Donor area in patient who had strip surgery and then UGraft FUE for comparison
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Does Strip Surgery Produce Better Growth Than FUE ?
Does Strip Surgery Produce Better Growth Than FUE ? The answer is NO. Strip surgery and FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction) use different techniques for harvesting grafts. And due to the nature of these methods, many people are of the mistaken belief that there is less risk of damaging the follicular units in strip procedures. However, this does not necessarily mean that patients will achieve better growth by choosing strip harvesting over FUE. In fact, Dr. U has treated and repair many individuals who experienced little to no growth from their strip operations. And he has managed to achieve successful repairs for these patients using UGraft Follicular Unit Extraction. This notion of strip grafts performing better than FUE grafts is a myth perpetuated by strip surgery clinics that are reluctant to adopt a better procedure that is FUE.

Does Strip Surgery Produce Better Growth Than FUE ?

To answer this question, it is prudent to first know about the two procedures and how they are performed:

How Strip Surgery Is Done

In strip procedures, doctors remove a narrow section of the scalp’s surface. The safest areas to perform this excision is the lower portion of the head, or the sides. Technicians then dissect this tissue using a microscope to harvest donor hair follicles.

How Follicular Unit Extraction Is Performed

In Follicular Unit Extraction, punches are used to remove follicles directly from the surface of the scalp. However, the diameter of the these instruments are incredibly small, usually less than one millimeter. The small sizes of the punches used are enough to fit around individual follicular units. These are naturally occurring groupings of 1-4 hair follicles.

Surgeons have to be very accurate about placing the punches around each follicular unit. Since the punches are so small, there is very little room for human error. Slight inaccuracies can harm the outer dermal sheath surrounding the group of follicles. And this may undermine the integrity of the individual grafts. Damage inflicted on the follicles may actually reduce the likelihood of growth, as many critics of the procedure believe. The UGraft FUE system is crafted to minimize the possibility of graft damage.

Does Strip Surgery Produce Better Growth Than FUE : Real Life UGraft Patient Cases

Many of Dr. U’s patients seek his help for the disappointing growth they received from their strip procedures. Besides the poor yield, they are also left with rather large linear scars. This prevents them from wearing their hair as short as they would like. And they live under the constant fear of other people noticing their scar.

Dr. U specializes in an Advanced form of Follicular Unit Extraction. He has developed a ground breaking technology called uGraft whose specialized punch features overcome the inherent challenges of removing body hair follicles:

(1) sharp and often unpredictable angles of follicular growth

With regular FUE instruments, this characteristic can make these follicles more susceptible to damage from applying straight cylindrical punches.

(2) noticeable scarring on body surfaces

Basic FUE punches will create small round wounds. And this will produce scarring that is rather conspicuous on areas like the face, legs, chest, back, arms etc. Dr. U’s uGraft technology is designed with special features to address these issues. It therefore offers a reliable way to make body hair transplantation a feasible solution for patients.  Furthermore, uGraft represents a forward evolution from regular Follicular Unit Extraction.

Here are a just a few examples of actual patients who experienced poor growth from their strip surgeries. Dr. U not only achieved ideal coverage, but also concealed their linear scars using Advanced Follicular Unit Extraction.

UGraft Case #1: Does Strip Surgery Produce Better Growth Than FUE

This gentleman still had a receded hairline and a sparse crown after his strip surgery. Dr. U was able to harvest and insert beard hair to create his desired overall coverage, which included the scar as well.

 

Does Strip Surgery Produce Better Growth Than FUE ? Patient with poor growth from past strip surgery before and after UGraft FUE restoration
patient before and after his Advanced FUE procedure with body hair*

 

Does FUSS Surgery Produce Better Growth Than Follicular unit extraction
before and after strip scar repair*

 

UGraft Case #2: Does Strip Surgery Produce Better Growth Than FUE

This patient tried to restore his hair multiple times using strip surgery. He was left with several  linear scars, along with poor coverage. To create the required number of donor grafts, Dr. U relied on body hair transplantation in order to achieve the patient’s final results.

Crown and Strip Scar| Hair Transplant Repair- 6000 Grafts
6000 donor grafts became possible through the use of beard follicles. This resource enabled the successful repair of the patient’s strip scar as well as areas marked by hair loss, such as the crown.*

 

UGraft Case #3: Does Strip Surgery Produce Better Growth Than FUE

This patient underwent a botched strip surgery. For the most part, his grafts failed to grow. And the ones that did were clearly inserted at the wrong angles. Until he met Dr. U, he could not find a doctor who could help him repair these results. Therefore, he wore a hairpiece for fourteen years until his life changing body hair transplant procedure.

FUHT vs BHT yield
Follicular Unit Extraction using body hair was the method used to repair the results from a botched strip procedure.*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UGraft Case #4: Does Strip Surgery Produce Better Growth Than FUE

This patient continued to have a receded hairline and temples despite the time and financial investment he made in his strip surgery. He also had a very large scar that needed to be covered as well. His procedure was achieved through regular grafts taken from the head.

FUE graft yield
patient before and after his FUE surgery for the hairline, temples and strip scar*
FUE surgery results for hiding strip scar
large strip scar is camouflaged with FUE grafts*

Initially, it may seem likely that strip procedures produce better quality grafts than Follicular Unit Extraction. But in fact, the actual results will depend on the individualized skills and capabilities of the surgeon.

The patients above illustrate that strip surgery does not necessarily produce better growth. And in fact, they were able to achieve their ideal results through Advanced Follicular Unit Extraction.

Related articles:

Read more about FUE hair transplants

The Truth About Strip Surgery Hair Transplantation Procedure

 

 
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