Hair Transplant Nurse/ Technician

To separate tissue so that the internal structure can be examined and its function and relationship of its components discerned. In follicular unit hair transplantation, it refers to the isolation of follicular unit grafts from a donor strip using a stereo-microscope.

A dissection technique used in hair transplants where the donor strip is subdivided to produce grafts of specific sizes defined by the number of hairs they contain and/or the size of tissue that will fit into a specific recipient site. The dissection is usually performed without microscopic control.

A hair transplant technique in which naturally occurring, individual follicular units are dissected intact from a strip of donor tissue that is removed during the hair transplant procedure. The technique involves the use of a dissecting stereo-microscope of at least 6-10x magnification to isolate the follicular unit grafts.

A graftn is taken from one part of the body and moved to another. In a hair transplant, the follicular unit grafts are autografts.

A tiny hole or slit made in the recipient area by a needle or other sharp instrument to accommodate a graft during a hair transplantation procedure.

A specific orientation of recipient sites made so that the length of the slit lies parallel to the hairline. This hair transplant technique is felt to offer better coverage than other recipient site orientations, as the hair from the grafts placed in lateral slits tends to fan out over the scalp.

A graft that is comprised of a single, intact follicular unit of 1-4 hairs. It is the only type of graft that is used in follicular unit hair transplant procedures.

The donor area, also known as the safe donor area, is the region in the back of the scalp (occipital scalp) that remains throughout one’s lifetime even in the setting of advanced male pattern baldness or androgenetic alopecia . This horseshoe shaped area is harvested during a hair transplant by strip harvesting and transplanted into the recipient area. What was discovered in the 1950s was that this occipital hair genetically programmed would not be lost when moved into bald areas of the scalp through a condition known as donor dominance.

The most common type of hair loss in men. It is caused by the genetic susceptibility of hair follicles to the hormone DHT. It affects the central and frontal area of the scalp and the crown. It may eventuate in a U-shape configuration of hair loss.

Commonly known as a flap rotation, this surgery takes strips of surgically removed hair bearing scalp and uses them to form a new hairline and/or cover reduced balding areas of the scalp.

The simplest scalp reduction surgery is one in which small areas of balding scalp are removed in a succession of several small surgeries to reduce the area of balding scalp so that better results can be gained from transplantation.

This term describes a transplant operation in which a large number of grafts (1000-3000, usually mini and micrografts) is performed in one operation. Proponents of the operation say it prevents multiple operations while still providing good results. Opponents say it may put too much stress on the blood supply and cause a low yield of hairs growing back.

A scalp reduction surgery in which balloons implanted below the scalp expand hair-bearing areas which are used to cover the reduced scalp area.

Placing two follicular unit grafts (FUG, See Follicular Unit Graft) into one recipient site to create a larger single graft in an area like the central scalp that would benefit from larger sized grafts when there is an insufficient number of these larger sized follicular units.

A scale for the classification of hair loss developed by O’tar Norwood in 1975. It was based upon an earlier classification of Hamilton. The Norwood scale is used by hair transplant surgeons to describe the extent of a person’s hair loss. The regular class has 7 stages and the A class has five.

The dermal papilla is situated at the base of the hair follicle. The dermal papilla is composed of fibroblasts, blood vessels, and nerves. This structure is extremely important in the regulation of hair growth and is a key element in hair cloning, as the cells that make up the dermal papilla (fibroblasts) can be multiplied.

Technically, a 3-6 hair graft derived from either a single follicular unit, multiple follicular units, or multiple, partial follicular units. In practice, hair transplant surgeons often call grafts containing up to 10 or more hairs mini-grafts.

Can occur when putting grafts into slits when the existing tissue ‘compresses’ the follicle, which can cause poor growth and/or improper direction of the hair.

A random flap procedure developed by Patrick Frechet to correct remaining bald areas left over from procedures such as scalp extensions or median scalp reductions.

A method of hair restoration surgery which uses grafts containing 1-6 hairs, in groups that do not necessarily correspond to the naturally occurring follicular units. In this type of hair transplant procedure, the micro-grafts are generally placed at the frontal hairline and the mini-grafts behind them (for density). Mini-micrografting procedures, although technically easier to perform, do not look as natural as follicular unit transplantation.