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Dr. Ray Woods & Dr. Angela
Campbell
Follicular SINGLE Unit
Extraction (FSUE): An Important Distinction in Minimally Invasive FUE Hair
Transplant Procedures
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Reprint
from hair transplant forum
Author:
Dr. Woods & Dr. Campbell
Firstly,
terminology. It may have been noted that we have never used the
abbreviations FUE or FU. There are two reasons.
1. In 1989, I witnessed 10 to 20 Follicular Units being extracted (FUE)
at a time with an approx. 8mm cylindrical punch attached to an
electric drill. Instead, it was obvious to us that in order to mimic
nature, it was necessary to develop “Follicular
SINGLE
unit
extraction” This term was precise and distinguished us from the
other practice. The emphasis is to non-invasively extract ONE
follicular unit at a time from the donor site. Patients should
inquire whether the extraction tool their FUE doctors use can safely
remove ONE follicular unit at a time without damaging surrounding
follicles on or below the skin. Patients should also inquire if the
so called mega FUE sessions is accomplished by using a mini punch
blindly coring out the follicular units over the donor site. For FUE
techniques to be truly effective with a minimal of transection rate
in the patient's precious donor area, the emphasis has to be on
Follicular SINGLE Unit Extraction, one follicular unit
at a time. This cannot be compromised.
2.
At the beginning of the 1990s, the concepts we were introducing were
unheard of. Non medical and most medical people had no idea of what
follicular unit meant, let alone the abbreviation FU. In fact, the term
"FU" was, and still is used as an offensive term.
So, placing the letters F and U together describing what we were doing
had extremely bad connotations. Back in those embryonic days,
abbreviations meant nothing anyway. It all had to be spelt out, and we
chose to explain our process as “FOLLICLE SINGLE
UNIT EXTRACTION”. You can still view an old nationwide advertisement
from 1995 about our efforts to revolutionize traditional strip surgery
for the last decade. It was precise and separated the “F” and
“U”. To this very day, we purposefully decided never to use the
ambiguous “FU” or “FUE” which to us is imprecise and non
specific. On the other hand “ FSUE” could be utilized for The
Woods Technique.
Second, we would like to say something about the ongoing blatant
“disease mongering” of hair loss. Although baldness is a terrible
shock for most, it is important to realize that it is a normal condition
and affects countless millions. IT IS NOT A DISEASE OR ILLNESS in need
of immediate and desperate intervention; this of course, excludes those
in need of repair work. The greater disease is how young vulnerable men
are constantly being bombarded with powerful and reinforced messages of:
“If no hair, then, no job/car/sex/promotion etc.” Most likely,
employers and women etc find confident, self assured balding men just as
attractive. We ask that you don’t let it eat at you or dominate your
life
In the meantime, we continue to struggle to overcome continuing
unbelievable interference and obstacles trying to stop The Woods
Technique training in the USA. But we are gradually succeeding and it
will be widely accessible.
Finally, the issue of “trust”. Patients sometimes come to us and
don’t want to see what is happening, saying: “I trust my doc”. We
make it clear that we only want their trust when they fully see and
understand what is happening, and only then that trust is earned and
justified. Bottom lines is, never ever unconditionally and blindly trust
what anyone says, just because they are doctors, web posters, or certain
website owners (throw in “advocates” and media). Be very very
skeptical, be careful, and good luck.
Dr Woods and Dr Campbell
Link
to forum discussion
The
Woods Technique News & Updates
If
you have any questions or comments
please post in the following forums
HAIR
TRANSPLANT FORUM
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Information
about this article
|
| Article
# |
283 |
| Title |
Inventor
of minimally invasive hair transplant procedure talks about
"terminology" & "trust" |
| Date |
01/31/04 |
| Source |
HairSite
Editorial |
| Forum |
Hair
Transplant |
| Archive |
Hair
Transplant |
| Contact |
hairsite@aol.com |
|
