What Is an FUE Hair Transplant?
Widely recognized as the most cutting-edge hair transplant option, follicular unit excision (FUE) is a technique in which a doctor removes tiny groupings of hair from a donor area and reinserts them into the balding areas on the top and sides of the head.
FUE produces highly natural-looking results when performed by a skilled surgeon. Unlike older methods of hair restoration surgery, the procedure does not require stitches or leave patients with a noticeable scar.
Your Hair Transplant Timeline
Months 0-4: Dormancy – The months that immediately follow your transplant can be disheartening, especially if you don’t know what to expect. During this phase, the newly transplanted hairs fall out. Fortunately, this is a temporary phase that’s necessary for healthy hair growth. Once the new hair has been shed, the follicles enter a resting stage. This phase is called telogen, and it’s an entirely normal part of the natural hair growth cycle. It lasts between a few weeks to a few months, depending on the patient, at which point new hairs will emerge and the cycle can begin again.
Months 4-8: Emergence – The long-awaited moment has finally arrived – you’re starting to see new hair growing in the recipient area. At this stage of the process, your transplanted follicles have moved from the dormant telogen phase into anagen, which is the phase of the hair growth cycle when active growth takes place. The new hairs will initially be fine and thin, but they will thicken over time. During this phase, both the donor and recipient sites should be fully healed, and you should not see any noticeable evidence of the transplant.
Months 8-12: Maturation – The final stage in the first year after an FUE hair transplant is called the maturation period. During this time, the fine hairs become thicker, and you should be able to see 75 to 80 percent of your final outcome. At this stage, you should have longer and denser hair that you can comb, cut and style as you please.
One Year and Beyond – Just as above, the results you see the second year following transplant will vary. However, after two full years, the full results should be visible. Depending on the extent of your original hair loss, you may wish to begin considering an additional transplant session at this point. If you’re pleased with your results overall but wish you had more coverage, this is a common choice. Since your transplanted hair should now be fully into the natural hair growth cycle, you should expect a period of overall growth for approximately three years. This is the typical length of the anagen phase, after which the hair will go through the other two stages, which are called catagen and telogen.
Dr. Jones’ Transplant Results
5000 GRAFT FUE
6000 GRAFT FUE
About Dr. Robert Jones
Dr. Robert Jones is a pioneer in follicular unit extraction (FUE). He began doing this procedure in 2002 along with one or two other physicians in North America. He was the first surgeon worldwide to perform large session FUE of over 1000 grafts in 2003. He did the first demonstration surgery for FUE in 2004 at a hair transplant conference in Little Rock. Arkansas. He published the first article on body hair transplants in the journal of Derm surgery in 2008. Over the years patients have travelled from around the world to have hair restoration surgery with Dr. Jones. He has trained over 50 doctors from around the world to perform FUE surgery, most of whom continue to use his techniques to perform their FUE procedures.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What is a hair transplant exactly?
A. Hair transplantation is an artistic redistribution system that takes donor dominant hair follicles from donor areas such as the chest or from the very back of the head and artfully transplants them into thinning or balding areas. With current microsurgical technologies, this results in a very natural appearance. Basically, we take hair from where you have more than you need and put it where you need it more.
Q. How long does the transplanted hair last?
A. Since the hair used in hair restoration surgery comes from the donor area, which is not sensitive to the balding process, it will be permanent. This hair will retain its genetic characteristics even after relocation, so for the vast majority of patients, virtually all transplanted hair lasts a lifetime. In some cases, a small percentage of transplanted hair may be lost as the patient ages.
Q. What is “follicular unit extraction”?
A. This procedure has been called the logical endpoint of 30 years of evolution in hair transplantation, beginning with traditional larger plugs and culminating in the move to one, two, three, and four hair follicular unit hair grafts, which mirror the way hair grows in nature. Using this advanced technique, a surgeon can move more hair in a totally natural way – creating a natural look at every stage of hair transplantation.
Q. How many hairs are transplanted per session?
A. Dr. Jones can do up to 2000 microscopically-created grafts in a session. Each graft is an individual hair follicle or can include up to 4 hairs.
Q. Does Dr. Jones create his own graft incisions?
A. Yes. Dr. Jones takes great care in determining the pattern and direction of each transplanted hair.
Q. Is it going to hurt?
A. The great majority of our patients are quite comfortable, both during and after their hair transplantation procedure; occasionally, a patient says he had some pain. As you would expect, local anaesthetics are used during the procedure. We also supply you with medication which is available for you to use after the procedure if you should need it. Many of our patients find that they do not need to take any medication at all after their hair transplantation procedure.
Q. How does your procedure differ from all the others I see advertised?
A. Not being able to fully account for the techniques of others, because I don’t know, exactly, the protocols and variations they use in processing the results they achieve. We can talk to you about my own techniques, which include follicular unit micrografting. This is the most natural way to transplant hair, as it is how it appears in nature. Hairs can be transplanted one by one, with attention given to the exact placement and direction of each hair.
Q. Is there any scarring?
A. Whenever human skin is cut, it always heals by the process called “fibrosis”. This fibrosis (commonly known as scarring) is the skin’s way of healing. The healing sites in the transplanted areas are usually so small that the fibrosis is virtually undetectable. At my clinic, hair transplantation procedures are designed to produce a very natural look. In the great majority of cases, the microtechnologies currently used at my clinic make the restored hairline virtually undetectable.
Q. Why come to Dr. Jones’ clinic?
A. There are at least three good reasons why we believe you might be well-advised to have your hair restoration performed at Dr. Jones’ clinic
Reason 1 All transplants are performed personally by Dr. Jones. Many other commercial operations have salespeople and several doctors that come in on a part-time basis to perform your procedure. At my clinic, I will be involved in every transplant, from beginning to end.
Reason 2 Dr. Jones is among the first physicians in North America to use a new technique. This technique allows the transplantation of individual hairs, which can even be taken from the chest. The technique is micro follicular unit extraction, – scalpel-free hair transplants.
Reason 3 Value. Without salespeople and other levels to pay, the cost of a state-of-the-art transplant is less than you may think.