Question:
What is the difference between FUE and the strip method used in hair transplants? What are their advantages and disadvantages?

Answer:
The main difference between strip and Follicular Unit Excision (FUE) methods for hair transplantation procedures is the way the donor hair is retrieved from the donor area.

With a strip procedure, a strip is taken that is generally between 8 mm and 1.2 cm that runs from one ear to the other ear in the donor area on the back of the scalp. That strip is dissected under a microscope and grafts are created. The donor wound is sutured, generally using a two-layer closure.

With the FUE procedure, the follicular units in the donor area, which is the same area used in the strip procedure, are removed using a circular type of punch that removes the follicular units individually.

The advantages of the strip method are that the procedure is less expensive, more grafts can be obtained in one session and generally there is a higher success ratio of the grafts that lead to the growing phase.

The advantage of FUE over a strip procedure is that there is no linear scar present following the procedure. After all wound healing has occurred, there will only be tiny little punctate type scars spread throughout the donor area and they will be very hard to see with the naked eye.

Posted by: Dr. Charles