hairweare

Dr. Vories may have the most reasonable fees for a dedicated FUE clinic in NA. but I do not know if he does beard extraction. FWIW, Lorenzo told me that it is easier to extract beard follicles than that from the scalp. May be worth inquiring about.

I would totally concur with your assessment based on my own observation and experience.

Yes you need a repair and no you should not go to the same doctor who caused the problem in the first place.

Based on this additional info I would definitely not do another strip as your chance for a disfiguring scar seems to be quite high. No reputable docs particularly the ones I mentioned would use beard hair unless your scalp donor was or is nearing depletion. After 3 earlier FUTs, a long wide scar, and a pattern 6-7 baldness despite 5600 grafts, 3700 combined scalp/beard FUE has bailed me out of what appeared to be a hopeless situation. Dr. Rassman who was my original surgeon felt at best he could get another 800 by strip and then advised SMP to camouflage the hideous scar. I am glad that I went to Europe instead.

First was 300 grafts to hide my old ugly strip scar. The second was 500 mixed with 1400 scalp grafts to cover my thin vertex. No scars, dots on my face or neck, the extraction wounds heal very quickly, just don't touch your face or shave for a week. Normal washing is of course ok.

Not must but rather can. Reputable docs in Europe will look at your donor zones under the scope and can better go over your options prior to the procedure. A trip to Europe even with a brief vacation and procedure will cost you much less than the alternative in CA and still leave you with change in your pocket.

Contact Bisanga, Lorenzo and De Reys. There may be others but I have undergone two scalp/beard sessions with Lorenzo so can speak from personal experience and the other two have good reputations on this site so at least you have a starting point.

I haven't been following the status of the CAD but for those in the US the Euro is at a 12 yr low and a procedure in Europe is now at least 25% less than what it was a year ago. Bisanga, Lorenzo do scalp/beard FUE. De Reys also but I believe he coordinates the beard extractions with a German doc. You should research it further on your own

A mixture of FUE scalp and beard hair for the vertex and crown may be your best option. I suggest you get an online consult from the European docs who specialize in this type of procedure. When randomly blended the difference in texture and wave pattern is often well camouflaged while providing fairly good coverage. You would appear to be a good candidate. Not sure I would risk a widened scar when you seem to have enough donor hair in you occipital and temporal zones for FUE.

Any credible references to back up your assertion doctor?

I have had 800 beard grafts and shave with a DE razor. I am fair skinned and have noticed no dots. I have also had 2900 FUE scalp grafts extracted and did not see any dots when my donor area was shaved down for the second procedure. YMMV however.

The image blurs when zoomed in for a close up and moves away quickly so I suspect that a detailed image may not be as aesthetically satisfactory to many who might be considering such extreme surgery. Not to mention that 11K grafts X $8.00 per graft = Yikes!

As someone who has sewn up many bloody occipital lacerations in my training, I can say with certainty that blood flow is not an issue.

I am glad I am not the only one who felt that the video was deceptive. I am not a surgeon but the description of a punch that results in less scarring because the diameter of the wound is inverted and smaller at the skin surface sounds to me to be physically impossible and more like a marketing gimmick.

"Hope springs eternal"

I recall there was one negative posting from an Afro-American pt. but the same pt. commented positively on another AA case of Dr. Vories posted later on. No baseball star hits a home run every at bat and a good cosmetic surgeons rate of success while never perfect is considerably better. The recent case postings from Dr. Vories are quite impressive. His current fees and operative technique I believe warrant placing him on the A list when considering FUE in NA.

Doubtful, but his rates are decrementally lower after the first 1000 grafts regardless as to whether the procedure is done in one setting or staged months apart.

Well this is good news for those who have suffered side effects while taking generic finasteride. Now you know that it is all in your head. Actually, sarcasm aside, I have been prescribing generic meds for years and have never noted any clinical difference in efficacy.

Abbie, watch the video again and note the pt's reasoning for undergoing the procedure from 1:45

The pt's statements which I believe are misleading and incorrect should have been edited since the video is an advertisement. Unless disavowed it implies that the clinic is in agreement with those statements.

I am not sure where we differ, my point is that he is fully involved throughout the long day, and does do some, most, or all of the extractions and definitely all of the implantations. I don't know what else could be said. We shall see if the results justify the way he presently conducts his clinic. Also keep in mind that while there may be up to 4 patients, there are two physicians working on their own respective patients independently. I can say from experience that while it is no means concierge service there, everyone is hard working and professional and the doc's demeanor can be best described as "intense and or passionate"

I do not know this to be a fact. Lorenzo is never passive during the day being in constant motion doing either extractions or implantations into the evening, the latter are all done by either him or Dr Vila. For what it is worth he stated to me that the extraction process is the least important and that his techs are as good or better at it than he is. I have no idea if that is true but those that had work done by his techs this year in Madrid are beginning to post f/u pics so we will soon find out.

Only my donor was shaved, but I did keep my hair short at about 1.5 inches. Again, I was expecting to be shaved but Dr. Lorenzo never discussed it other to tell me that it was not necessary when I asked why not.

That worked out well as my stylist was able to blend the resultant bad "mohawk" with the sides after only a couple of weeks and I looked pretty normal again.

A few reservations I have about Dr. Umar's videos are:

1)There always appears to be some slick editing i.e., quick fade outs, blurring as the camera zooms in and soft lighting.

2)The punch appears to a large caliber and the donor sites look much bloodier than what we see from other FUE specialists.

3)The claim that body hair is "thicker" and therefore provides better coverage and requires less grafts than scalp hair is suspect. While that may be true for beard hair, it is doubtful that this applies to chest, leg or arm hair. Furthermore since these FUs are singles even with thicker beard grafts the coverage claims are not credible. Far more BHT are needed to obtain a good cosmetic result and the viability while better in the hands of an experienced surgeon still may not equal to scalp hair. Beard hair is usually much coarser and curly and needs to be mixed in with enough scalp hair to adequately conceal it. Considering these factors the cost for such a repair could end up being astronomical as well which is never mentioned.

4) The jingle is obnoxious and the only way I can watch the videos is to turn off the sound.

You haven't seen Lorenzo aka "the robot" in action. Besides he only extracted 1800 grafts in MCR and 1400 in Madrid (the tech did the 500 beard extractions. Implanting with the pen is like playing the piano to him, all rhythm and pace. I have no regrets with my choice.

I recall in my younger days when I had a full head of hair and was looking for a new barber after moving to a new town, I always asked to have the owner or manager cut my hair. It may just have been intuition at the time but I would feel the same way about undergoing such a life changing operation such as a HT.

You may be right