FUE2 - Any exclusive baldingforum info? [Archive]

Mark

01-29-2009, 01:22 PM

FUE has not delivered as impressive results as STRIP, yet. However, the new FUE2 from Dr.Rassman sure sounds interesting and I would like to know more about it. Can anyone (surgeon of course) learn it? Why is it better? Does it beat STRIP overall?

Hi Anagen,

You can read most of the information about FUE2 here. (http://newhair.com/fue2/)

Very simply, what Dr's Rassman and Pak have done is created a device that uses high pressure saline solution to help separate the grafts from the surrounding fatty tissue in the scalp. Normally this is done by the blade edge of a punch which can easily bisect grafts and cause other problems.

But to give a little more information and answer your questions more directly.

1. Yes, any surgeon can learn it. It does take a bit of skill to use, but essentially the technology is what does the work, not so much the technique. The surgeon of course will need the device we've put together.

2. It's better because it results in less damage to grafts than the method in use right now. Currently to do FUE, doctors use biopsy punches to literally punch out individual grafts. They then will typically pull out the grafts that have been punched. If you'd like a video of this procedure I'd be happy to find one for you. I know I've taken many videos of it before. Here's more info from that page on newhair.com:

1. Allows for the production of high quality grafts with less hair transection and trauma to the graft during the extraction process than with traditional FUE grafting.
2. Allows for the preservation of critical anatomical elements of each follicular unit independent of the number of hairs in that particular follicular unit.
3. Eliminates the problem of buried grafts frequently found with traditional FUE graft production, where grafts are pushed below the skin and can not be extracted, potentially causing a foreign body reaction at the point where the graft was buried.
4. Allows the extraction of the entire follicular unit with potentially 1-4 hairs in a single graft, allowing for selective removal of the larger follicular units to produce more hairs per graft through smaller punches and with greater accuracy. It is important to recognize, however, that many people do not have high percentages of follicular units containing 3 or more hairs.
5. Uses a punch size of 0.8-0.9 mm that keeps the wounds small enough to minimize potential compromise to the vascular integrity of the donor area.

* The use of smaller instruments will minimize the size of the punctuate scars that are seen after healing is complete.
* Smaller wounds will result in faster healing.
6. For patients who have reduced donor densities due to poor hair quality in the donor area, selective removal of better, healthier grafts with more hairs per follicular unit can be performed. This should produce a higher hair yield in women with a poorer donor area and with less overall surgical intrusion than from traditional strip harvesting.
7. For patients who have tight scalps, where traditional strip harvesting can be problematic, this is an ideal procedure.

3. Does it beat strip? That's a good question. It really depends on what your priorities and needs are. You typically see the same advantage as in traditional FUE, (less healing time, small wounds, etc), and like traditional FUE it's more expensive than the strip method. There are some more advantages that I copied from newhair.com above, such as patients with tighter scalps or low donor density. But I think the main advantage it has is that it's just a better way of extracting grafts than traditional FUE. More of the grafts you pull are viable for transplantation, and you can extract grafts from more variable types of scalp laxity. I believe Dr. Rassman even had a decent time extracting grafts from scar tissue which was normally impossible with FUE.

Anyway, that's kind of a laymans rundown for you the way I understand it. I hope it helps.

-Mark