Doctor Blasted the FUE Technique

Dr. Rassman,

Thank you for your fantastic website and exciting blog! I am currently looking to find the best way to address my hair loss situation. It appears that I am, on the Norwood scale, a Type III vertex. At this time, I am seeking to have the FUE procedure done, however, I continue to find all kinds of conflicting information on the Internet, and was hoping you could give me a breakdown of what are the most important things to look for when choosing a clinic/doctor to do the procedure.

Additionally, I am confused by the various FUE methods, such as the FUE plus, FUSE, etc. I just don’t understand much about the differences and what is best for me.

Furthermore, I read an article in 2002 (https://www.hairlosstalk.com/newsletter/article181.htm) and found that Dr. Limmer, the creator of the Follicular Unit Method, blasted the FUE technique saying that it is “the equivalent of looking like you were shot in the back of the head with a shotgun.” This obviously is pushing me to reconsider any procedure since I will not consider the FUT. Please help!

Note: If possible, please e-mail me your response as well. Thank you!

There is much on this blog about FUE and I would suggest that you take a look at the FUE category to see what I wrote here in great abundance. Follicular Unit Transplantation was first introduced by our medical group, not Dr. Limmer, but with that said, Dr. Limmer made wonderful contributions on the value of the microscopic dissection which led us to the discovery referenced here. I have great respect for Dr. Limmer, but it takes time to change and adapt. He originally did not like the megasession and made statements against them — now he does them. He waits until the technology is well tested and safe before jumping on to any new bandwagon and I agree with him that it may not be the best approach for many doctors doing this work and their patients who might look like their head was exposed to a shotgun. But with that said, I do not think that in good hands, this will be a problem. You are rightfully confused, because the doctors who push these techniques often promote rather than educate, inventing marketing terms to claim notoriety for themselves rather than teach and all of this just confuses people. I am a little guilty of this myself, as I did create the name FOX Procedure as the type of FUE technique that I use — but at the time the name was coined, there wasn’t all of these various terms out there because I was the first. Although I also coined the term FUE procedure, when you sound it out, it sounds terrible, so to make the name more respectable I came up with FOX. But, to clear up some of the confusion, I use the term FUE on this blog to hopefully make it clear to people looking for information. This is a wonderful procedure in the right hands by honest doctors who have mastered the procedure. The patients who I have performed FUE surgery have loved it.

Read, read, read what is on this blog and you will learn what you need to know. We show patients off at our open house events who had the FUE procedure to help assure people like you see that you will not look like a leaking, sinking lifeboat.