Which Hair Transplant Surgery Should I Get? Isn’t FUE Better? FUE vs FUSS Strip vs ARTAS Hair Transplant

What is the difference between FUE and FUSS – strip surgery?  Which is better?  I am confused.  Doctor tells me that the strip surgery is not done anymore and it’s an old fashion surgery.  That the future is the ARTAS.  How is the ARTAS different than the FUE?  There are so many choices it is confusing to decide how to choose a hair transplant surgery method.

Dr. Pak was an engineer working with me (Dr. Rassman) in the mid 1990s before he went off to medical school to be a doctor .  We worked to invent a system or robot which would use cameras and special optical sighting system to target a hair follicle to automatically take out a follicle using the FUE technique. This work became U.S. Patent 6572625 that we licensed to Restoration Robotics, the company that sells the ARTAS robot.  Dr. Pak and I since worked on many U.S. Patents used in the ARTAS as well as other hair harvesting and implanting devices.

Dr. Pak performs FUE at the New Hair Institute with a special FUE instrument he designed.  He has at his disposal the ARTAS, or even NeoGraft.  Even with all the technology (ARTAS, etc), his manual technique with his instrument is faster and just as precise (if not better).

He is just as fast and precise at the FUSS – strip technique.  He can harvest a donor strip and close the wound and clean the area all under 5 minutes.  There is a video of this on the Internet.  Speed does not necessarily make you a better surgeon, but he has the experience and accuracy.  Our experienced techs can dissect each FUSS strip into exact precision perfect grafts.

My point is that you should choose the type of surgery based on the merits of the doctor (not technology).   Dr. Pak and I are very familiar with the FUE, ARTAS, NeoGraft, and all forms of harvesting hair follicles.  We also offer all method of harvest.  In terms of graft quality between FUE (ARTAS, Neograft) versus FUSS strip, the FUSS strip harvested grafts are generally better (which means better results).  The exceptions are the doctors with unskilled staff.  Then the ARTAS grafts will be better (or rather up to par or standard).

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”.

The focus should be on RESULTS. Not how a doctor takes out the grafts.  From a donor scarring perspective, if you are ever going to shave your head or cut your hair really short, you should probably get the FUE.  That is it!  Line scars are not an issue for most men and women with long hair (minimum #3 or #2 hair clipper).  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. We end up performing Scalp MicroPigmentation (SMP) and fix horrible FUE scars routinely.  These is nothing “scarless” about FUE.   DR Pak has performed surgery on me and my family members using the strip technique.  The linear scar on me is a pencil thin line you probably will have a hard time finding.  It’s not that Dr. Pak is a better surgeon, it is because my body heals well.  The point is, a strip surgery scar is not as terrible as the Internet makes it out to be and there are also terrible FUE scars.

Again, 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.