FUT Edmonton- Follicular Unit Hair Transplant

FUT frontal scalp before and after hair transplant

What is a FUT Hair Transplant?

At our Edmonton clinic, one of the hair transplant procedures Dr. Nakatsui uses to extract healthy hair is known as Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT), which is still regarded as the current gold-standard technique, althoug FUE may now be more popular then FUT. FUT is in fact a very imprecise term but refers to the harvesting of follicular units using a s single-bladed scalpel from the back and sides of the scalp in a single strip or ellipse. Some people refer to this as strip surgery.

Although Dr. Nakatsui first started using this hair restoration technique over 20 years ago, there have been many refinements to the extraction method. One of them is a two step procedure whereby he first scores the skin with a hardened, ultra-sharp scalpel and then carefully and slowly dissects down between the hair follicles with the assistance of multiple skin hooks to spread the tissue apart. This makes the procedure longer but Dr. Nakatsui feels this is necessary to preserve as many hair follicles as possible.

Once this hair has been carefully harvested, the donor area is closed in two layers with sutures and/or staples, often with a trichophytic closure. This is a type of closure where one edge of the donor is area is beveled to encourage hairs to grow through the scar. FUT is an extremely efficient procedure because over three to four thousand grafts can be obtained from a single ellipse.

The implementation of this simple idea requires artistry, careful attention to detail, and meticulous technique throughout each step of the procedure. Dr. Nakatsui incorporates all of these elements together and the technique he uses has been termed Ultra Refined Follicular Unit Grafting by others.

awards hair transplant edmonton consumer choice top choice best in edmonton

What Makes our FUT Procedure Special?

We have done thousands of successful FUT and FUE hair transplant surgeries in our Edmonton clinic
Dr. Nakatsui is one of the most experienced hair transplant surgeons in Canada
We have been awarded the Consumer Choice Award for best hair restoration for 15 years
We specialize in dense packing and the lateral slit technique
We only use single bladed scalpels for extraction of the donor in FUT surgeries
We use custom made implanters to optimize the insertion of all our hair implants
Dr. Nakatsui is one of only a few physicians in Canada capable of transplanting over 4000 grafts in one session
Dr. Nakatsui is one of 4 Canadians who is capable of doing Ultra-Refined Follicular Unit Hair Transplants.

For these reasons and others, we believe that Nakatsui Hair Transplant is your best choice for hair transplant surgery in Edmonton.

hairline before and after FUT hair transplant

All the photos on this page come from an FUT hair transplant procedure we performed over 10 years ago. With dense packing and the lateral slit technique, we were able to achieve these results in one surgery. Even today, many hair transplant surgeons cannot achieve this density in one pass.

Once all the donor hair has been extracted, it is important to remember the other aspects of a hair transplant still have to come together. From graft dissection to recipient site creation to graft insertion, this is where Nakatsui Hair Transplant truly excels.

Dr. Nakatsui can tailor your results to what you are looking for. If you are looking for a denser result or if you are wanting a less dense look, he can do this for you in a completely, natural way. For more of our before and after results, check out our Results page.

frontal forelock before and after FUT hair transplant

Advantages of FUT Hair Transplants

Most efficient to obtain large numbers of follicular units in one session (e.g. 3500 grafts)
Linear scar that is usually easy to conceal as long as the surrounding hair is not too short.
Frequently get better grafts as they can be shaped perfectly under the microscope
Lower cost

Disadvantages of FUT Hair Transplants

Linear scar at donor site
Sometimes unable to trim hair short at donor site because of linear scar; consequently, people with tight fades are not candidates for FUT
Patients with tight scalps (i.e. low donor laxity) are not able to yield large numbers of follicular unit grafts

What Areas Can Hair Be Implanted Into?

The answer is that technically any area of the body can have hair inplanted into it. The most common area is of course the scalp. Hair can also be successfully implanted into eyebrows, eyelashes, sideburns, beard, and chest. It can also be successfully implanted into scars.

What is the Cost of a FUT Hair Transplant in Edmonton?

The cost of a transplant depends on the area being transplanted and the desired density. We have covered this topic in detail here.

What Does a Typical Follicular Unit Hair Transplant Surgery Day Look Like?

Step 1 – Your procedure plan

The day begins with Dr. Nakatsui discussing the treatment plan. He will spend a lot of time here determining precisely where we are going to implant the new hairs. Dr. Nakatsui spends a lot of time with this step, especially when dealing with hairlines, crowns, and eyebrows, as it is very important to him to ensure we are creating what you want.

Step 2 – Anesthetizing the Donor Area and Donor Hair Removal

We first give you some relaxing medications and then we inject two types of anesthetic to completely numb the donor area. Patients tell us afterwards this was way less painful than they anticipated. The strip or ellipse of donor hair is removed and closed. The only hair that is trimmed is that of the donor hair. The rest of the hair is left long to cover the closed incision.

Step 3 – Anesthetizing the Recipient Area and Recipient Site Creation

We give you some additional relaxing medication and numb the recipient area with two types of anesthetic, frequently using nerve blocks. The recipient sites are created using the lateral slit technique. If desired, the sites are dense packed to give more density to the hair transplant results. For smaller sessions <1400 grafts, we do not need to trim the recipient area; however, for larger sessions, the recipient area is trimmed down quite short to ensure the recipient sites can be made without damaging the original hair follicles. While this is going on, the donor hair is being dissected using steromicroscopes into follicular units (bundles of 1, 2, or 3-4 hairs).

Step 4 – Insertion of the Follicular Unit Hair Grafts

At this stage, the follicular unit grafts are ready to be implanted. We implant them with custom made implanters. These implanters are different from those that are commercially available and are made just for us. They are more expensive but they are faster than the typical implanters and even less traumatic to the hairs. We have had patients who have received transplants using the old implanters and the new, and they tell us that they noticed a difference even after the first day with less crusting and faster healing, even though they did not even know we had changed implanters! Occasionally, we will use forceps to implant as well. We only use these in patients who for some reason are difficult to plant with implanters. This is extremely rare but does happen from time to time.

Step 5 – Post-op care

We go over the post-operative care with you before you go. There are no bandages but we do give you a new black ballcap to wear on your way out. You will also get Dr. Nakatsui’s contact information at that time so you can contact him if need be.