1. What is "follicular unit extraction?"

Follicular unit extraction or FUE is a minimally invasive method of obtaining grafts one by one from the donor area. In 2004 I developed and patented a methodology and instrumentation called the SAFE System for performing FUE. The advantages of FUE are that there is no resulting linear scar from the donor harvest, there is only mild soreness for a day or two after surgery, and the donor area is healed within about two to three days.


2. What is the difference between mini/micro grafting and follicular unit grafting?

Hair in your donor area grows as single hairs or on groups of 2-4 hairs called follicular units. Follicular unit grafting is a method whereby the naturally occurring follicular units are the grafts used to reconstruct the thinning or bald areas. The advantage of this state of the art technique is that because hair is replaced with grafts that look exactly like the hair that was lost, it looks absolutely natural and undetectable. Minigrafting is a technique that uses small plugs or collections of follicular unit (minigrafts) to replace the lost hair. Depending on the hair color minigrafts can have the tendency to look "pluggy" or unnatural. Themicrografts are one and two hair grafts that are placed in front of the small plugs to hide or disguise the minigrafts.


3. What is the lateral slit technique?

"Lateral slits" refer to the way that the graft recipient site is made with the blade of the small knife oriented so that the wide part of the blade faces forward. The theoretical advantages are that the hairs in the follicular unit graft will align in such a way that more of the bald scalp is hidden and the grafts can lie flatter and therefore cover more bald scalp.


4. What is coronal angle grafting?

This is the same as the "lateral slit" technique.


5. What is sagittal grafting?

"Sagittal" grafting refers to the orientation that the blade of the knife is used to make recipient sites, such that the thin knife edge is facing forward. The theoretical advantage is that the grafts are easier to insert and there may be less of a chance of traumatizing any hair in the transplanted area.