Understanding FUT Strip Technique Hair Transplantation

Author: Amelia Aitken
The FUT strip procedure derives from the old technique of strip harvesting, where a thin strip of skin is removed from the back of the scalp or permanent donor zone to yield the donor hair. Formerly, the strip procedure has been largely responsible for majorly unwanted results of hair plugs and donor scarring and bruising. However, with the new advancement of follicular grafting and micro dissection, things have changed for the strip procedure. It is now favored by many surgeons for yielding the greater number of even quality hair grafts in comparison to the FUE procedure; and achieve full head coverage under a 7hour session.
The FUT procedure shares only the approach of using skin dissection for yielding hair grafts, whereas, it differ in the following measures.

• Use of local anaesthesia

Previously, the strip method was performed under general anaesthesia which raised the issues of blood loss during surgery; bruising; scarring. Often the scars would be bumpy. The use of local anaesthesia constricts the blood vessels of the treatable area and stiffens it resisting against excess blood loss. The incision of the donor strip can thus be fine and so would be the scar.

• Use of single blade incision

The use of lateral slit incision with a single blade scalpel has replaced the multi-bladed incision type. The single blade scalpel reduces the chances of graft transaction in way of the strip removal. The multi-bladed incision was done with a specially designed instrument with a row of blades like in a razor that was implemented to reduce scarring. The multiple bladed incisions just didn't work as expected that now the single blade incision has succeeded to achieve.

• Follicular Grafting

As we know it, hair grows out of a single follicle, but the hair placement in a scalp occurs in 2 to 5 hair follicles closely residing in the scalp as a group or unit undetectable with naked eye; these are referred as follicular units. It is extracting these follicular units with a little fatty tissue enwrapped around them that makes a complete hair graft.
The follicular grafting process is abided by both FUT and FUE hair transplant procedures. In FUT the strip of skin is placed under a microscope and with a fine needle is the folliclur grafts dissected from the skin. Whereas, in FUE the hair of the entire donor zone is close cropped and the follicular units are easily detected with 30x magnification.

• Undermining

Undermining is a technique that is performed occasionally mainly to relive tension during closing and suturing the donor wound if the candidate's scalp is too tight, or there have been hair transplant surgeries done previously. It is done by separating the skin layers around the wound edges.
Usually surgeons avoid undermining, mainly because it has the potential risks of injuring nerves, bleeding, slow healing and scarring. But it is only made a part of the procedure of a predetermined and well planned surgery.

• Trichophytic Closure

The trichophytic closure or "tricho" closure reduces the chances of scarring with some systematic and coordinated incision and closure patterns. The closure technique allows the existing hairs to grow through the linear scar hiding it at the most. Usually the tricho closure requires the donor area to be sutured than stapled.

• Use of Absorbable Sutures and Staples

The closure of the donor wound can either be with staples or sutures. Both can reduce scarring. While staples are advantageous of being inert this causes lesser inflammation and resulting in lesser risk of damaging the existing hair at the back of the scalp after the donor harvesting. The staples also reduce the chance of strangling hair follicles with its interrupted clipping in contrast to an uninterrupted running stitch.
Absorbable sutures on the other hand abort the event of cutting the suture and disturb the operated areas anymore. Absorbable sutures allow the surgeon good precision of closing the donor wound manually.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/hair-articles/understanding-fut-strip-technique-hair-transplantation-7232394.html
About the Author
Harley Street Hair Transplant Clinic offers FUT hair transplant surgery performed under highly skilled specialists. We offer the best price packages and transparent deals, with FUT cost starting from £2, per graft. Talk to us or visit our website for more details.


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