Overview
The crown is located on the back portion of the scalp. Specifically, where the posterior scalp starts to slope downward. The crown ends where the occipital bone begins – the occipital scalp is where donor hair is usually taken from, especially for follicular unit strip surgery (FUSS). The occipital scalp is not part of the crown. The very top of the scalp, right before the posterior scalp begins to slope downward, is sometimes referred to as the vertex transition point, or simply as the vertex (the term “vertex” literally means “the highest point”). Many people confuse the vertex and the crown as being the same thing, but they are not.
There are two surgical techniques in which hair can be removed from a patient’s scalp – Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) and Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE). The way that grafts are transplanted back into a patient’s scalp following their removal is the same with both techniques. It is how the hairs are removed that is different. In the case of the FUE technique each hair graft is removed from the donor region one by one using a punch tool. Both the FUT and FUE technique form scars – FUT forms one linear scar whereas FUE forms multiple circular scars spread across a large area.