Posts Tagged ‘follicular unit transplant’

12 Common Mistakes Made During Hair Transplants

INTRODUCTION -

Although follicular unit transplant eliminates many of the shortcomings of older surgical hair restoration techniques, such as a “pluggy” look, a “moth-eaten” donor area or midline scalp reduction scars, poor aesthetic judgment and techniques that compromise graft growth can still lead to problems. Perhaps because follicular unit transplant requires large numbers of grafts (using a significant portion of the donor area at one time), because so many staff members are involved in the process, and because some of the problems of small graft procedures are very difficult to correct, improperly performed follicular unit hair transplantation can pose a greater risk to patients than traditional grafting. The risk is compounded by the fact that many physicians perceive follicular unit transplant as a safe, risk-free procedure and describe it to patients as such.

The remainder of this section will focus on some of the most common mistakes made by follicular unit transplant practitioners, particularly in the areas of planning, hair transplant design and handling large numbers of small grafts. These problems and how they may be avoided are summarized below.

1. Operating on patients that are too young or prior to medical therapy
2. Failing to identify low donor density prior to surgery
3. Failing to identify a tight scalp
4. Harvesting a donor strip that is too wide
5. Placing the donor incision too low or too high
6. Using a multi-bladed knife
7. Crushing grafts during insertion
8. Allowing grafts to dry
9. Placing the frontal hairline too far forward
10. Creating a hairline that is too broad
11. Angling hair in the wrong direction
12. Attempting to cover an area that is too large Read more…