The FUE PROCEDURE
Hair restoration
Follicular unit extraction (FUE) hair transplantation is now more successful and efficient than ever before. In years past, I did perform FUE transplantation for the right patient, but this painstaking procedure was more timely and therefore more costly and it did not previously yield as great a harvest as the tried and true follicular unit transplantation (FUT) method of which I have done thousands of cases.
SAFE Method for FUE Hair Transplantation
As I am always looking for ways to deliver the best results for our patients, I learned of the SAFE method of FUE transplantation developed by James A. Harris, M.D., FACS of Greenwood Village, Colorado. Over a year ago, I went to Colorado to train with Dr. Harris to learn this revolutionary new technique and am now one of only a few surgeons in the country to offer this acclaimed technique as an option for hair transplant surgery.
Powered SAFE Scribe Explained
This FUE technique is accomplished using the Powered SAFE Scribe – a power operated 0.8 mm punch graft instrument which greatly increases the viable number of hair follicles able to be harvested with less damage to the follicles. This technique also increases the number of hairs that can be harvested per hour, thereby reducing total procedure time and cost.
With the Powered SAFE Scribe, the FUE hair transplant is now considered minimally invasive. Because of the small individual punches of harvested hairs, there is no visible scarring and the healing time is faster. However, as with any type of FUE method, the harvested hairs are more fragile than with follicular unit hair transplantation and the overall transplanted growth rate can still be slightly less than with FUT.
With the FUE technique, we are literally harvesting hundreds or thousands of individual hairs one at a time. The Powered SAFE Scribe makes the procedure easier by vibrating around the hair follicle to isolate it as I excise it for re-transplantation.
I recommend the SAFE FUE method of hair transplantation to patients who want to wear their hair relatively short or those who want to avoid the small linear scar that results from follicular unit transplantation
Dr. Timothy Jochen is a specialist in hair restoration, and a member of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery. He has carried out hundreds of artfully completed transplants throughout his career, and uses the latest methods in hair transplant procedures. Dr. Jochen has taken great satisfaction in restoring his patients’ natural, healthy hair, for nearly 20 years, and continues to be the example others strive to emulate in hair transplant medicine.