FUE Technique of Dr James Harris

Dear Doctor,

I have recently read about the supposedly “improved” version of FUE called Surgically Advanced Follicular Extraction (SAFE) System invented by Dr. James Harris.

How does this differ from the FUE that you and your team are offering (is it better, the same, or otherwise?)… Would be very useful to read your opinion about this technique and added benefits, if any, of this technique vs. other FUE products currently offered in the marketplace. Many thanks.

Dr. Harris has added a valuable insight into the FUE process with the use of a dull punch which he correctly identified as a better instrument for many people having an FUE. We use his tool (amongst other tools) when we perform an FUE procedure. In some patients, his two step procedure is superior to the one step procedures we had used prior to his insights. You may be confusing his terminology. His invention incorporates a tool for performing FUE and a technique for doing the FUE that is performed in two steps.

This technique is an important part of the arsenal that most good doctors performing FUE should be doing. His technique may work in certain patients who I have classified as FOX negative patients (with the biopsy technique I published in 2002, before he invented his tool). Prior to his contribution, I might have excluded some patients from candidacy for an FUE procedure. Even with this advance, the matter of efficiency of the procedure is still an important element in performing the technique and selecting patients. In some patients, the two step technique is not as good a techniques as one done with alternative tools. [The graft yield per hour, for example, can make the procedure so laborious in some patients to make it impractical (e.g. a 50 grafts per hour extraction rate) when targets of 1000 grafts might require a patient surgery that could run in excess of 20 hours GOD forbid one that is 1500-2000 grafts where a surgery can exceed a full working day without resting (illustrative example only).] To have a successful FUE surgery, the surgeon can not be fatigued to the point that slop or carelessness comes into play as fatigue mounts. Like any good medical advance, great contributions often require the talents of many people and Dr. Harris’s insights with his SAFE two step system clearly made a valuable contribution to today’s state of the art FUE technology.