FUT (Follicular Unit Transplantation, “strip”)
The older harvesting method in which a strip of donor scalp is excised and dissected into follicular units under magnification. It yields large graft numbers in one pass but leaves a linear donor scar.
FUT harvests the donor area as a single horizontal strip of scalp, typically from the occipital band, which is then dissected under magnification into individual follicular units. The donor wound is closed in a line; the grafts are implanted into recipient channels exactly as in FUE. The method predates FUE and built much of the field’s knowledge about follicular-unit anatomy.
Its enduring strengths are yield and follicle protection. A strip converts a defined block of tissue into grafts with dissection performed under direct microscopic vision, where transection can be minimised by trained bench technicians. Large graft numbers can be produced in one pass without punching thousands of individual sites, and the harvest does not require shaving the whole donor area — practical for patients who keep longer hair.
The linear scar is its defining cost. Well-closed scars are narrow and sit under hair, but they are permanent, can widen depending on tension and healing, and rule out very short haircuts. Post-operative discomfort around the incision is part of the recovery picture in a way FUE’s dot wounds are not. Patient preference on these points, more than biology, is why FUE has displaced FUT commercially in most markets.
FUT still earns its place in specific plans: maximising lifetime graft yield across multiple sessions, combining strip and FUE harvests in one strategy, or serving patients for whom the scar trade-off is acceptable. It also demands something FUE teams may lack — a skilled microscopic dissection bench — which is an operational capability, not an afterthought.
Scar management has its own craft. Closure technique matters as much as harvest technique: tension-aware planning of strip width, and closure methods such as trichophytic closure — which lets hair grow through the scar line — exist precisely to soften the method’s main drawback. Candidates considering FUT should ask to see healed donor scars from the actual team, at multiple time points, and ask how strip dimensions were chosen for their scalp laxity rather than by template.
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