Hair Restoration Blog

Q:

When I do look down placing more tension or pull on the tight donor area, I noticed it is also pulling my neck muscles and there is no laxity at all (compared to the right).  There is no up or down movement possible of any subcutaneous tissue or the galea at the donor site. Is this normal? If the tightness does not subside, what solution options are there?

I also understand there are recommended scalp exercises before and after HT surgeries?

Regards,

A:

It is normal to feel tension on the side that we removed the strip.  Skin needs a few weeks to get relaxed and stretches to compensate for the removed area.  Although we generally recommend scalp exercise before hair restoration surgeries with strip technique, you should avoid scalp exercise after hair transplant for the first 3 or 4 months.

I recommend that you avoid all movements that increase the tension in the area until you feel that the tension on the skin is gone.  If you put too much stretch on the back of your head in the first few months after hair transplant, you running the risk of stretching the donor scar.

Have a good weekend.

Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) – Advantages or disadvantages

My patients always ask about advantages and disadvantages of Follicular Unit Extraction so I thought this topic makes a good post for the blog. Before going over these points I have to say, although we at US Hair Restoration offer the most advanced techniques of FUE nationwide, most of our patients are still being transplanted by strip technique and I don’t recommend FUE to everyone and select my FUE patients very meticulously. Here are the main reasons why we do recommend FUE to some people and not to everyone.

Advantages

• FUE does not leave a linear scar, which is great for those who want to wear their hair very short on the back or the ones who may need to shave their head in the future (like actors).
• FUE has a more comfortable healing process with decreased healing time.
• No restrictions in physical activities for those who want to do strenuous exercise right after FUE procedure.
• FUE is a viable alternative for those who have tight scalp that makes strip surgery risky or impossible.
• Follicular unit extraction makes it possible to harvest hair from body, beard or almost everywhere else.
• FUE is very useful when we need limited number of grafts like for restoration of eyebrow hair.

Disadvantages

• The biggest disadvantage of follicular unit extraction is that the maximum follicular unit graft yield is lower than when it is done with strip technique due to higher rate of follicular transection compared to the strip technique.
• Although linear scar is not present after FUE, small punctuate scars will be there that may make future FUE hair transplant surgeries more difficult or impossible.
• Not everyone is a candidate for FUE and patients need to be tested with FOX before proceeding with the surgery.
• FUE procedure takes much longer to perform compared with strip FUT procedure.
• FUE is more laborious thus it cost more compared with strip technique hair transplants.
• In FUE, we have more chance of burying grafts that increases the risk of having folliculitis (tiny inflamed cysts under the skin) on the donor area.