What is the difference between FUE and FUT?

There are a variety of different hair loss treatments available on the market today, and this can become quite confusing when you first start doing your research. The most popular hair loss solution is having a hair transplant.

A hair transplant moves donor hair from one part of the scalp – the ‘donor site’ – to the bald, or balding, part of the scalp – the ‘recipient site’.

A hair transplant is primarily used to treat male pattern baldness, and there are two main types of transplant. The two different types of transplant are: FUE (Follicular unit extraction) and FUT (Follicular unit transplantation), which is sometimes referred to as the strip method.

Both procedures aim to get the same results at the end but are fundamentally very different types of surgery.

What is FUE?

FUE is the modern technique of hair transplantation. This treatment is more advanced than previous methods of hair transplantation, such as strip harvesting transplantation and FUT.

In follicular unit extraction, a highly experienced doctor extracts hair follicles from the donor area (typically the back of the neck) with the use of a specialised extraction instrument.

The follicles are then transferred to the recipient area. Using a specialist micro surgical needle, the surgeon will puncture the scalp area that will receive the grafts. The grafts are then inserted at an angle into the recipient area, and with a specific density, so that it will resemble a natural and realistic hair pattern.

What is FUT?

Follicular unit transplantation is a procedure where hair is transplanted from areas at the back and sides of the scalp, and moved to balding areas of the scalp. The patient is anesthetized and a doctor removes strips of tissue from the donor area, and, once extracted, the donor strip is cut into individual follicular units.

The doctor then makes tiny holes in the scalp, where the follicular unit grafts are carefully placed. The placement of the grafts is usually done by a team of nurses or healthcare assistants.

What one should I go for?

FUE has become the procedure of choice by patients worldwide and the strip procedure for most patient scenario’s is now outdated.

FUE also takes significantly less time to heal than FUT. As only individual follicles are removed it leaves very small puncture scars that are almost invisible to the naked eye.

FUE treatment leaves you with almost no post-surgical pain and discomfort and the average recovery time is less than 7 days.

When having a FUT transplant a strip of tissue will be removed from the back of the head. Because of this, it can take much longer to heal with the initial healing process taking up to 10 days. As a strip of tissue is removed from the back of the head a FUT transplant can leave the head with scarring.

If you would like more information about what treatment is right for you, please contact us for a no obligation consultation where we can discuss in-depth what treatment would be best for you.

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