What are follicular units and why are they so important?
Described by Dr. Headington in 1984, follicular units represent the way hair naturally grows from the scalp. Hair grows out in groups of 1-5 hairs, with hairless skin between these units. Follicular unit transplanting consists of using stereomicroscopes to carefully remove these units intact from the skin to transplant to the bald areas. The hairless skin is discarded – this is important because, with newer techniques, no bald skin is removed from the recipient area to eliminate scarring that might occur. Dr. Limmer was the inventor of this technique and wrote his first paper on this subject in 1994.
