Hair grafting can change your life for the better by giving you a more youthful look and boosting your self-esteem. It’s suitable if you have hair loss in a specific area, such as the scalp. During a hair transplant procedure, Dr. Joseph Williams takes healthy hair from one part of your scalp. He then transfers it to the section with thinning hair. There are two essential procedures for doing so: Strip harvesting or follicular unit transplantation (FUT) and follicular unit excision (FUE).
What Is a Hair Graft?
A hair graft refers to the tissue that is harvested from the healthy section of your scalp. During the restoration procedure, Dr. Williams will cut these grafts into smaller pieces then insert them into the balding part.
How Do We Create Grafts?
Graft creation essentially depends on the type of transplant procedure used. Strip harvesting removes up to 10 inches of hair-rich skin from your scalp. This method gives us several grafts in a short period.
FUE utilizes a device that cuts individual hair follicles. We conserve and prime these units for insertion into the balding section. This process usually creates two or three hairs for every follicular unit. One of the benefits of FUE is that you’ll avoid the scarring associated with FUT. It’s also preferable if you intend to maintain short hair.
Although strip harvesting has been in use for longer, FUE is a more accurate hair transplant procedure. Other than the scar FUT leaves, it also makes it harder to harvest strips for future transplants. That’s because your scalp becomes tighter after being stitched to cover the harvest area.
What Factors Affect Graft Survival?
We’ve made several advances in the field of hair restoration over the past two decades. Our modern techniques, skills, and vast experience achieve natural-looking results. We also have a better understanding of full and receding hairlines. However, some factors influence the rate of survival. They include:
- X and H factors
These are unknown or misunderstood factors that vary depending on the patient. Examples are the quality of hair in the donor area and the amount of trauma during and after surgery. Others are graft size, storage options, method of preparation, and post-op care. At the Advanced Medical Hair Institute, we take the highest precautions throughout the harvesting of the grafts.
- Hydration
Hydration plays an essential role in graft survival. Drier follicles have lower chances of survival. In a busy setup, it’s easy for grafts to be dehydrated. Dr. Williams’ extreme vigilance ensures their storage under the most optimum conditions.
- Time spent from the body
The survival rate of grafts reduces the longer they stay out of the body. A sample of 200 FU grafts may maintain a 95% viability within 2 hours. This rate may reduce to 86% after 6 hours, then 54% after 48 hours. The general loss is 1% for every hour they stay out of your body. That’s why Dr. Williams completes the restoration procedure as soon as he can.
- Trauma
It’s advisable to avoid unnecessary bending, rubbing, crushing, and stretching. Although chilling elongates the survival of other body organs, grafts aren’t too sensitive to room temperature. They also work well when stored in an unbuffered normal saline (UNS).
At the Advanced Medical Hair Institute, we perform all hair transplant procedures to the highest standards. Dr. Williams utilizes his expertise, experience, and tech-savviness to ensure you receive the most natural-looking results. His assistants are also highly trained to maintain excellence throughout. We stay up to date with industry trends to pass the benefits to our patients. Please make an appointment today for the best solutions to all your hair problems.
