JohnBob

10 minutes ago, plus said:

what about FUE? I haven't been able to find many photos of shaved heads after FUE. most pics are to show how WITH hair the scars are not visible.

I'm not an expert on this, but I saw a lot of pictures were dudes had a ton of grafts extracted via FUE and their donor looks perfectly fine when trimmed very short. 

For example, that guy looks flawless (from what we can see on the pics) in terms of scars after having extracted almost 13K grafts via FUE:

This is atrocious. Try be like that when you are young and not a celebrity. You will be the  "scar dude" or "the Frankenstein" and the stigma will stick with you forever. 

33 minutes ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

Joe Rogan has consistently said that he wishes he would’ve just shaved to begin with, if you’re considering shaving, the logical thing would be to shave your head. I’m speaking from experience, I shaved my head, it was not for me.

Therefore, I knew hair transplants was the route for me, once you embark there’s no going back. If you’re not okay shaving now without scars, you definitely won’t be okay shaving with scars. If you shave your head now, and realize you like it, well then you just found your solution. Doing nothing is never bad advice. 

What you did was smart. First you tried the shaved look. It didn't work for you then you went for the HTs. Sounds good. 

The vast majority of people lose the option to shave after getting a HT (specially if it's FUT), that must be clear. 

On 1/29/2012 at 2:31 AM, scar5 said:

ta ta..

 

DISCALIMER - I too have queries about overharvesting FUE and poor yield. This post is MERELY to show why docs recommend strip!!

 

 

..even Dr. Feller bla bla... (someone else adds)

 

Guys, of course they will recommend FUT!! Guys, come on! ALL docs recommend strip if they do it, and if they are set up for it.

 

Put yourself in THEIR shoes for a moment.

 

It's 9AM at the Happy Hair Clinic and under the big sign that says, 'Welcome 'cause we do both' (FUE and FUT)' sits Dr. Feelgood sipping on his morning coffee. His eyes drop to peruse the morning's consults.

 

Mnn..let's see now.. Billy Balding, 27, NW3, wants FUE, Dad is bald, hates the idea of a scar, wants to be a NW2 and a widow's peak. Mnn, well, we've seen this guy 10 times this week already. Here we go again. Are you ready, Roger Rep? You got so damn good at dealing with this, that guy's eyes 'gonna be poppin when when we show him the pics of 'Mr Moth' alongside those stellar strips where we pull the grown out hair back at the scar seam and it seems invisible. He will be so impressed he wont think about what it looks like shaven. And his ears are gonna be ringing why him, and just him is not suited to FUE... and that FUE suits SMALL jobs.

 

Who is to say, he won't lose more hair!! and need more grafts! He won't even wanna think about buzzing when he gets the growth form our strip!

 

In the back room wait four cutters. The four most reliable and genuinely conscientious types you could image. They cut those strips up in no time, with hardly any transection and a smile

 

Dr. Feelgood gets up and a small creak in his back reminds him of playing with the kids last night. Damn sure no way in the world am I leaning over that guys head to today for eight hours drilling out 1500 measily grafts, while my cutters sit idle in the back room. I suppose I could ask them to doing cleaning.

 

He ambles into the consult room where Roger Rep had already been softening Billy for the blow. Forgets glasses. Eyes getting strained lately, since he did that damn FUE two weeks ago, damn it.

 

'Hey Billy'

'Doc, I can't tell you how much I've waited for this. I did my research and I want FUE, cause who knows, I might wanna opt out of the HT route when I'm older, you know'

Roger and Doc exchange a knowing glance and warm smiles.

'Billy...oh.. Billy, we understand how you feel. We've been in this business since ...a damn long time..but in your case, we are going to recommend a 3500 strip, with a trico closure. You'll be done in no time and be a lot a happier sooner with the solid and rapid growth strip affords. Let me check that laxity now'

Eh,,yes, let's see. I think we can even do 3800 Roger'

'Nice one Doc', chips in Roger before adding, Doc, Billy is concerned about the scar.

"Well of course he is. Everyone is but we get some pretty damn fine scars, show Billy, Roger. Billy, trust me, with hair, you won't even think about it" And the money and time you will save...FUE is over rated!! Yield is poor. It suits little jobs, that's all.

Billy looks anguished and asks, 'But if it's good for small, why isn't it good for big? What about all the hairs in that are in resting phase within the strip? How about...Billy in desperation now, throws out a dozen questions. Some of them ridiculous, some valid. In the end, the doc and Rog just have to reassure him by answering the easiest.

An hour later. Doc is back in his room having taken out the strip, checking his mail. Back out to do the recipient sites for another 40 minutes. Done..

Billy has signed the disclaimers and is a drug induced delirium as the cutters are busy.

Later, Billy posts. I wanted FUE, but in the end I chose FUT and I am glad. Guys, FUE is hype!!

 

End.

 

The message is simple.

Strip (call it FUT to make it sound better) , is economical for the clinic.

Strip exposes the clinic to less risk

Strip is easier on the doctor's hands, eyes and mind

Strip is simple

Strip puts the onus on the patient to 'recover' properly and buys the clinic 'time'. (The patient of FUE is expecting FAST recovery!)

Strip distributes the technical burden more evenly among the staff of the clinic

Strip is faster for all

 

 

Please, don't take this as an endorsement for FUE, just wanted to illustrate the process and mindbending that goes on in my humble opinion.

I have plenty of doubts about all HT including FUE, especially yield and that included the condition of the follicles that regrow

And I am not anti- HT either. Hair is freakin great and everyone is happy to see it grow back.

lol good post

3 more patient reviews from the spanish forum:

https://foro.recuperarelpelo.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=84205

https://foro.recuperarelpelo.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=60731&start=225

https://foro.recuperarelpelo.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=79795

That's all I could get. Even there he doesn't have that many reviews. De Freitas patients, on the other hand, are all over the place. 

13 minutes ago, champybaby said:

(disregard)

You are a seasoned patient that got home run results, your feedback is important man

Another one by Dr. Couto, a 2k graft reparation of a previous transplant done in Turkey by the patient. 

https://foro.recuperarelpelo.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=84771

Look how clean the procedure looks immediately post op. Very similar do Konior's. 

On 12/3/2020 at 3:59 PM, Melvin-Moderator said:

If you’re considering shaving your head, just do it and forget surgery.

Maybe it's not that he wants to shave his head, but that he would like to keep that option in the case the HT doesn't work out as planned?

I believe that's the reason Joe Rogan shaves his head. 

I have seen two random people in public with shaved heads sporting a huge strip scar on the back of their heads. Maybe they shaved for the same reason Joe Rogan did. 

I'm considering going to Dr. Zarev for a HT but it worries me that we only have one case documented by a patient of him on the whole internet and it went bad. 

On 10/27/2020 at 1:24 AM, giegnosiganoe said:

Found a post on here from 6 years ago of a guy who went to Zarev, but he never updated the final result. Also looks like all of the photos were taken in Zarev's clinic.

 

Let's be honest, comparing pics it is obvious a lot of grafts ended up not growing. Maybe his scalp has some sort of a condition and should have been checked by a dermatologist - would explain the redness of the skin.

10th day post op:

Almost 4 months post op:

Well, it sucks but comparing these two pictures bellow it is obvious a lot of grafts ended up not growing. You should see a dermatologist to and check if you don't have a condition on your scalp. 

10th day post:

Almost 4 months post op:

A

1 hour ago, selem banza said:

do you think its enough ? just one guy testifying?
 

There are more reviews in that forum. Feel free to browse there.

This is the largest Couto restoration review I could find in the spanish HT forum recuperar el pelo

https://foro.recuperarelpelo.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=82358&start=420

Love the fact that Dr. Bisanga does a careful and quantitative examination of the donor area during the consultation. A very important step that I think most HT doctors don't take, as far as I know.  

1 minute ago, SoundWaveZzZzZz said:

  Indeed, he does and he's 3 years older than me.

😬

57 minutes ago, SoundWaveZzZzZz said:

I've been okay shaving for a long time but unfortunately, my wife ran away with someone last year and I am now finding myself preparing to possibly dive into the dating pool after covid (dating pool in the 40's as a bald dude, I know, exciting...smh). I figured It's a good time to look into the possibility but if it's not possible, it is what it is.  Thanks!

Damn, sorry to hear that. Just curious, does that other dude have a full head of hair by any chance?

It could be the flash but seems like you are losing hair in the donor area as well. So not only your donor area is not sufficient, but if you do a HT you may end up losing the transplanted hair too. 

If you want to talk to a HT doctor, make sure to talk only to a top tier one as your case is ultra complex. Maybe there is a solution that uses body hair, I don't now. But be careful as you may end up really worse than you are right now. 

8 minutes ago, gillenator said:

I was referring to his Norwood class 6...yes, he still has a very small amount of diffused hair left....maybe I should have left the word "full" out?

Maybe the technical term would be "not a slick bald NW 6" lol

4 minutes ago, asterix0 said:

FUE, ideally, is obviously the more sophisticated and less intrusive procedure. But it requires greater surgeon stamina, greater care to not transect grafts, greater artistry of the extraction pattern to not leave the moth-eaten depleted look. 

It also requires more careful examination of the donor area, more precise assessment of healthy donor grafts versus potential miniaturized ones.

That's why I believe the only way those huge sessions Dr. Zarev is doing without destroying the donor is possible because of a breakthrough in FUE tools. 

By the way, Dr. Feller believes making thousands of tiny FUE holes can affect the quality of the skin throughout the entire the donor area and make you lose the not extracted hairs too. This is argument sounds possible in theory, but that same doctor states that sessions bigger than 1500 grafts should be done only with FUT and we know for a fact that aint true (at least anymore), so I don't give him much credibility in this topic. (Source: https://www.hairtransplantweb.com/hair-loss-library/hair-transplant-scars/).

33 minutes ago, gillenator said:

I am also very curious to know your age...clearly you are presently a full Norwood 6 and I also think you should have your donor zone microscopically examined for any signs that the hair is DHT receptive.

Not a full NW 6, he still has a considerable amount of hairs all over his scalp no?

17 hours ago, Jaypi said:

So I’ve been thinking about getting a hair transplant and have emailed a few clinics. The both quoted me for 3000 grafts and maybe a second smaller procedure to fill in the crown. Since I’ve seen a lot of people get 3000 grafts into a much smaller space then the top of my head I’m a little nervous to go through with it. Do you guys think it’s too late for a hair transplant?

Have you tried finasteride and or needling+minoxidil? The people getting getting the best results with these kind of treatments are the ones with a similar hair loss pattern that you have. In 3 months you would find out if it's working or not.  

1 hour ago, asterix0 said:

Hypothetically, in the hands of the best hair transplant surgeon in the world, I believe FUE is the superior procedure. 

In theory:

• FUE should allow for more available lifetime grafts, and to cherry pick the best grafts to put them in the optimal positions. There is more surface area available for FUE grafts to be taken from. 
• FUE is the less invasive procedure and there is less risk for nerve damage, prolonged numbness, etc.
• FUE allows for greater flexibility of haircuts in the future.

Of course, many surgeons who are not the best of the best will give you more scarring via FUE, less available grafts because of high transection and blowing away your donor, and you will be paying more to get a bad result.

 

This makes sense. Maybe for the average HT doctor, it's safer to do bigger sessions via FUT as FUE makes things more complex. But for the more skilled surgeons I don't see why FUE can't achieve the same quality of donor harvesting as FUT does. 

3 hours ago, HTP1 said:

It should read 'too many FU are taken'. 

Think what happens with FUT. The area of skin where the FUs are taken from is removed from the scalp in exchange for some scalp laxity. The question is then how neat the scar will be. Whether 1000 or 9000 are taken, the question is around the scar. The remaining hair on the scalp is untouched and can easily cover up the FUT scar, even with larger surgeries. 

With FUE the area of skin where the FUs are taken is still there on the scalp, and if you take too many there aren't enough remaining to cover the ones which were taken. 

Google 'FUE over-harvesting' and you'll see the thinning I am referring to, 

Edited to add a fine example. 
 

True. However the same problem (too many grafts and/or bad technique) can happen with FUT too:

27 minutes ago, HTP1 said:

Because too FU are taken so the area is overharvested because there isn't enough remaining hair to cover the missing ones up / scars up. 

How do you think FUE overharvesting happens? 

I may be missing something, but "the area is over harvested because too FU are taken" reads like a circular explanation to me.

Hence, if you take too much FUs via FUT the donor area will be over harvested too. 

49 minutes ago, Storyteller said:

If a donor area can give ,lets say 7500 grafts via fue ,they should not be taken all in one procedure,but in smaller ones.Each procedure should give not more than 2500 grafts.That means 3 small procedures and before each one the donor area will certainly need to be reassessed.Things are different with strip,which is the only proven method that can justify the extraction of high number of grafts all in once without running the risk of losing some of them in the future.

Fut will always outweigh fue when it comes to the number of grafts that can be harvested in one session,and of course the combination of fut and fue will always be better than each method alone is.

 

Proven how exactly? I don't mean to sound harsh but I get the impression that we repeat "truths" without actually thinking what's the basis of them. 

Sure, FUE is a much complex procedure so it would be very hard to competently extract 9,000 grafts in a single day, probably impossible with current tools. But good doctors can spread it between two consecutive days with no apparent problem. 

Also why nobody talks about the donor hairs lost because FUT strip cuts, stitches and scars? How many hairs are lost there? With FUE we don't have that problem.