Follicular units are naturally occurring groupings of hairs. They are sometimes referred to as “grafts“. When hairs are examined using a high powered microscope, hairs exit the scalp and skin in “families” of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 hairs bundled together. These usually exit the skin at one central location and then fan out over the skin. Not infrequently, one may see 2 hairs exit and a single hair exit very close it each other – this is considered a 3-haired follicular unit. As shown in the photo below of a close up photograph of the scalp, there are distinct groups of hair that are exiting the scalp. When Dr. Gabel and his team perform surgery at his Portland hair transplant office, we refer to the follicular units as grafts.
At the Gabel Hair Restoration Center, Dr. Gabel and his team only transplant pure follicular units during hair transplant procedures. The follicular units are obtained by carefully removing them from the scalp and examining each one under high powered stereomicroscopes to ensure their integrity. By transplanting these natural occurring “follicular unit families”, the results are very natural appearing, which is the ultimate goal of hair restoration surgery.
