Hair loss occurs in more than 60% of men and in approximately 10% of women. Although a lack of scalp hair can potentially increase the risk of actinic damage and skin cancer, male and female pattern baldness are conditions that are, with few exceptions, treated electively.
Balding is a major concern for many, and surgery to treat hair loss (ie, hair transplantation) is the most common cosmetic surgery procedure performed on men today. Yet, the market for hair transplantation is dwarfed by the immense market for products that treat hair loss without surgery
Because of changes in technique, hair transplanting can now be offered as a reasonable option to more male and female patients who are not responsive to, or likely to benefit from, medical treatment. These changes have also resulted in exceptionally natural-looking results, even after a single session in an alopecic area, or in many individuals with prior and cosmetically unacceptable transplanting results. Current concepts and techniques are described in the article. Possible disadvantages of some of them are also discussed. In particular, the apparent advantages of “megasessions” of 3000 or more grafts per session, “dense packing” of more than 40 follicular units per cm2, and a new method of harvesting single follicular units directly from the donor area (Follicular Unit Extraction) may not be as advantageous as they first seem.
FU, follicular unit; FF, follicular family; DFU, double FU; TFU, triple FU; QFU, quadruple FU.a
“Cut to size” indicates that the number of hairs in the graft is less important than its size and how well the graft fits into the size of the proposed recipient site.
Cut to “number of hairs” denotes that the primary concern of the graft cutter is the number of hairs in the graft rather than its size.
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