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Hair Loss Treatment at NHI

FUE - Questions for Your Doctor Checklist

You should consider printing this page out and bringing it with you when meeting prospective FUE hair transplant surgeons.

  1. How many FUE procedures has the doctor performed? What variables does the doctor consider when choosing FUE over the strip method?
  2. What has the doctor found to be his/her average transection rate? The transection rate of hairs (hairs cut apart into non-viable hair fragments) portend to poor surgical execution of FUE. Transected hairs may die, so one can expect that the yield will be less if the surgeon experiences any significant transection rate. Transection rates should be under 5% and they can be tracked by the surgeon. In a follicular unit consisting of three hairs, if only one out of three hairs comes out intact and two are transected, the surgeon may consider that a survivable graft, even if 66% of the hairs in the graft may not be viable. As the charge for these grafts are usually graft driven, one survivable hair out of three potentially viable hairs will have the same fee as three survivable hairs.
  3. Does your doctor prefer "chubby" grafts or skinny ones? FUE hairs are frequently stripped of the fat around them and the hair bulb and dermal papillae may be damaged. Hairs that have good fat around them and maintain the presence of the dermal papillae will produce the most robust hairs. Stripping of the critical "outer root sheath" (ORS) that surrounds the hairs within the follicular unit, particularly at the distal portion of the hair, may produce a thinner hair.
  4. What does your doctor do should cysts develop? In the process of performing FUE, a limited number of grafts may get buried in the scalp (grafts that are pushed below the skin surface when removal is attempted). These buried hairs can:

    1. trigger a foreign body reaction when they occur
    2. form occasional cysts and abscesses
    3. be reabsorbed by the body
  5. Are they published? Have they contributed to the field? Ethics are always a concern when selecting a physician. Consider the doctors reputation amongst other patients and among their peers.
  6. What tools and technique does the doctor use and why? Where did the doctor learn the technique?
  7. What percentage of the doctor's practice is FUE? What criteria does he/she use in selecting candidacy of a patient for FUE?

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