Dr. William Yates owns and operates the Chicago-area hair restoration organization Yates Hair Science Group. Although the Yates Hair Science Group offers a range of restoration options, Dr. Yates particularly favors the advanced follicular unit extraction (FUE) transplantation procedure.
Surgeons William R. Rassman and Robert M. Bernstein published the first version of the FUE approach in 2002, but the procedure has seen much technological advancement since then. Unlike traditional transplantation methods that can produce considerable pain, swelling, and scarring, FUE transplants are relatively noninvasive and require significantly less recovery time.
The key difference between the FUE procedure and other surgical approaches is way in which hair follicles are harvested prior to implantation. Traditional methods involve cutting a strip of skin from areas of the scalp with thick hair growth and then dividing this strip into follicular units for graft production. In the FUE procedure, surgeons harvest individual follicular units directly from the donor area.
