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Is an FUE hair transplant possible for somebody with Afro-textured hair?

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My type 4 hair is thick and kinky. Is an FUE hair transplant an option for patients like me?

 

If you would have asked this question even a few years ago, the answer, unfortunately, would have probably been “no”.

 

Due to the lack of properly-advanced hair restoration technology available, patients with Afro-textured hair would sometimes turn to invasive strip surgeries as a solution. This would often leave them with prominent scarring.*

Due to the lack of properly-advanced hair restoration technology available, patients with Afro-textured hair would sometimes turn to invasive strip surgeries as a solution. This would often leave them with prominent scarring.*

 

Thanks to the ingenuity of cosmetic hair surgeon Dr. Sanusi Umar, however, the playing field has been leveled when it comes to Afro-textured hair restoration. The Dr.UGraft™ suite of FUE tools is able to effectively harvest hair of any texture from all areas of the body.

 

Thanks to Dr.UGraft™, this patient was able to hide the strip surgery scar on the back of his head and simultaneously restore his receding hairline.*

Thanks to Dr.UGraft™, this patient was able to hide the strip surgery scar on the back of his head and simultaneously restore his receding hairline.*

 

What allows Dr.UGraft™ to effectively excise curly, Afro-textured hair?

 

The exclusive features Dr. U has imbued the Dr.UGraft™ system with include, but are not limited to:

 

  • A flared, textured distal tip with a cutting edge that faces away from the follicle graft housed within. The dull inner wall protects each specimen from transection, increasing overall yield. This specially-designed FUE punch guides the tool around the C-curve that Afro-textured hair typically grows in, safely and viably harvesting each unit for use elsewhere.

 

  • A graduated, expanding inner chamber to extract bulkier grafts without increasing the size of each punctuation. Wounds created with a punch of this shape are less everted than those incurred by traditional FUE punch tips. As a result, scars from a Dr.UGraft™ procedure tend to heal flatter and more discreetly.

 

  • Foot pedal-operated irrigation that allows your doctor to rescue grafts that become impacted in the lumen during surgery. This feature also hydrates each graft at the point of extraction, preventing each one from becoming dehydrated while waiting to be transplanted.

 

All of these unique innovations and more come together to form a system that can effectively restore the hair of any patient using hair from anywhere on the body. Tightly-curled, Afro-textured hair and a thick outer dermis no longer disqualify you from being a potential candidate. If you’re an individual of African or indigenous descent and you suffer from major hair loss, an FUE hair transplant is now a viable option for permanent relief.

 

One of our most successful examples of Afro-textured FUE hair restoration to date.*

One of our most successful examples of Afro-textured FUE hair restoration to date.*

 

Frequently Asked Questions – Dr.UGraft™ and Afro-textured FUE Hair Restoration

 

What makes extracting Afro-textured hair so challenging in FUE hair transplant surgery?

With straight, Caucasian hair, the path of growth characterizing each follicle is predictable and usually doesn’t deviate from what is seen above the skin. Traditional FUE punches are straight-mouthed, allowing little room for error on the part of the operator. If not carefully navigated, these older generations of tools tend to punch right through the graft, destroying the delicate membrane of the sheath surrounding it and rendering it impotent. This leads to poor graft yield and less hair to populate the recipient area with.

 

How does the Dr.UGraft™ system overcome this limitation?

The Dr.UGraft™’s intelligently-flared tip protects the fragile graft from the sharp blade of the mouth. With this wider window through which to engulf the specimen, combined with Dr.UGraft™’s patented grip, score, and pull functionality, the graft is kept safe within the walls of the lumen while it is separated from the surrounding structures anchoring it in place. 

 

Learn More About FUE Hair Restoration with Dr.UGraft™

 

The Dr. U Hair Clinic in Los Angeles has released this informational video on our revolutionary FUE hair transplant system. It lays out each patented feature out graphically. You can learn more about the Dr.UGraft™ revolution by checking it out below:

 

 

Did David Beckham Have a Hair Transplant?

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  • Did David Beckham have a hair transplant? Media outlets are wondering after looking at these images.

When it comes to celebrity hair transplants, the questions usually focus on when and how a procedure may have been done. For questions such as “did David Beckham have a hair transplant?” it is necessary to look at alleged before and after photos to determine what, if anything, was done.

According to several UK online publications, David Beckham’s hairline appeared notably straighter at a recent visit to Buckingham Palace. This is what made many in the media ask themselves, “Did David Beckham get a hair transplant?”

Why People Are Wondering “Did David Beckham Have a Hair Transplant?”

A hair transplant could explain the difference in hair density along the front and top of David Beckham’s hair. The lack of a linear scar on the back of his head may suggest a follicular unit excision (FUE) method.

Did David Beckham have a hair transplant? Media outlets are wondering after looking at these images.

Did David Beckham have a hair transplant? Media outlets are wondering after looking at these images.

Recent advancements in hair restoration technology, such as the Dr.UGraft hair transplant system, make this procedure more accessible to all men facing hair loss– not just celebrities. The aforementioned system features the Intelligent Punch™, (Dr.UPunch i™), noted for its ability to extract donor hair from non-head hair areas. This opens up hair restoration possibilities for those with high hair graft requirements, such as the severely bald, or those in need of repair procedures.

Video: Update on Dr.UGraft™ Repair Procedure for Los Angeles Man

Before people were asking “Did David Beckham have a hair transplant?”, mainstream media did not have much information on such procedures. This could, unfortunately, lead those looking for hair transplants to assume all procedures are the same. The man in the video below experienced years of poor transplant results before consulting with Dr. U. Watch the video to see how a body hair transplant with this advanced system changed his life.

To learn more about hair restoration options, consult with Dr. U for free online here.

How Many Hair Restoration Surgeries Will You Need?

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  • Two hair restoration surgeries

Some hair restoration patients may only need one surgery in their lifetime. However, it is more common for individuals to undergo additional procedures. Subsequent operations may be needed for repairing unwanted outcomes. But they may also be conducted to touch up sparse areas that could develop among the patient’s natural hairs.

The actual number of operations needed can sometimes be estimated in advance. This may be the case for some younger patients who are still in the process of losing hair at a rapid rate. It is often possible to let them know ahead of time that they will need additional procedures.

However, if the surgeon does not possess ideal experience, errors may occur to the patient’s surprise. And the need for additional surgery will be something that was completely unanticipated.

Hair Restoration Repair

Hair restoration repair surgery is often chosen for the following types of cases:

  1. poor growth
  2. graft insertion mistakes
  3. highly visible scars

Some patients will find that their grafts were not able to survive long term. So they continue to struggle with the appearance of hair loss following their procedure.

Others may have follicles that were inserted at incorrect angles. Therefore, hair may stick straight up or point in the wrong directions. Or the doctor may have used hair from thicker regions which created an unnatural looking result.

The use of scalpels or large sized punches will leave noticeable scarring. This will look even more apparent when the expected growth did not take place.

Touch Up Procedures

Native hair (i.e. natural and non-inserted) will most likely continue to shed. These follicles will have sensitive protein receptors which respond through miniaturization to the presence of DHT (dehydrotestosterone).

Therefore, after a hair restoration surgery, the presence of DHT may continue to cause hair loss beyond the recipient region.

Areas of sparse, low density may develop as a result. Or empty gaps can manifest. However, these can be touched up through additional surgery.

Choose the Right Hair Restoration Surgeon

Avoiding the need for unnecessary hair restoration repair starts when the patient is choosing a highly experienced service provider.

Priority should be placed on finding images of successful results. Ideally, this should be in the form of ten or more patient cases which visually depict solid growth, quality aesthetics and  coverage of any scars.

Even more so than photos, videos help convey an even greater extent of information.  Through the presence of testimonies, viewers can get a sense of whether or not the featured patient was able to have their goals met or exceeded through their hair restoration.

Manage Hair Loss Through Smart Choices

Although touch up procedures can be an option for adding density to sparse areas, patients may want to manage and control the rate of their hair loss.

This can be achieved with the help of medications. However, Dr. U warns that all drugs are associated with the risk of side effects. Therefore, patients may want to consider the use of natural treatment ingredients whose effects are supported by research studies.

Although genetics is usually the main culprit, the rate of hair loss is often influenced by environmental factors. Therefore, adopting healthy habits through diet and exercise can help minimize the rate of loss. Quitting cigarettes and even alcohol is also likely to help reduce thinning and balding as well.

Two hair restoration surgeries

This patient received about 10,000 grafts which were transplanted in two sessions

Can Shock Loss From Hair Restoration Surgery Be Prevented?

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Some patients have sensitive hair follicles. So after a hair restoration surgery, they may actually experience unwanted hair loss in the treatment areas. The extraction wounds in the donor area and the insertion slits created in the recipient zones are minimally invasive. But they can be quite traumatic for the surrounding hair follicles. This may cause them to enter the telogen resting phase which leads to subsequent shedding.

Diffuse Thinning and Shock Loss

Some men suffer from thinning forms of androgenic alopecia. And according to Dr. U, they are more likely to experience shock loss due to hair restoration surgery.

Instead of losing hair according to well defined phases, they will experience pronounced thinning throughout their head. There are two types of diffuse thinning conditions

(1) DUPA

In Diffuse Unpatterned Alopecia, thinning occurs globally throughout the head. There may be a horseshoe shaped stable zone. But this will be quite sparse.

(2) DPA

DPA stands for diffuse patterned alopecia. This version of diffuse thinning will have a more solid looking stable permanent zone around the back and sides of the head.

Individuals with diffuse thinning patterns or other possible predictors for shock loss may benefit from undergoing a preliminary test procedure on a small, inconspicuous areas.

Preventing Hair Restoration Shock Loss

Doctors may vary in the methods they choose to use for preventing shock loss. But here are some general strategies:

(1) Choosing a higher density

A surgeon may decide to insert a greater number of grafts head to compensate for the possibility of losing hair due to trauma

(2) Using medications

FDA approved drugs can help to control and limit the extent of miniaturization among the hair follicles. By preventing shrinkage, the follicles are able to remain in a strong healthy state. And they would be less vulnerable to the impact of surgical instruments.

However, Dr. U cautions that all synthetic medications are associated with unwanted side effects. Therefore the use of natural ingredients which are supported by research studies may offer a better way to keep the follicles in a healthy state without posing unnecessary risks to other areas of the patient’s health.

When Prevention Is Too Late

Not all instances of shock loss can be prevented. However, if it does occur, body hair to head transplantation may offer a way for the patient to reverse these effects.

One patient of Dr. U had undergone several strip surgeries. As a result of shock loss, he lost a considerable amount of hair on the sides of his head.

Due to the extremely sensitive nature of his scalp hair, head donor follicles could not be used. Instead grafts were taken from the patient’s beard area. And these were used to fill in the sparse areas and to cover the linear scars which resulted from past surgeries.

Body hair has different characteristics from head hair. Furthermore, these surfaces are more visible. Therefore, there is a strong need for superior forms of wound healing results. Dr. U engineered an Advanced Follicular Unit Extraction technology known as uGraft to effectively overcome both of these challenges. This system allows body hair grafts to be used as a viable option in situations where head hair cannot be depended upon.

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