|
This is a six hair follicular group. The graft may or may not be a single follicular unit. John Headington first described the follicular unit as the pilo-sebaceous unit as disclosed at the mid-dermal level. He noted that it usually contains between 1 and 4 hairs with one or two of the hairs being vellus hairs. They may exit from one or more follicular canals. The follicular unit is bound by a circumferential band of adventitial collagen.
Subsequent to Headington’s first disclosure on the follicular unit, some physicians began to call their grafts follicular units. The problem with this designation is that one cannot define the follicular unit unless one looks at the pilosebaceous group in a mid-dermal section under a microscope with hematoxylin and eosin stain.
We had a problem with the designation of grafts as follicular units for this reason. We also noted that clusters of hair very close to one another often exist on the surface of the skin and almost everyone has a small percentage of 6 hair groups. It is unclear if these groups are follicular units or multiple follicular units that are very close to one another on the surface of the skin. By definition, follicular units are supposed to be about 1 mm from each other, but teeth are supposed to be a certain distance form one another too and we all know that some teeth encroach their neighbor’s territory. One would think that follicular units might do this, as well.
This photo is of a 6 hair follicular group. It may be one follicular unit or two follicular units. We prefer to call them follicular groups. |
|
Search 
Photo Album
_Print
