ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND Although the first hair restoration procedures of intact hair follicles were described by Japanese physicians Okuda and Tamura ( 1-3 ) modern hair grafting can be divided into three major periods: the plug era, a transition period of progressively smaller unit minigrafting and micrografting, and a final period of follicular unit transplantation (FUT). The plug era was initiated by the work of Dr. Norman Orentreich during the 1950s ( 4 ). Many physicians participated in the process of graft size reduction to minigrafts, culminating in large sessions of very small minigrafts by Dr. Carlos Uebel during the 1980s ( 5 ). To list those physicians who refined hair grafting during the 1980s would read like a who’s who of hair restoration: Ayres, Marritt, Nordstrom, Bradshaw, Stough, Lucas, Moser, and many others. The last and current stage of FUT utilizing the natural growth pattern of human scalp hair was initiated in 1988 by Dr. Bobby Limmer and the methodology of strip donor harvest, microscopic dissection of individual units of 1-4 hairs, and implantation of these grafts into needle tunnel recipient sites was reported in 1994 ( 6 ). Many physicians have contributed to the promotion and expanded use of this methodology. Until today, FUT constitutes the primary method of hair restoration done worldwide.
