I’m interested in getting a hair transplant, but I’ve heard that FUE is the best technique, but some have said that DHI is better, so which is it?
Follicular Unit Excision (FUE) is a harvesting method surgeons use to remove the hair. Direct Hair Implantation (DHI) is a technique that surgeons use to implant grafts. You are comparing apples to oranges, you can have an FUE procedure, and the surgeon/clinic can still implant the grafts using DHI.
Surgeons market DHI as some miracle technique that guarantees the growth, but it’s not true. The reason why some hair transplant surgeons like to use DHI is to reduce the amount of time the grafts are outside of the body. However, it isn’t an issue unless the surgeon is inexperienced. Follicular unit grafts can survive almost 24 hours outside of the body when stored in the right solution.
The most common holding solution is called HypoThermasol. It’s common to combine HypoThermasol with Adenosine triphosphate(ATP). The notion that grafts dry out and die if they are outside of the body for more than a few minutes isn’t true. The marketing of DHI as a technique that is going to guarantee growth is a recent phenemenon.
Some surgeons are getting excellent results storing grafts in the holding solution, and others are getting terrible results using DHI. Every technique has its pros and cons. The only thing that matters is the results. Be wary of any dogmatic views on surgery presented by clinics/surgeons. Most of the time, these clinics are technician-based hair mills.
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