Could Strip FUT be for you?
Strip FUT is ideally suited to patients suffering from advanced hair loss who require large amounts of restoration and high graft numbers – but we would recommend a personal consultation to ensure that it is the right treatment for you.
STRIP FUT STEP-BY-STEP
While no two Strip FUT procedures are ever exactly identical, they do follow the same essential steps from start to finish.
Here’s an insight into what you can expect upon entering a Farjo Hair Institute clinic.
- Having discussed your hair loss and the treatment options available to you at your consultation with one of our experts, you decide on Strip FUT and book an appointment for your treatment.
- Depending on the extent of the area to be treated and the number of grafts that need to be transferred, the procedure can take from 4 to 12 hours
- Currently, we are able to transfer from as few as 500 to as many as 4,500 grafts (up to 10,000 hairs) in one day.
- On the morning of your surgery, your hair transplant surgeon discusses the plan with you one last time, and draws the area that will receive the hairs on your scalp.
- You will be given a mild sedative and local anaesthetic in both the donor and recipient areas
- The discomfort you feel for a few minutes when being given the anaesthetic (similar to what you feel when undergoing dental work) is the only sore sensation you feel throughout your treatment.
- Once the anaesthetic has had its effect, the procedure begins with a thin strip of scalp containing healthy hair roots genetically programmed to grow throughout your life being removed with the aid of high magnification. This is step is performed by your hair transplant surgeon.
- With the aid of the stereoscopic dissecting microscopes, the strip is then divided into individual follicular unit grafts (each measuring approximately 1mm in width) – the use of microscopes means that about 30% more hair is harvested than through the use of older techniques. This step is performed by our highly trained surgical technicians and nurses.
- For the recipient area, your designated hair transplant surgeon will make all the sites that will receive the hair grafts using tiny needles or blades. This step determines the aesthetic outcome controlling hairline design, hair distribution, direction, angles and orientation.
- Once each session of graft harvesting is done, our team of highly trained and supervised technicians and nurses will insert the grafts into the pre-made sites created by the surgeon as described above.
- The grafts are blended in amongst the thinning or balding areas in such a way as to match all the natural growing characteristics of your original hair
- We prefer to densely pack at a rate of 35-50 grafts, or 80-110 hairs, per square centimetre per operation – in our experience, this represents the optimum number for a maximum hair survival rate of 85-90%
- This means that one operation adds on average 25-30% of the original hair density
- We refer to all of the above in operations of 3,000 grafts or more as Ultra-Refined Follicular Unit Transplantation
Within half an hour of your treatment ending, you can be on your way home
- The site from where the donor strip was sourced is closed using small surgical staples (or sometimes stitches) that are immediately covered by your surrounding hair. This normally heals to form a thin, vague and hard to detect scar amongst your permanent hair
- With a few exceptions, we usually use what is known as trichophytic closure – this involves trimming one edge of the cut prior to closure, so that when the opposing edge of the cut is joined to the trimmed edge, hairs from the trimmed edge grow through the resulting scar, effectively camouflaging its appearance further
- The entire procedure is very clean and, when complete, no bandages or dressings are required
- Within half an hour of the treatment ending, you can be on your way home – although we strongly recommend you do not drive, so we advise that you make arrangements to get home by taxi or public transport or get picked up by a friend or family member
- With the expertise we can offer at every stage of the procedure, we can produce results where the transplanted hair are virtually indistinguishable from the original ones – even under the closest scrutiny.
Frequently Asked Questions About STRIP FUT
Yes, except for haemophiliacs and people with significant or relevant medical conditions or those with very poor or no donor area at all. Sometimes, although you can physically have a transplant, the surgeon may advise against it for a variety of reasons, including: being too young, future hair loss considerations or high expectations among other things. We’ll explain in detail if something like this is apparent with you.
Hair transplants are performed under local anaesthetic and donor and recipient sites are totally frozen and de-sensitised. You will experience a discomfort when the anaesthetic is initially applied. During the hair transplant procedure, you may choose to watch TV or a film, listen to the radio or music, or you may want to take a nap. We’ll make sure you’re as comfortable as possible. Patients may experience some discomfort for a few days after the operation, but that is easily controlled with supplied medication.
The art of a hair transplant is to conceal the scar. When performed by skilled surgeons, Follicular Unit Hair Transplants will only be detected by thorough expert medical examination. The donor site, however, will have a very fine scar completely hidden by your hair. The technique of trichophytic donor closure is now rendering donor scars very difficult to detect, even with a very short hair cut. Generally we recommend a no. 2 haircut as a minimum, because healing and scarring can vary from person to person.
Not when compared to alternative treatments. Of course there is a cost involved, but the naturalness of growing your own hair back makes hair transplants much more cost effective.
Remember, there are no other expenses involved afterwards – there are no wigs or hairpieces to be continually maintained, serviced and replaced. So, in the long run, hair transplants are not only the most natural solution, but they can also be the most cost-effective. We can provide a rough estimate of cost from good photos; however, a detailed price can only be worked out after examining your scalp and assessing your hair loss at a consultation with one of the doctors.
Fine linear scar amongst donor hair, Up to 5,000 grafts per day. Usually a lower rate of hair transection – the potential damage that can occur to the hair follicles during the hair transplantation. No need to shave the donor scalp, From £2,500 per procedure.