.
Intraoperative FUE hair transplant
- Selecting donor areas: The doctor selects the donor areas to obtain hair follicular units, such as the nape of the neck or the side of the head or ears, and shaves the hair, leaving short hair stumps, before administering local anesthesia to numb the sensation of the areas where the doctor will harvest the hair follicular units.
- Donor graft harvesting: The doctor uses a special 0.8-1.0 mm micropunch to obtain the donor's hair one graft at a time (1 hair graft can contain 1, 2, 3, or 4 strands). After harvesting, the doctor will soak the grafts in a specialized nutrient solution to enhance cell health and strength.
- Hair graft implantation: The doctor performs a FUE hair transplant, using a micropunch tool, and transplants the hair follicular units in thinning or bald areas in the natural hair direction, one graft at a time, until they are dense and fully cover the desired areas.
Postoperative FUE hair transplant
- Avoid direct sunlight on your head for the first month after the hair transplant.
- During the first week after surgery, you should wash your hair every day, once a day (your first hair wash after the hair transplant will be taken at the hospital). Use a gentle baby shampoo and do not scratch the region where the hair was transplanted.
- Refrain from any strenuous exercise or heavy lifting for at least 1 week.
- Refrain from smoking and drinking for at least 1 week to allow new hair cells to grow.
- Sleeping with a high pillow supports your neck to help reduce swelling.
- Attending all doctor appointments at the hospital for symptom monitoring and treatment evaluation.
What are FUE hair transplant results?
Typically, 1 month after the FUE hair transplant, the transplanted hair usually falls out first. Approximately after 3-4 months, the new hairs will start to regrow and continue to grow. The full results of the FUE hair transplant can be seen within 1-1.5 years.
What are the side effects of FUE hair transplant?
Common side effects of FUE hair transplant include swelling of the forehead, which may occur on the second day after surgery and will fade away on its own by the fifth day after surgery. There may also be small white spots or pimples at the hair harvesting or transplanted areas, which is normal. Those who are concerned about white spots or pimples can consult a doctor to check the lesions.
Who is not suitable for the FUE hair transplant?
- Those with poorly controlled diabetes
- Autoimmune diseases
- Alopecia areata
Who is suitable for the FUE hair transplant?
- Those with excessive hair loss, thinning hair, or hereditary-patterned baldness (androgenic alopecia)
- Have a sufficient number of healthy hair follicular units, and no skin diseases
- High receding hairline, receding forehead, or broad forehead
- Baldness in the middle of the head, from the forehead to the nape
- Receding hairline deep into both temples, but hair in the middle of the head
- Bald in the middle circle, but with hair around the left and right sides
- Receding hairline deep around both temples, extending to the back, with tufts of hair in the middle
- Bald from the middle to the nape with some thin hair scattered
What is the success rate of FUE hair transplants?
FUE hair transplant has a success rate of 95%-100%. The survival rate of the transplanted hair follicles is 90%-95% as FUE uses a technique of transplanting individual hair grafts (hair follicles) instead of excising a strip of scalp and transplanting it into the thinning area; new hair follicles can take root, grow, and raise strong, stable, and permanent hair. This makes FUE hair transplants have a high and satisfactory success rate.
What are the benefits of FUE hair transplants?
- Inconspicuous scar: FUE is a hair transplant technique that extracts and harvests hair follicles one at a time rather than cutting a strip. There are no large surgical wounds or stitch marks. Only small, white, inconspicuous spots will appear, which will scab over and fade away within 2 weeks.
- Fast healing: FUE is a hair transplant technique that uses a tiny 1.0 mm punch to harvest hair follicles one graft at a time. As a result, there is less pain and fewer side effects; the wound heals faster than with other techniques, allowing you to resume normal life quickly.
- Natural-looking results: Due to the hair follicular units being harvested from the original hair follicles (grafts), FUE yields highly natural-looking results. New hair will gradually grow fully until it covers the hair follicles, with 3-4 strands, resulting in a natural-appearing hairstyle based on the natural hairline.
- Flexible donor site selections: FUE hair transplant is a technology that allows individuals with balding scalp areas to receive autologous hair transplantation, using hair follicle stem cells from other parts of the body, such as the brows, beard, or sideburns, resulting in new, natural-looking hair growth.
- Harvesting in non-scalp areas: Since FUE is a hair transplant technique that extracts and relocates hair follicular units from one location to another, doctors can use this technique to grow hair on other body parts, such as thin brows, beards, or sideburns, making them thicker.
FUE hair transplant at MedPark Hospital
Hair Restoration Surgery, MedPark Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand, is led by a team of hair transplant specialists at the professor level with extensive experience in hair transplantation, is ready to diagnose and treat hair loss, thinning hair, and baldness, from common hereditary-patterned baldness to complicated hair loss with FUE, FUT, COMBO (FUE & FUT) hair transplants, or other methods, using FDA-approved hair transplant tools, leveraging state-of-the-art medical technology and equipment, combined with advanced hair transplant techniques, enables fast, accurate, and safe results, offering newly strong, stable, and natural-looking hairs, while also providing consistent postoperative care to maintain long-term good treatment outcomes to ensure patients achieve healthy hair and scalp, free of complications, recover from hair loss, thinning hair, and baldness permanently, and can live life confidently.
