What is a “Long-Haired” Hair Transplant?

This question, asked by a member of the Hair Loss Discussion Forums, was answered by Coalition physician Dr. Cam Simmons:

I have heard of a process called LHFUE (Long Hair Follicular Unit Extraction) where individual long hair follicles are extracted and placed as short hairs between existing hairs in the natural direction of growth. This just sounds to me like a regular hair transplant. Is there a difference I’m missing?

The long-haired hair transplant was first presented by Dr. Marcelo Pitchon of Brazil. I believe this was done as a strip FUT procedure. My understanding is that the main purpose was to use it to simulate final density for planning purposes.

Patients could look in the mirror as the case progressed and could have input about whether they wanted more density or to cover more area. It was interesting to see videotaped patient’s reactions when they saw themselves in the mirror with a sudden improvement.

Dr. Pitchon explained clearly that the transplanted hairs would mostly shed then grow back like a typical hair transplant. It seemed to me that long-hair transplants would be more technically difficult and that the cosmetic recovery would be smoother with short-hair transplants but it was a very interesting presentation.

I, like many doctors, transplant slightly longer hairs where it is important to control the direction of the curl, such as in eyebrow transplants.

Cam Simmons MD

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David – aka TakingThePlunge
Assistant Publisher and Forum Co-Moderator for the Hair Transplant Network, the Hair Loss Learning Center, the Hair Loss Q&A Blog, and the Hair Restoration Forum
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