Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE)
Minor treatments can also be handled with the method of the follicular unit extraction. This method, which dates from the time of punching and holing, has been refined in recent years and is increasingly offered on the market. This enables for the treating physician a simple and especially inexpensive method. The staff requirement is very small; no preparation (preparation of the hair roots) is needed. The treatment can be performed by the physician alone. The realization involves some risks and ignores the aesthetic and economic aspects, which are crucial for the patient.
In the process of the Follicular Unit Extraction, the individual hairs are stamped at the point of the removal with a fine instrument. The whole back of the head has to be shaved beforehand. This is followed by the removal of as many roots of hair as needed for the transplants. The result is that tiny “holes” remain at the back of the head, which will scar over. Sometimes small cysts can develop. As it is not clear in which direction the hair roots are growing under the skin, the injury rate during removal is between 10% and 30%, depending on the experience of the physician and the nature and the stage of growth of the hair. In some cases, up to half of hair roots have to be removed so that the result corresponds to the planning. For such a valuable resource, "lifelong growing root of hair" this is an uneconomical procedure and the price will be multiplied. If a subsequent treatment is necessary, some hair follicular units may be missing because of this applied extraction technique.
While the results of the Moser method have already been documented tens of thousands of times praising it as natural and aesthetical, it is not the case for the Follicular Unit Extraction. The treatment takes twice as long as the Moser method, while only about half of the hair follicular units are transplanted.
The treatment team focuses on the removal, because it requires energy and concentration. But actually the receiving site should be at the centre of attention. In order to make sure that sufficient physical, psychological and time resources are available, the treatment must be kept short and the patient may have to appear for several consecutive days for treatment, as this procedure is very tiring for the doctor. The result is, that too little time and energy is spent meeting the aesthetic demands of the patients.