Evaluation of Follicular Unit Extraction Technique as a Method for Hair Restoration Problems.

Abstract

Context: Androgenetic alopecia, traction alopecia, and primary cicatricial alopecia can cause distressing scalp hair loss problems affecting a large number of both sexes. Follicular unit extraction (FUE) is one of the best ways to achieve improving conditions of those cases.

Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate the FUE technique as a method for permanent hair restoration problems.

Settings and design: Channels for the grafts were created through pieces of hand-cut razor blades.

Subjects and methods: Twenty patients suffering from alopecia were eligible to participate in the study. They were subjected to FUE.

Results: On comparing different types of alopecia, we found that cicatricial alopecia was significantly more common among younger patients, unlike traction and traction types which were relatively more common among older patients (P = 0.043). There was no significant difference between alopecia types concerning the duration of operation. However, the number of implants was significantly higher among patients with androgenic alopecia when compared with cicatricial and traction subtypes (P < 0.001). Concerning patients' satisfaction, we found that there was no significant difference between alopecia types concerning patients, observers, or doctor satisfaction with an overall satisfaction rate ranging between 3.67 and 4.

Conclusions: Till now, there is no specific algorithm for treating patients with hair loss. However, there is a general preference of patients toward surgical options being less time-consuming and achieve better results. Whatever the cause is FUE showed good results concerning postpatients satisfaction concerning their appearance and visual age.