Is the FUE hair transplant method a option for men of African descent? If so, where? (photo)

You may look like a Norwood 4 but YOU MAY BE A NORWOOD 6 (ALL BALD) in a few years.  Did the doctor tell you this?FUE does not usually work well for curly hair.  It doesn't matter if it is ARTAS or Neograft or the best surgeon.  Generally you need to have a FUE test to make sure you are even a candidate.I was an engineer working with Dr. Rassman in 1998 (before I became a doctor) . My work involved a concept of a robot which would use a special optical sighting system to align the hairs for an automated FUE. This work became U.S. Patent 6572625 that we licensed to the ARTAS robot. Similar technology from our U.S. Patents are used in the NeoGraft. I perform FUE in my practice with my hybrid FUE instruments, ARTAS, or even NeoGraft. My point is that I am very familiar with the FUE, ARTAS, NeoGraft, and all forms of harvesting hair follicles.Curly hair is still a challenge.Your focus of surgery should be on RESULTS. Not how a doctor takes out the grafts. From a donor scarring perspective, you keep your hair very short (BASED ON PHOTOS), so FUE may be your only option. But you may STILL SEE the FUE scars at that length on some occasion.  Thousands of white dots.Many doctors push FUE or Neograft or ARTAS claiming "no scar" or "minimally invasive". Many doctors dissuade patients from strip surgery asking "why would you want a big scar".Just remember a 4000 graft FUE scar is like having a collective open wound hole the size of a baseball on the back of the head. There is nothing minimally invasive about that. I also perform Scalp MicroPigmentation (SMP) and fix horrible FUE scars routinely. These is nothing "scarless" about FUE. I have performed surgery on Dr. Rassman and his family members using the strip technique. The linear scar on Dr. Rassman is a pencil thin line you probably will have a hard time finding. The point is, a strip surgery scar is not as terrible as the Internet makes it out to be. Both FUE and Strip surgeries has its place. Don't be caught up in marketing and doctors who try to sell you one type surgery.The focus should be on Results. A bad hair transplant result from FUE or Strip is like Herpes. You'll carry it with you for life (with either thousands of dots or a line).

Folicula, My team has worked on many African American Men and Women utilizing the Neograft  procedure. You do not need a large scar, staples, or stitches!  the beauty of this procedure is that we can utilize the neograft system to follow the course of each graft allowing it to be transferred in its entirety.  I  urge you not to get a strip.  I believe in this procedure so much I not only perform it but had my team perform it on myself one month ago.

This is probably the one of the most common questions asked and the opinions posted below have inaccuracies. First and foremost every patient is a candidate for FUE. We have performed FUE on a plethora of curly hair from latin and African decent. It takes experience. Neograft is a company that hires techs, sends them to clinics to perform FUE so you probably will not have a good experienced technician. ARTAS robot has issues with curly hair and punch size. Do your research and you will find those that perform great FUE on curly hair.

Neograft is a basic traditional FUE tool and you are correct in assuming is likely NOT to work for Afro-textured hair. Neograft, like all other traditional FUE tools, utilizes a rotary round-tipped punch. This basic design makes it unsuitable and often unsuccessful in performing FUE in black men and women. The new FUE tool I invented called the Dr.UPunch Curl is a non-rotary tool with a revolutionary design that is hook shaped rather than round. I have found it to be successful in all cases where a round-tipped rotary punch has failed. 
I encourage you to consult with a physician for any further medical advice. I am always available for a free online consultation as well.Read about the study comparing this new invention to round-tipped FUE punches in this plastic and reconstructive surgery Journal publication.

Follicular unit extraction is feasible in African-American hair. The follicle may have a slight different direction underneath the skin, however an experienced FUE transplanter would be able to extract these without having to do the strip method.  Usually extracting the first several hair follicles will give a lot of information about what the remaining follicles look like underneath the skin. One may have to use a slightly larger punch if the follicles are very tortuous. However you can still get very good yields and very good transplantation and survival rates of the grafts.  

The short answer is yes.   The hair-type in this demographic can be somewhat more challenging to extract, owing to its curled quality.  That means that finding an experienced team with the FUE or NeoGraft system is critically important.  Our center has enjoyed great success with male and female African-American patients with hair loss.  The FUE or NeoGraft system is especially beneficial in this subset of patients because there is no linear surgical scar.  These surgical scars can make it particularly challenging to wear the hair short or cropped. Patients with the FUE technique can wear the hair extremely short without the tell-tale signs of hair transplantation.

When performing a hair restoration using FUE donor harvesting, the texture and the composition of the hair needs to be considered. With patients of African descent, specifically, there is a natural curl to the hair which extends under the skin into the root of the hair.

It takes a special skill to perform a FUE procedure on a patient of African descent because of the curly hair characteristics of the hair. Special attention needs to be paid to the harvesting of the grafts so a high yield rate is obtained.

The surgeon and the surgeon's team need to be well familiar with these variations and very experienced at performing procedures on such hair characteristics. With that all being said, a skilled surgeon can indeed perform and create an amazing result on African American patients.  

We often need to perform a test session to insure extraction is possible prior to transplantation . You can use this as a chance to gain realistic goals and to understnd whether the treatment will give you exactly what you require . Note that success of any transplant always depends on two things; the skill of the doctor performing the procedure and the follicles for extraction .By consulting and having this tests you will have a chance to check the suitability of both . On the other hand after this tests your surgeon can decide which extraction method is eligible for you. All the best 

Patients of African descent usually has a curly nature of the follicle and is not straight below the skin, thus this unique features make it more challenging. In comparison to the motorized technique, the manual punch allows for a better feeling and determination of the location/ angle of the follicle thus allows a greater level of control and efficiency during the extraction. I highly recommend the manual FUE method to patients of African descent in order to achieve the best possible result

Neograft and FUE procedures are definitely possible for patients of African descent or patients with curly hair.  The procedure can be a bit more time consuming and is best performed by a team that is experienced with your type of hair but it is absolutely possible.  For most men, it is preferable to have Neograft/FUE because there is no resulting strip or scar on the back of the scalp that is visible if the hair is worn short.  I would suggest a consultation with a surgeon that is experienced in Neograft but know that skin and hair type do not exclude you from the procedure.Good luck