Are you suffering from intense hair loss? Are you starting to have holes in your hair where the floor of your head is clearly visible? Do you suffer from a loss of self-confidence due to hair loss? The causes of hair loss are many and varied, including genetic effects, hormonal changes, and some medications and drugs, but studies confirm that hair loss can make you vulnerable to depression, anxiety, and many other psychological problems.

Almost all cultures associate the abundance, health and density of hair with youth, beauty, health and wellness. According to Dr. Robert Bodell: “People have always loved to highlight their beauty, and this is evidenced by the billions that are spent on cosmetics annually, and on different hair styles. Hair, in particular, is considered the boundary of beauty, and therefore losing it may expose you to a psychological crisis, whatever the reason that led to this.

Does the solution lie in hair transplantation? What is the difference between the different hair transplant methods? What are the advantages of the slide hair transplant method? How much does a FUE hair transplant cost? And who are the candidates for it? What are its drawbacks? And who is the best doctor to perform it? Learn all this and more with us in this article.

FUT hair transplant Procedure

Follicular unit transplantation is a procedure in which a strip of hair 20-25 cm long and 1-2 cm wide is harvested from the scalp. The doctor then sews up the scalp so that no voids appear in it. At that time, the doctor’s assistants divide this slice to use its parts for scalp transplantation in the areas affected by baldness. This method is considered one of the best hair harvesting methods for several reasons, the most important of which are the following:

• It saves time because it allows harvesting a large number of follicles at the same time.
• Less cost due to time saving.
• It does not harm the follicles during harvesting and allows harvesting of a large number of healthy follicular units.

For these and other reasons, the slide technique is known as the “golden method for donor area transplantation” or the “Gold standard”.

Transplant operations are classified according to the type of transplanted hair and the method of transplantation as follows:

1. Natural hair transplantation, divided into:

• Natural hair transplantation by Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) method
• Follicular unit transplantation (FUT)

1. Biofibre hair transplantation

There are many hair transplant techniques, but what is the best hair transplant technique?

The best hair transplantation is the most suitable for the patient’s condition, requirements and conditions, and both methods of hair transplantation: FUT hair transplantation, FUE hair transplantation and their development with DHI hair transplantation have advantages and disadvantages.

The best hair transplantation is determined in consultation between the doctor and the patient, according to each patient’s condition and level of baldness. The patient cannot choose the technique he prefers because it may not be the best for him.

The traditional method of hair transplantation with the slide is characterized by the fact that it produces more hair, and the process may be shorter in time, while the FUE technique is characterized by not leaving scars, and the speed of recovery.

One of the advantages of strip hair transplantation is that it is cheaper than the FUE technique and the newer techniques.

In general, what are the conditions for a hair transplant?

It is not possible to perform hair transplantation for everyone, and in order to be an ideal candidate, you must check the conditions of the hair transplant process, which are likely to succeed, namely:

• Try to intensify the hair through drug treatment first, and for a sufficient period of not less than a year.
• Enjoying good health in general, and having a healthy immune system, to reduce the occurrence of complications and avoid the failure of the operation.
• Setting realistic expectations and understanding the condition and stages of hair transplantation results.
• Availability of good density of hair follicles in the donor area, and the person should have a medium to high level of hair density from the donor area from the back and sides of the scalp.
• scalp elasticity; Because the tight scalp makes it difficult to remove and transplant the follicles.
• The best age for hair transplantation is between 35 to 50 years.

Candidate for FUT hair transplant Procedure

The famous actor James Nisbet is one of the most famous actors who undergo the donor area transplant surgery by the flap method, and according to the recommendations of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, FUT hair transplantation is an ideal process for treating the following cases:

• who have experienced hormonal or genetic alopecia within five or more years of hair loss.
• baldness rated 3 or more on the Norwood scale.
• Cases in which hair loss treatments have been proven ineffective.
• Cases of hair loss as a result of burns and trauma in men and women.

Of course, some general conditions must be met in the case, such as enjoying a good and stable health condition. It is not possible to perform the transplant with the slide for any condition that suffers from:

• Take anticoagulants such as heparin, warfarin, and coumadin.
• Take beta blocker anti-hypertensive drugs such as Anderal and Propranolol.
• Smokers (unless they are able to stop smoking for a period ranging from several months to a year).

Recovering from a strip hair transplant

FUE hair transplantation is generally a simple process, but strip hair transplantation is the most difficult type of hair transplantation. Unlike the minor pain caused by hair transplantation, there is the pain resulting from a cut wound made by the surgeon to extract the 20-25 cm long strip, and other than this wound, which may require some care or placing a bandage on it during the first days following the operation, the recovery period usually passes easily And pleased and not punctuated by a lot of inconveniences.

Of course, there are some instructions necessary to maintain the results of FUE, and these instructions include:

1. Avoid scratching the scalp.
2. Avoid shaving hair during the first two weeks after the procedure.
3. The first night after the operation, you should sleep in a semi-upright position by elevating the head with two pillows.
4. Smoking is prohibited within two months after the operation (or at least one month).
5. You should adhere to using the preparations prescribed by the doctor after the operation.
6. It is preferable to stop any strenuous physical activity during the first weeks after surgery.
7. Exposure to direct sunlight should be avoided as much as possible during the first days after the operation.
8. Swimming in swimming pools should be avoided in the first week after the operation (because they contain chlorine that may harm the newly transplanted hair and cause it to fall out).

The results of the transplantation process appear in the form of short hairs in the balding places once the operation is performed (usually the follicles are shortened to a length of 2 mm before harvesting and planting to facilitate the transplant process). The final results of the operation are stable within 6 to 8 months. The hair acquires the characteristics of the area in which it was transplanted and grows naturally.

FUT hair transplant steps

Preparing for the operation

At this stage, the areas of transplantation in the scalp, the areas of follicle collection, the number of follicles to be harvested and cultivated, the density of transplantation, and the assessment of the patient’s condition as a whole are determined.

Harvest hair tape FUT

The doctor collects a strip of hair from the back of the head in an elliptical shape and stitches the scalp in a cosmetic way so that the wound disappears between the layers of hair. A medical bandage is placed on the wound

split hair band

The surgeon or some of his assistants divide the hair strip into follicles, clean them from the remnants of the skin layers and prepare them for transplantation.

Implantation of extracted follicles

The hair channels in the scalp are opened and the collected follicles are implanted in them to end the transplantation process successfully.

Possible risks and complications

Among the risks that you are exposed to during this operation are pain after the operation, and bleeding during or after the operation. As for the pain, it can be controlled with painkillers, while the doctor advises you to stop taking some medications long enough before the operation, and adhering to these instructions reduces the chances of bleeding during or after the operation. Other than this, there is a risk of exposure to the presence of visible scars resulting from harvesting the hair strip, and this scar may result from the surgeon’s lack of experience or from the nature of the body that is prone to problems in healing (in rare cases). The hairline is cosmetic and not visible on the scalp, and its effects disappear completely within six months.

There may be some swelling and redness at the site of the operation, which is expected and will fade quickly within a few days. Also, the person may lose sensation in a few places on his scalp. This symptom also disappears within three days after the surgery.

History of FUT hair transplant Procedure

The development of hair transplant operations began in the fifties of the last century, and it was medically recognized and began to spread in the nineties. During this period, strip hair transplantation operations dominated medical centers due to its many advantages, including:

• The possibility of covering large areas of the scalp.
• Save time, effort and cost.
• Helps to increase the growth and stability of the follicles after planting.
• Ensures a natural appearance of the hair and its distribution.
• Flexibility and ease of surgical planning of the operation.

Currently, the FUE technique has developed in a way that made it preferred by doctors despite its high cost compared to the FUE technique, especially with the emergence of FUE techniques and hair transplantation robots.