Mickey85

Thanks Paddy for the very kind words and support. Very very much appreciated.

I don't hate you Doctor, or anyone that has an opposing view with me on here. Many members have differing views than I but it does perplex me as to why questions posed by myself and others have mostly gone unanswered. No one is doubting your achievements in the field, but you like to bring up facts but do not substantiate them. Maybe some of the evidence would go over most of our heads, but even an attempt would be appreciated. It does seem like you are bashing FUE excessively. Maybe it is coming off that way to myself and a few others.

. How anyone would want to go to you for a procedure when you exhibit such etiquette is beyond me. Please continue with your 'unmolested' opinion that FUE is so inherently flawed even though many other surgeons have surpassed you. You think the majority of people here cannot see your bias? You are more than free to express your own opinion on here. The part many people have trouble with is that you constantly make it out like good FUE results are a rarity when there are an abundance of good FUE results from many clinics across the world. When this is mentioned, you either ignore it or dismiss it. I ask in sincerity, why is it that many other composite FUE/strip surgeons have no/little trouble with FUE? I'm not taking a jab here, maybe there is something I don't get.

Totally read my mind.

I wonder why actual surgeons that post good FUE results constantly, don't waste their time complaining about the apparent intrinsic flaws in FUE whilst a surgeon who has not posted an FUE result in years makes it seem like an abortion of the hair transplant industry.... Hmmmm.

Joe how did the strip scar turn out?

150% agree. You have summed up how I feel about this whole thing.

Wow, never knew about that loophole. I wonder if Atlanta allows techs to do everything..

Wow....

Dr. Bloxham, so in the US the techs are allowed to extract the graft(with forceps) but a surgeon is the only one that can punch/score the graft with a punch. This differs compared to Europe though where techs are allowed to basically do it all so the two are not identical. I do agree that it still does not dictate pricing structures or popularity.

Please look up results performed by the actual robot(ARTAS) before making a decision. Theoritically everything you say is true. A robot can not tire, a robot is precise etc. But some very important factors are left out. But I have only seen maybe 15 results all up from it and most were very unimpressive sadly...

Totally agree with you on all points.

My pleasure HairJo. I have read your posts in the last few days and you seem very receptive and open minded. These are very positive traits to have whilst researching hair transplants and also in life. There have been many 'innovations' in the hair transplant world that have bee glorified by even elite surgeons, but sometimes when the dust settles, it is extremely clear that the claims were not completely truthful. One thing that alot of patients who have failed hair transplants(FUE or strip, both can fail) is "I wish I researched more/waited a bit longer". It seems you have not yet had a hair transplant, use this time to inform yourself to the best of your ability because if it goes wrong, a part of you will be blaming yourself as I once blamed myself. I used to have a line in my profile signature that I was "Pro-patient", I might try to get back to that... Or I might leave.. We shall see.

So true my friend. Just let the results do the talking. Many surgeon's take their jobs very seriously and I applaude them for that. I respect Dr Feller's strip work but most of the great surgeons have no interest in getting into an e-war online. Alot are booked out well into 2016 and in their spare time I'm not so sure they would be wanting to sit infront of a computer debating hair transplant methods with other surgeon's across the world. There are conventions for that where they can showcase their talents and methods live and in person. Just my opinion anyway.

Hugs to all

Well with the 'robot'(I'm assuming you are talking about the ARTAS device), when it was revealed there was a claim that the transection rates were something like 3-5%(from memory may be slightly off). Some surgeons jumped on this device because of the claimed low transection rate and also because they would not have to take the many many hours to perfect FUE extraction by hand. Years later and we have seen some ARTAS results and most of which were sadly disappointing, many surgeons have gone back to either handheld motorized devices or manual punches. Tech-assisted extractions are common place in Europe where I believe it is legal. Using a manual punch is very tiring on the hands especially if thousands of grafts are needed so punching duties are either delegated or shared between surgeon and techs. Some prefer a surgeon to do all the punching duties and I can certainly understand that but when you see an FUE result from Europe, chances are that techs were assisting in the punching/extraction phase. It is upto you to decide whether you place emphasis on whether the particular clinic puts out great results(regardless of techs assisting) or if you strictly want a surgeon to do all the punching. Question everything. You can never do enough research. Don't ask one doctor, ask many. Don't just ask me, ask others. There is an abundance of information to be absorbed and what you will learn in 6 months will completely dwarf what you know now.

I don't disagree with you at all. If a potential patient had poor donor laxity, wanted to maintain a buzzed down look on the back and sides and wanted a less invasive procedure, FUE would most likely be the avenue he should seek. On the other hand if a guy had poor donor density, wanted just one big session instead of waiting 12 months for another round of FUE, had good laxity and did not care about buzzing down etc than strip would most likely be the starting point for him. What I do not like however are surgeons/clinics coming on here and propagating blanket statements universally as if the know every clinics protocol and yield rates. You don't see FUE doctors coming out and saying "40% of strip scars stretch" but we have surgeon's who predominantly practice strip making it out like a good FUE result is a rarity and that it is intrinsically flawed and no one can overcome the obstacles even though there is an abundance of proof showing otherwise. I'm mainly an FUE guy, but guys like you, Chrisdav, Spanker, Since21, KO etc I don't have any problem with at all because we share a similar(not identical but similar) view on both methods. You guys got great results from strip and I certainly cannot(and would not even contemplate) diminish that. I mainly have a problem with certain industry factions though.

Thank you!!! But you know, never let the truth get in the way of anything...

That may certainly be true for some surgeons but some doctors also push for strip simply because their FUE skills do not yield as good as their strip results or other surgeon's FUE results.

Agreed. But Dr C. has made many many outlandish claims about FUE and 'donor regeneration" that even I would not agree with. I wouldn't even use him as a source for proof simply because it would easily be discredited by his other claims(Acell mysteriously fabricating and regenerating follicles post FUE... at an extra cost to the patient of course..yeh...)...

That still won't stop surgeons from arbitrarily trying to dictate universal laws and 'facts' across all clinics

I don't disagree with some clinics wrongly marketting FUE as a scarless technique or that FUE leaves small scars and missing follicles. But I think the amount of strip patients who would gladly trade donors with this guy would be insanely high. If I shaved down to the grade this patient did, you would see my strip scar from 50meters away.

Errr are you 100% sure on this? Lorenzo and Erdogan are performing strip? I highly highly doubt and and will verify and will come back if this turns out to be misinformation.

Agreed. Add poor extraction patterns and a larger then optimal punch diameter's to the list of possibly factors too. But you know, vital variables are unimportant Now for the sake of being impartial. Let us see some unfavorable strip scarring. I for one would prefer the scarring the patient Dr Lindsey posted received than my strip scar by a 'top doc' where I can't even shave down to a grade 5 without a noticeable void with there exists no hair.

FUE is definitely not scarless. There will be scarring/missing follicles and no one should expect to be able to shave down to a zero guard or even a grade 1 depending on multiple factors(grafts extracted, hair to scalp color contrast etc). But it is the general consensus that FUE does allow the patient to shave down closer without detection of surgical intervention compared to strip(in general of course).