Donor Site of Follicular Unit Excision Hair Transplantation: The Relationship Between Appearance and Actual Hair Density, and Hair Diameter

February 2020 in “ Journal of Plastic Surgery and Hand Surgery ”

Masayuki Okochi, Toshihiko Fukushima, Hiromi Okochi, Ken-ichi Takita, Masamitsu Onda

follicular unit excision FUE androgenic alopecia hair density hair diameter donor site hair transplantation hair transplant

TLDR Good-looking donor sites for hair transplants usually have higher hair density and thicker hair.

In the 2020 study involving 103 male patients with androgenic alopecia, researchers found that a visually appealing donor site in FUE hair transplantation correlated with higher hair density and thicker hair diameter. The study divided participants into three groups based on donor site appearance: Good, Fair, and Poor. The Good group, with 72 patients, had a significantly higher hair density (127.8±22.6 hair/cm²) and hair diameter (0.0968±0.0267 mm) than the Poor group, which had 10 patients with a hair density of 94.9±25.4 hair/cm² and hair diameter of 0.0473±0.0158 mm. To maintain a visually acceptable donor site after FUE, the study recommended that the hair density should not fall below 105.0 hair/cm², and no more than 22 hairs per cm² should be harvested. These results provide important guidelines for FUE hair restoration, especially for determining coverage in the Japanese population.

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