Maximizing Hair Restoration: Combined FUE and FUT Technique

Hi my name is Dr Ken Anderson I’m here at the Anderson Center for hair and today we’re going to talk about combination FUE and FUT procedure so what is a combined F FUT procedure well it’s a situation where typically we want to maximize the Harvest and yield of the follicles to be transplanted in a short period of time to accomplish this we perform an operation on two consecutive days on the first day a full FUE procedure is performed the grafts are extracted harvested trimmed and then implanted into the areas of need on the first day on the second day the very next day the patient comes back and we do a complete FUT or linear strip procedure where a strip of scalp through the U permanent zone so the through the safe zone is harvested and 100% of the Fall within that strip are used in the transplant and then on that second day all of those follicles are transplanted so that after a tway surgical procedure with two days being spent here at the Anderson Center for here of course the patient goes home or back to the hotel at night we can extract the maximum amount of follicles in the shortest amount of time you may be asking yourself well am I a good candidate for the combined FUE FUT procedure what about me well let’s discuss what makes a good candidate for a combined FUE FUT procedure first and foremost patients who need a lot of hair you know if you have a slight recession at the frontal hairline or maybe a small spot in the crown you’re not going to need 4,000 Foles you know those are much smaller cases so patients with minimal hair loss minimal to even moderate hair loss typically don’t require this type of procedure but if you have a large area a large spot of the crown Missing frontal hairline and and a lot to reconstruct and this may be an option to consider patients really need to be committed to Future hair loss prevention okay hair loss never stops it’s going to continue throughout your life it’s a progressive phenomenon it may appear to stop for a number of years and I’ve had many patients come in I haven’t lost hair in 8 years once it starts it’s going to continue at some point so prevention is always key my happiest patients are ones that that thoroughly engage in hair loss prevention strategies and these are things that we discuss in the consultation appointment but those are some reasons that make a patient a good candidate for a combined FUE FUT procedure you might be asking yourself well what are the advantages and disadvantages so let’s go over that the main advantage is is a maximum Harvest of follicles you know if we’re looking for three 3,000 4,000 up to 5,000 follicles in a 2-day procedure this is how we accomplish that and then you consider how long the hair takes to grow in typically takes a full 12 months for that hair to grow in I talked to a number of patients and they tell me that one of their biggest regrets is that they didn’t do it sooner because they they work up the courage to get it done they have their transplant and now it’s a a year long waiting period this is one way to s of combine all the follicles into a two-day surgical period and then a year later you’ll have the results of two procedures instead of you know doing one at a time and the whole process taking two years as I tell patients in consultation you know straight up pain is bad for business you know I I really I nobody wants to see reviews about patients in pain as a result I personally do all the anesthesia myself to make sure that it’s as comfortable as possible I will will say that where the follicles are placed in the recipient area that area is numn and patients never complain about having pain you know on the on the frontal hairline or on the top of the head or in the crown where the follicles were placed it’s in the donor area that some minor discomfort can occur the fuee procedure all those little we Harvest sites I’m told it it’s like a mild sunburn on the back and signs of the head at worse and with the FUT it’s kind of like a a minor bruise a little bit of a bruise on the scalp so it’s I guess the combined procedure would sort of be a little bit like a minor Sunburn and and a minor bruise but really not a feature of the procedure nobody likes to get hurt and and patients are often frankly surprised at how how painless and pain-free the whole procedure is including the combined 2-day FUE FUT procedure do have a story to share about about pain control you know it’s it’s important I received this phone call I always talked to my patients the day after the procedure and I got a call from him actually he beat me to it called me early in the morning he says Dr Anderson I’ve got a problem and I’m on the phone I said yeah how you doing we’ll call him Dave how you doing Dave he’s like you know a fight you know I got to tell you Dr Anderson I’m not having any pain I said good that’s you know I I I had a couple occasions say that prior after I modified the technique slightly and so I wasn’t surprised I said okay I said good how can I help you he said and he repeated himself Dave said Dr Anderson I’m not having any pain I said well okay that’s that’s great do you have any questions about the instructions and he said to me he says Dr Anderson I don’t think you seem to understand I’m not having any pain and I I asked I said Dave are you calling me because you’re not having enough pain and he said yes Dr Anderson I don’t feel like I’ve had a procedure I think something’s wrong and I just thought you know I reassured him I said David everything’s fine you know it’s the way the procedure is done you know we don’t want a lot of discomfort so you may be one of the lucky few who has so little pain that it’s perceived as no pain at all I just thought I’ sure that the question that comes up a lot you might be asking yourself does it matter where the grafts harvested with FUE are transplanted to versus the FUT grafts and the short answer is no you know follicles from the permanent Zone from the safe zone are the ones that are used in the transplant essentially a transplant works by transplanting those airs to areas of need nobody bothers to tell those follicles that they’ve been moved and they continue to grow as if they’re on the back and sides of the head in the permanent Zone another question that comes up and you may be asking yourself is the sites the recipient sites that are created on the first day of surgery that are intended to receive the follicles harvested with the FUT on the second day of surgery will those recipient sites stay open and the short answer is yes they do a thin fibrant plug gets in those those those sights but that is easily separated apart using the jeweler’s forceps that our technicians use to place the follicles and there’s actually an advantage to doing the sights on the first day and then planting the follicles on the second day the the tiny wounds the recipient sites get a full 24 hours ENT head start on on the wound healing process and the little tendrils of neovascular and new blood vessels get a little bit of a head start and so it is thought to actually enhance the healing process and ostensibly the results