What’s More Important? A Hair Transplant Tool or the Doctor

The Core Question

What is the most important decision when deciding on a hair transplant?

• The doctor you choose or
• The instruments marketed by a hair transplant clinic

This can simply be answered by another rhetorical question:
What is the most important factor determining the successful outcome of how a person will score on an academic test?

• The person using the pencil or
• The type of pencil being used

The obvious answer is that the responsibility lies in the person behind the pencil.

Skill Over Tools

There are many different instruments in the performance of hair transplants, but it doesn’t dictate the ultimate outcome of a hair transplant.
The ultimate outcome is dictated by who is behind the instrument, along with their surgical & artistic technique.

Just like any other medical procedure, take your time to look into your physician’s education, credentials, certifications, awards, and leadership.

It’s always more important to thoroughly research a doctor’s credentials instead of their particular instrument.

Also Read: How Long Do Hair Transplants Really Last?

The Risk of Poorly Trained Providers

Unfortunately, many doctors have no formal medical training in the science and art of hair transplants.
There are only a handful of medical universities that formally teach hair transplant surgery to medical residents.

Therefore, it’s vital that patients experiencing hair loss become aware of hair transplant mills that are unethically & falsely marketing their particular instruments or gimmick techniques.

Unfortunately, a lot of these hair transplant mills are not disclosing that their poorly trained doctors are not even doing the surgery – they are allowing technicians without a medical license to illegally and criminally perform the surgery.

Choosing the Right Doctor

Find a medical doctor that is properly trained and performs both FUE & FUT hair transplants.
There are pros & cons to both types of surgeries, and it is imperative that a properly trained and ethical physician explains both of these surgical options to you.

There are many doctors that started performing only FUE hair transplant surgeries without any formal training, so unfortunately, the only thing they will try to sell is their FUE equipment, and their patients will never learn the benefits of the FUT technique.

Misconceptions About Scarring in FUE

Stay clear of untrained doctors that claim FUE does not cause scarring.
This is absolutely false.

I have been performing FUE hair transplant surgeries for over 20 years, and every single punch excision used to obtain the FUE graft gives the patient a small circular punch scar.

The only benefit of using the FUE punch excision to obtain the donor tissue is that it does not create a linear scar (created by the FUT excision technique).

The downside of the FUE punch is:

1. It actually creates 12 times the surface area of scar tissue (small circular scars scattered throughout the donor area)
2. Since FUE is blind dissection, there is more transection of the hair follicles, which decreases the survival rate
3. Many of the grafts are taken outside of the “safe donor region” which spreads out the scar tissue and eventually leads to grafts that will ultimately start miniaturizing & becoming unnoticeable to the human eye

This is why an excellent hair transplant doctor also needs to be proficient in FUT hair transplant surgeries.

What Should a Consumer Look For?

What should a consumer look for before deciding on a hair transplant surgery?

It’s easy:

• Was the doctor formally trained in hair transplant surgery at a medical hospital during a medical residency?
• Was the doctor formally trained in both FUT and FUE surgical techniques?
• Does the doctor perform the entire hair transplant surgery, or delegate any part of the surgery to technicians?
• How long has the doctor been performing both FUT and FUE hair transplant surgeries?
• Is the doctor medically trained in the science of hair loss to properly diagnose the hair loss cause before determining if a hair transplant surgery is recommended?

If you do this, you will find the handful of medical doctors most qualified to perform your hair transplant surgery.