FUT vs FUE
The cost of the FUE method is much higher than FUT and yet most patients still prefer it. Because it misleads a lot of people to think that the newest technique should be the best.
The FUE method for hair transplant has been around since 2002, which makes it 20 years. It is currently as popular as the FUT method for hair transplant surgery. According to the statistics at the 2014 ISHRS annual meeting, 89% of hair surgeons perform it.
Personally, I would not recommend it. Except for very limited indications, FUE is not in the patient’s best interest.
The majority of active hair transplant surgeons attend the annual meeting. Usually, about a thousand members attend the meeting yearly to discuss the most recent advances and information on hair transplant surgery.
In the 2017 ISHRS annual meeting in Prague, ten famous hair transplant surgeons were invited to the stage and were asked if they were to have a hair transplant, and which surgery would they consider FUE or FUT.
One female surgeon said she prefers to have only medicine-based treatment, The rest nine surgeons all prefer to have the FUT method, except two of them remarked that in a very small area, they might consider choosing the FUE method.
This is because 100% of the surgeons prefer to have FUT surgery for themselves. What is your choice? Do you think you know better than hair transplant surgeons?
The reasons are
1. FUE does not reduce the scars but instead spreads them into much larger areas. Thousands of scars will be left forever and only covered up by the adjacent hair temporarily. One day, the hair around the donor site gets thinner or narrower than the safe zone; the scars will become visible and will be impossible to cover up. Instead of FUE, FUT reduces the scar down to 1/10th most of the time. It’s still not visible as long as you keep the surrounding hair one centimeter long.
2. FUE can’t use the best donor available but will instead ruin it. Punch scars can change the hair’s direction during growth. FUE is a blind procedure and it will be harder to punch intact grafts for future procedures. As a hair transplant surgeon, I am always concerned that there will not be enough donor hair to cover the balding area. Damaging the donor is the worst possible thing that can happen.
Differences between FUT and FUE
| Comparison | FUE | FUT | |
| Is it the latest technique? | no, it is the oldest punch graft but change the size of punch | ||
| Tool | punch | blade | |
| Donor harvesting | blind view | under direct microscopy vision | |
| Wound treatment | leave open | closed | |
| Scar | thousand of small punch scars | one linear scar | |
| Scar distribution
(in same length) |
5 to 6 times wider | one line only | |
| Total Scar Size | 10 times bigger | ||
| Scar long term effect | permanent | permanent | |
| For keloid patient | disaster-hard to treat thousand keloids | easier- only one scar to treat | |
| Quality of graft | defect graft (no tissue around follicle) | intact graft (come with tissue around follicle) | |
| Growth rate of transplantation | 61.40% | 86% | Read Dr.Beehner’s study |
| Impact to 2nd surgery | huge-scar tissues change the hair direction | minimum- can use different donor area | |
| Length of hair need to cover up the scar | 1 cm | 2 cm | |
| Hairstyle options such as marine cut | no | yes | |
| Price | Double |
Why most surgeons prefer FUE?
FUE: need only one technician
FUT: need 3-4 technicians
Some surgeons do everything by themselves without hiring any assistance to save on business costs. It is for their own best interest, not yours.
In addition to the overhead expense, the surgery fee is double for the FUE technique. The incentive for using FUE for physicians is simply irresistible. Especially for a new physician who’s just starting his practice with only 3 to 5 surgeries a month. It’s difficult to start a business when you need to hire 3 to 4 technicians to assist.
