Background: Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) is considered to be a minimally invasive procedure, and the injury to the donor area caused by a sharp punch may result in dermal fibrosis and clinically observed hypopigmentation.
Objective: To evaluate with advanced image processing the efficacy of using 0.9% normal saline in minimizing the injury to the donor area in FUE donor harvesting.
Patients and methods: The term acute extraction (AE) is used to describe the donor harvesting technique, whereby a follicular unit (FU) is removed with a punch that is aligned parallel with the exit angle of the hair follicle. The term vertical extraction (VE) describes the technique where a FU is removed in like manner, but normal saline is injected intradermally prior to harvesting so the punch being perpendicular to the skin. Thirty-five patients were selected for this study to apply both harvesting techniques and then to compare the differences in wound surface size and skin mass removed by the punch.
Results: A significant reduction in the mean values of wound surface and skin mass was recorded in vertical extraction compared to those in acute extraction.
Conclusion: The injection of normal saline prior to harvesting proved to be very efficient in minimizing skin injury in FUE harvesting.
Keywords: follicular unit extraction; hair transplant; hypopigmentation; image processing; injury to the donor area; normal saline.
© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.