FUE, or Follicular Unit Excision (previously Follicular Unit Extraction), is the other widely available and popular harvesting method – the other being the “FUT” or “strip” harvesting technique.
Advantages
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Virtually invisible scars
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Minimal pain after your procedure
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Less downtime
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Ensures a natural-looking hairline
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Less risk of complications
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Must shave the entire donor area
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Larger donor area
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More fragile and transected grafts
To perform a FUE procedure, your surgeon takes these steps:
- They shave off hair on the back of your head.
- The surgeon then takes individual follicles out of the scalp skin. You’ll see tiny marks where each follicle was removed.
- As with the FUT procedure, the surgeon makes small holes in your scalp and grafts hair follicles into the holes.
- They then cover the surgical site with bandages or gauze.
With the FUE method, there are no stitches; however, the donor area is shaved down to the skin, which shows the surgical sites from this technique. These tiny holes heal about five days and appear as pink dots. After approximately two weeks, these marks become hidden as the remaining donor hair grows among them.
