Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT)

Located in Sarasota and also serving Tampa, Florida, Hair Transplant Center is ready to give you the best service and bring back the confidence in you.

You may be thinking, How can I stop my hair from thinning? It’s a great question. Hair loss comes from many factors, from aging and genetics to medical conditions or trauma. There are many options for you to choose that will help you regain your confidence and give you a fuller-looking head of hair. If you’ve tried other treatments that didn’t work for you, then an FUT hair transplant might do the trick!

In decades past, hair transplants involved using plugs of hair that gave people unnatural-looking results. This changed when doctors began using follicular units and micro grafting for natural-looking outcomes.

Hair transplants provide a permanent solution to balding. Unlike wigs or plugs, hair transplants make it look like your natural hair is just growing out of your scalp again. All this can be achieved in one day, and most people are back at their regular activities soon after.

At the Hair Transplant Center – Sarasota, we offer follicular unit transplantation (FUT) as a simple clinic-based hair transplant procedure that serves to restore your receding hairline. There are many different techniques for hair transplants, and that is why our Sarasota, Florida Hair Transplant Clinic uses a mix of tools to produce natural-looking results.

What Is Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT)?

FUT is a hair restoration technique where we take small groups of one to four hairs called follicular units and transplant them. This makes it more efficient because we can put in thousands of hairs at once instead of one or two.

Hair transplant is the process of inserting hair follicles into thinning regions. It fills in gaps on a scalp that is otherwise full of healthy-looking hairs.

For those who opt for an FUT hair transplant surgery, the process helps with receding hairlines and balding areas of the scalp caused by male pattern baldness. However, it is more (fortunately) more complex than cutting portions of skin from your head! A strip comes from either the back or side of your head to extract individual follicles. Those follicles are transferred into thinning spots on top to cover them up.

FUT is a technique that mimics the natural growth of hair. It ensures the transplant will look like your own, even after it starts to grow again following surgery. The procedure transplants follicle units in this way: Growing groups of one to four hairs each come from donor sites and are transferred into recipient areas directly under or above an area undergoing balding.

Hair transplants can be a great option for people who want to restore their hair’s fullness and density. It may not work on everyone, but it is worth considering if you are experiencing thinning or balding.

Using natural follicular units for hair restoration is not simple. But, at the Hair Transplant Center – Sarasota, Dr. Hamwi, Clinician Gieger, and Clinician Daniels carry out the best follicular unit transplantation (FUT) procedures.

How Does Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) Work?

When a doctor does FUT, they will cut a strip of skin from the back of your head. The size differs depending on how many follicles they feel can cover your thinning hair and bald spots. The strip is usually not more than half an inch wide and 4-6 inches long. After the doctor cuts out the strip, they take out each follicle one at a time and put them back into your scalp in the thinning or bald areas.

This type of hair transplant surgery can take 4-8 hours to complete. The patient is usually awake during the surgery and given local anesthesia that numbs the scalp.

Here is how a FUT procedure will generally look:

Removing a Strip of Skin From the Donor Site

The team will first determine the area on your head that they want to restore hair. Then, they will numb the donor area on the back of your head and take a strip of skin with hair follicles. After suturing it, they put it back over the place where you wanted more hair.

Preparing Follicular Units

Our hair restoration staff prepares the hairs from the donor so that they are in follicular units. The staff makes cuts or dissects them into units with one to four hairs. You can read, take a nap, watch TV or relax while the hair is being prepared for transplantation.

Positioning Follicular Units

Once the follicles are ready, our doctor makes tiny cuts in your scalp for each follicular unit. They do this carefully so that the scars will look natural. They also try to put the incisions close to where there is less hair. This way, it will cover up bald spots and make your hair look fuller.

After Completing the Procedure

After you have surgery, a doctor will give you instructions on how to take care of your scalp. The day after the surgery, you might experience pain. You can go back to work in a couple of days. After your surgery, any swelling and redness should go away. After three months, you might see new hair grow in. It can take up to a year to see the final results at their fullest.

The Ability to Conduct Large Hair Transplant Sessions

A hair restoration specialist can transplant many grafts when they use the follicular unit transplantation (FUT) procedure. This is possible for four reasons:

The hair transplant can be completed quickly so that the patient can go back to their daily routine not many days after the surgery.
A larger number of grafts can be harvested.
It protects the donor site by decreasing the number of times incisions are made in the donor area.
Extracting large numbers of grafts provides sufficient one and two-hair grafts to create a soft frontal hairline and enough three and four-hair grafts to provide a full head of hair.

Who Is a Candidate for a Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) Procedure?

FUT transplants only work if you have enough hair on your head to use as a graft. Men with androgenetic alopecia (male pattern baldness) usually make the best candidates for FUT. With this condition, hair loss usually starts at the temples or around the M-shaped line of hair. Women with androgenetic alopecia usually experience Ludwig pattern, which causes thinning in places like near the part or on top of the head.

If you have a medical condition, like a thyroid disorder or alopecia areata, you may not be able to do the surgery. But, other conditions make you a good candidate for the surgery. Let’s talk about them:

Age: FUT is a hair transplant that is typically done on people who are over the age of 25. However, it can be done on younger people as long as they are healthy.
Diagnosis: Men with the Norwood pattern of hair loss respond better to hair transplants.
Hair thickness: Patients with increased hair follicle density typically achieve better coverage.
Area of balding: FUT is effective for treating hair loss at the front and top of the head.
Hair color: Patients with hair that is the same color as their skin make better candidates because they have less color contrast.

Potential Side Effects of Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT)

FUT hair transplants are generally safe, and a doctor who is qualified and experienced should do the operation. The process can still have some side effects, including:

Infection or bleeding: Hair transplants involve cutting or incisions in the skin. There may be an infection or too much bleeding.
FUT scarring: The FUT method is when the doctor takes a strip of skin from your head. The scar may fade after some time, but if you wear your hair short it may become evident again.
Pain and swelling: There may be some pain and swelling following your procedure. The doctor can give you medications to help with this.
Shock hair loss: Donor hair effluvium is called “shock hair loss.” This happens when transplanted hair falls out within two months of the procedure. But the good news is that your new hair will grow back in four months.

FUE vs. FUT: Which Is More Effective?

When it comes to FUE versus FUT, both methods are good for getting hair transplants from follicles. Some people say that the FUT procedure gives you a high-quality graft. The hair transplant doctor can separate these. But, it is not as risky to the follicular units as with the FUE procedure. This means that you can have more grafts in one session with FUT. Your graft survival rate is usually better than with FUE.

When you have scalp surgery, either FUT or FUE will work. When it comes to the scarring, scars from FUT are typically larger. They are more noticeable after the operation. FUE scars are small and scattered throughout the head. They do not show as much after surgery.

FUT Hair Transplant Cost

These are some of the factors that can determine the hair transplant cost:

The amount of hair being transplanted. Most clinics charge by the number of hair follicles being transplanted, but some clinics offer a fixed price.
The hair transplant doctor. The cost of the procedure varies between clinics and the experience of the hair transplant physician.
The clinic location. Clinics in some cities may charge more for FUT hair transplants.
The travel expenses. If you have to travel for your surgery, you should also consider the travel expenses.

At Sarasota Hair Transplant Center, we offer transparent pricing with no gimmicks or hidden fees. We also deliver affordable transplants. That means you can pay less and save money because we offer a minimum price for transplants.

Why Conduct a Follicular Unit Transplantation With Us?

Now that you know more about the FUT procedure, you should make an appointment to speak to one of our clinical staff. They can help answer any questions and show you if this could be the right solution to your particular hair loss problem. Our team of experts at the Hair Transplant Center – Sarasota would be happy to help.

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