Effect of Surgeon's Workload on Rate of Transection During Follicular Unit Excision/Extraction (FUE)

The study, involving 25 patients undergoing their first FUE session with over 2000 grafts, found that a surgeon's transection rate during the procedure significantly increased as the surgery progressed and with the number of follicular units harvested. Specifically, transection rates rose from 5.3/cm² to 27.7/cm² in the mid-zone, 4.4/cm² to 25.6/cm² on the right side, and 5.7/cm² to 24.2/cm² on the left side by the end of the surgery. Additionally, rates increased from 5.03 to 6.0/cm² for less than 2500 FUs, from 4.83 to 6.6/cm² for over 2500 FUs, and from 5.5 to 6.67/cm² for over 3000 FUs. The conclusion was that a higher workload for the surgeon correlates with a greater rate of hair transection during FUE procedures.