Help Me Understand The Truth About FUE Hair Transplants
I’ve been trying to research my hair transplant options and I’m starting to get really confused. According to what I read on the internet, FUE is the new state of the art hair transplant procedure to have. I read that it is noninvasive and leaves virtually no scar. However when I speak to so-called FUE experts who perform this type of hair transplant they all try to talk me out of it claiming that it is somehow an inferior procedure. I’m confused, these hair transplant surgeons all claim to perform FUE on their websites, but when I speak with them they try to talk me out of it. Can someone explain to me why this is the case and in truth FUE is the way to go these days?
FUE is a new and exciting technique of hair transplantation, but it is not for everyone. FUE should be thought of as an adjunct to strip surgery, and not its replacement. And lets be clear about this, FUE is most certainly an “invasive” procedure. In some respects it’s even MORE invasive than strip. There is NO such thing as “non-invasive” surgery; and FUE surgery is certainly no exception.
I don’t know why clinics would claim to offer a technique and then try to talk interested patients out of it. Perhaps they are working on perfecting the technique but don’t yet feel confident enough to provide it to the public yet. Or maybe they just feel the amount of grafts you need would best be performed using the more popular strip method. Or perhaps they had an FUE doctor in the clinic who recently left. I don’t think it’s out of bounds to ask a physician what the specific reason is that you are being denied a procedure that they themselves advertise.
In my own clinic I get many patients who are misinformed about FUE and who visit just to book for this procedure. However, many times they are simply not candidates for this delicate procedure and so I offer them the strip as an alternative. Perhaps this has happened during one of your own consults.
FUE may be the way to go, but not necessarily the ONLY way. Visit with several doctors who have established themselves as consistent FUE surgeons by simply surfing the web and looking at the number of FUE cases they’ve done and the results they have been posting. It probably wouldn’t take more than an afternoon before you began to narrow your search down to 2 or 3 FUE doctors. Then go visit them.
Best of luck and grow well if you decide to go for it.
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The International Alliance of Hair Restoration Surgeons is a consumer organization that selectively screens skilled and ethical hair transplant surgeons. The IAHRS does not offer an open membership policy to doctors practicing hair transplatation, and is the only group that recognizes that all surgeons are not equal in their skill and technique. Its elite membership seeks to represent the best in the discipline, the true leaders in the field of surgical hair restoration.