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Reason why Follicular Units are used
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The
Reason why Follicular Units are used
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The
fact that scalp hair grows in follicular units, rather than individually,
is most easily observed by densitometry, a simple technique whereby scalp
hair is clipped short in a very small area and then observed via magnification
in a 10mm2 field. What is very obvious when one examines the scalp by this
method, is that follicular units are relatively compact, but are surrounded
by substantial amounts of non-hair bearing skin. The actual proportion of
non-hair bearing skin is probably on the order of 50%, so that its inclusion
in the dissection (or, conversely, its removal) will have a substantial
effect upon the outcome of the surgery. When multiple follicular units are
used (as in minigrafting and micrografting) the additional skin that is
included will adversely affect the outcome of the surgery, by necessitating
larger wounds, making the healing slower and often causing irregularities
of the skin surface. A great advantage of using individual follicular units is that the wound size can be kept to a minimum, while at the same time maximizing the amount of hair that can be placed into it. Having the flexibility to place up to 4 hairs in a tiny recipient site has important implications for the design and overall cosmetic impact of the surgery. This is one major advantage that follicular unit transplantation has over extensive micrografting. Follicular Unit Transplantation can minimize or eliminate the "see through" look that is so characteristic of micrografting. The main reason for transplanting only individual follicular units is to duplicate the way hair naturally grows. By mimicking the way hair grows in nature, the doctor can insure that the transplant will look totally natural. Any grouping larger than the naturally occurring follicular unit will run the risk of a pluggy, tufted look. |
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