HOW TO PRESERVE THE DONOR AREA IN FUE EXTRACTIONS

During the last meeting of the ISHRS in Kuala Lumpur there were much discussion about what the impact of various types of punches had in the donor area, both in terms of healing and of management of the donor.

An interesting article from Dr. True explains how when the surgeon extracts a single unit from the donor via FUE it’s important to follow a procedure that will allow to preserve the existing architecture of the donor.

The thinned or “pitted” appearance of the donor area after extraction FUE is linked, according to Dr. True, mostly to the area that is left devoid of hair, more than the size of the punch used for extractions. As is shown in the drawing below the extraction of the follicle at the center of a particular sector of the donor results in leaving a larger bald area, while extracting a follicle adjacent to a group of adjacent follicles produces only a small increase in the size of the area deprived of hair.

Strategic vision in the selection of follicles and the partial extraction of a group of follicles instead of their complete extraction are two factors that must be taken into consideration and which represent an important development for the FUE technique, especially because they allow to preserve better the donor area both at the level of final aesthetic appearance after the extraction as well as at the management level of the same in view of possible future interventions.

The red circles in the image shown above indicate the follicles removed from the middle of a particular sector of the donor and the blue circles show the extent of the bald area resulting from extraction.

The orange circles indicate an extracted follicle that was adjacent to a follicular group and the green circles show the extent of the area devoid of hair that results after FUE extraction.