What is the Best Punch Size for Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) Hair Transplants?
When researching hair transplant surgeons, what questions should be asked about mini grafts vs 4 hair follicles and tool size? What is the state of the art tool size that doctors are using?
I’m not sure if you’re using the term “mini grafts” correctly but this refers to an outdated hair transplantation technique. Today’s state-of-the-art surgical hair restoration almost exclusively uses naturally occurring follicular units consisting of between 1 and 4 hair follicles. Using these naturally occurring clusters of hair follicles enables surgeons to produce highly refined and undetectable results.
In follicular unit strip surgery (FUSS), a strip of hair-bearing scalp is removed from the permanent zone and then dissected under stereoscopic microscopes in order to carefully separate the delicate grafts without damaging them. In follicular unit extraction (FUE), the grafts are harvested individually with a punch. These punches vary in size and may be sharp or blunt, manual or motorized. Skilled hair transplant surgeons will use a variety of punch sizes depending upon the characteristics of the hairs they are trying to harvest. There is really no ideal punch size, however they tend to range in size between 0.8 and 1mm.
I suggest that rather than concerning yourself with the tools that each surgeon uses, instead concentrate on the results they produce with their tools of choice. The most important aspect of hair transplant surgery is the appearance of the final result and not how you get there.
You may find the following articles of interest:
Using Different Sized Punch Tools in Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) Hair Transplant Surgery?
The Evolution of Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE), Physicians, and its Tools
What’s the Best Tool for Performing Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) Hair Transplants?
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David (TakingThePlunge)
Editorial Assistant and Forum Co-Moderator for the Hair Transplant Network, the Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center, and the Hair Loss Q & A Blog.
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Technorati Tags: hair transplantation, hair restoration, follicular units, follicular unit strip surgery, FUSS, follicular unit extraction, FUE
