In patients of Asian descent, the most common reason for treatment (in both men and women) is androgenetic alopecia. Medical and surgical treatments are possible to correct the hair loss and an accurate diagnosis will assess the rate of hair loss and recommend the most appropriate treatment.

CAPILLARY GRAFTS

Two types of hair transplantation are recommended for patients of Asian descent:

FOLLICULAR UNIT STRIP SURGERY (FUSS)

The FUSS graft, which is done without shaving, will be more often chosen because the density of the donor zone, located at the back of the head, is often normal.

The operation is very mild and therefore takes place under local anesthesia. This is made painless by the prior application of an anesthetic cream.

Without shaving, a strip of scalp is removed from the donor area which is then completely closed using sutures or staples. The scar left by this procedure is very thin, linear, horizontal and virtually invisible.

Under a microscope, the strip is then cut into small follicular units of 1 to 4 hairs that will enable to doctor to implant up to 3000 hairs in 1 session (depending on the density of the donor area).

By removing the strip from the middle of the back of the head, in principle, we avoid hypertrophic or keloid (bulging and voluminous) scarring.

Traces of the procedure fade after ten days and the site will resume its normal appearance in 15 to 20 days. Grafted hair will fall out after 15 days and regrow completely after 12 months.

Final results will be visible one year from the time of treatment, once the regrowth of new hair is complete.

Pros for the patient:

No shaving of the donor area
A large amount of hair can be implanted in one session (up to 3000)
Small scabs that last for about 12 days are hidden by long hair

Pros for the surgeon:

A better view of the orientation and the angle of the hair
Better choice at the anterior frontal line of thin or thick, black or white hair.

FOLLICULAR UNIT EXTRACTION (FUE)

The FUE graft will be especially recommended in patients who shave their heads and is done by extracting each intact follicular unit directly from the donor area after shaving.

The extraction is carried out using a small tool called a micro-punch measuring 0.9 mm in diameter. This is inserted to a depth of 2 to 4 mm and the unit held by the epidermis is then “extracted” very gently from the surrounding tissue. This technique allows the implantation of about 2000 hairs per session.

Pros:

No linear scar (only micro-scars in the form of dots)

Cons:

Low hair density limits the number of implants: if the number of hairs per cm² is relatively low, the number of possible grafts taken will also be relatively low.