a more natural overall distribution of hair. Ease of surgical planning The density of naturally-occurring follicular units in a normal scalp is relatively constant, measured at approximately 1 unit per mm2. This helps in the planning of a hair transplant in two ways: The hair transplant surgeon can accurately estimate the number of follicular grafts that can be obtained from dissecting a donor strip of a given size. The same number of follicular units can be used to cover a specific size bald area regardless of the patient's actual hair density. In patients with high hair density, there are usually a sufficient number of follicular units in the donor area to accomplish the patient's goals. However, in the patient with low hair density, a compromise must be made, and this is guided by the follicular unit constant. By transplanting a patient with low hair density using the same number and spacing of follicular units as in a patient with high density, the transplant surgeon will produce a thinner look, but will allow proper conservation of donor hair for future procedures. Minimizing trauma to the scalp The key to a natural appearing hair transplant is to have the hair emerge from perfectly normal skin, so minimizing trauma to the scalp is an important aspect of follicular unit transplantation. This can be accomplished by trimming away the excess tissue around the follicular units and then inserting them into small recipient sites on the patient's scalp. Follicular units are relatively compact structures, but are surrounded by substantial amounts of non-hair bearing skin. This extra tissue can be removed without injuring the follicles, using stereo-microscopic dissection. These small, trimmed, follicular unit grafts can then be placed into tiny incisions in the patient's scalp; thereby minimizing damage to the scalp's connective tissue and blood supply. In contrast; the larger wounds produced by mini-micrografting and plug transplants caused cosmetic problems that included dimpling and pigment changes in the skin; depression or elevation of the grafts; and a thinned, shiny look to the scalp. These problems can be avoided using very small grafts and very small recipient wounds. Another advantage of making small recipient wounds is the ability to create a "snug fit" for the follicular unit grafts. Unlike the punch grafts and some mini-grafting techniques; each of which removes a small bit of tissue in the recipient area; the trimmed follicular unit grafts used in FUT