Dr. Alan Feller

Some of you may remember Thana. He used to be a regular on this site, but when he got his hair back he moved on. So we decided to make a short video explaining step by step what we did to rebuild his hairline and frontal third. Watch, Learn, and Enjoy.

With so many hair transplant clinics and so many online results to look at how can a new potential patient distinguish who the top and most consistent clinics are? In the digital online age the formula is simple: Video + Comb Through. Video provides angles and dimension not practical in still photography, but adding a comb through during the video is even better. And yet just a bit above that is demonstrating that a part can be combed through an area that was bald or very thin before the transplant. This also gives the potential patient a chance to see what the transplanted hair actually looks like as it breaks through the skin. Here is the first in a series of "Parting" videos we will be producing and posting. Enjoy. Dr. Alan Feller Great Neck, NY

There are FOUR types of FUE clinics. What are they? Which ones should you go to? Which should you avoid? Why? Watch this video to answer the above questions and learn what you need to know BEFORE you pick an FUE clinic...

Yes, this is called "Front Loading" and it is a real problem in the Hair Transplant industry. It usually happens with young patients whose hairline is just beginning to recede. The area is packed with grafts and then, of course, the hair continues to recede behind it. Now the patient has this really thick band of hair in the front and a donor area that does not have enough hair to balance it by filling up the areas behind. This is not to say you can't transplant young people, you can, but they must already be receded enough that filling in the front area can be balanced out by the remaining donor hair if necessary. Dr. Feller Great Neck, NY

If you were my patient I would not be too concerned. I only see the one pimple, the rest looks normal from the photo. Applying topical antibiotics isn't going to help, just leave it alone until you can contact your doctor. If you really want to play it safe go to a local doctor and show it to him. He will likely put you on an appropriate oral antibiotic, that's what I would do. When a hair transplant is performed the skin can become irritated for so many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that the area now has "foreign bodies" in it, like splinters, which sets off an inflammatory response. This is normal and will usually just fade off in time. A pimple like that may simply be some bacteria that got into the skin in a higher dose than the rest and the body is fighting it by walling it off. With your doctors approval you may want to apply warm soaks, which is just a warm wash cloth with tap water that you hold over the area a few times per day until the cloth cools. This will allow something like that to drain a bit quicker and if there is a graft under there it may spare it. Every graft counts, right? Hopefully you got all that antibacterial shampoo out of your clothes.

Thank you Scotty. He is quite happy. We will be posting more videos as we get the time. Are their any particular kinds of videos you would like to see? Thank you for commenting.

This is correct. But I think the word "dedicated" is being misunderstood. I'm sure you mean "dedicated" in terms of exclusively performing hair transplants; not "dedicated" as in the doctor not "caring" about what he's doing and committing himself to it. I believe most doctors are dedicated to the procedures they perform, as in the video: Unfortunately, the marketing of FUE by gadget companies as a turnkey operation to be added into an existing practice creates an avalanche of new practitioners who do not perform it exclusively. They are in fact "not dedicated" because they are performing other medical procedures as well. Performing HT as a sideline is likely not going to produce a quality HT doctor who can compete with those who practice it full time. Perhaps for small fill-in type procedures, but not for large megasession procedures which is the reason most people view and read this site and others like it. Is there doubt about the realities of the FUE procedure in the public mind? Just look at the number of hits this thread has gotten to date.

It sounds like what you are looking for is perfect fit for the FUE procedure. So you're good there. However, you may be running a risk of injuring native hairs in the hairline if you don't allow some shaving of the hair in this area. When the hair is cut down to a buzz cut it's pretty easy to determine what direction the follicle is pointing under the skin and minimize accidental transection. When the hair is long it's much more risky.

Here is another report of failed FUE: http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/182519-failed-fue-need-advice.html

Here is a link to another failed FUE that we fixed with FUT. http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/181104-failed-fue-repaired-dr-feller-thank-you-dr-feller.html

I agree with every word of this very articulate statement.

I can't speak to why any doctor chooses to do what he does. You should ask him. I have been writing since the emergence of FUE into North America that the FUE procedure inflicts greater trauma on the grafts resulting in more unreliable growth. Also, the amount of scarring and damage caused throughout the donor area is also likewise greater. But putting aside this reality, I offer this observation: There has yet to be one successful hair transplant doctor that has given up FUT in favor of FUE. Now, if FUE was superior, or even just on par with FUT, why would ANY doctor continue to offer FUT at all? The reason is simple and obvious. The FUT procedure produces thicker and more reliable results with less scalp trauma than FUE. Unfortunately, huge marketing campaigns, internet hype, and tons of wishful thinking has fueled a false perception of where these two procedures stand with respect to each other.

Antt, I appreciate your consideration but you need not travel to me to get an excellent hair transplant. FUE has it's place, but not first place. If you need a large amount of grafts (more than 500 to 1000) or anticipate you will need that many at some time in the future then I would suggest you consider a proper FUT (strip) procedure. The current thinking among all leading HT doctors is perform FUT first and then when no more grafts can be taken safely with FUT switch to FUE. That said, there are those who simply cannot abide the thought of having a strip procedure and are willing to accept the FUE consequences of consistently lower growth yields, greater donor damage, and fewer grafts available in the future. If you are one of these people, then FUE is indeed your choice. If this is the case, trust me, you can visit with Dr. Konior and get a great FUE procedure. He is honorable and meticulous. He doesn't have many photos because he is selective of whom he performs FUE on, and that's as it should be. But it doesn't mean he's not an expert. I believe he is. On par with the very best. Stay in Chicago and visit with Dr. Konior. If you get a procedure share it with us. We'd all love to see how you do. Best of luck. Dr. Feller Great Neck, NY

Nomorehopes, I'm sorry to read that you had such a poor growth yield. But you need not give up hope. You are not the only one to go through this at all. I had a patient in your shoes a year ago and he posted his experience on here. I'll find the link for you tomorrow so you can see what he did. You may want to contact him. So what probably happened? No HT is guaranteed to grow well. That's just the nature of surgery in general. However, and I'm sorry to say, FUE procedures are notorious for poor growth yields despite the massive internet hype and marketing by gadget companies. The reason is the trauma inflicted on the grafts during the extraction process. No matter how caring, skilled, and meticulous the surgeon the grafts are always damaged during FUE. It's just a matter to what extent and what tolerance level the graft has for that damage. I'm sorry to see you're grafts have a low tolerance. So what to do? Simple. Switch to the FUT procedure. This procedure does not traumatize the grafts. So even very physiologically fragile grafts have a far far greater chance of surviving the transplant process and growing. In my patient described above he had virtually no growth from his FUE (performed elsewhere though I don't remember where that was), but after the FUT he had virtually 100% growth. We just did a second procedure on him using FUT as well. While we did have to work through a lot of FUE scarring, it really isn't a problem for a skilled team of technicians. So before giving up hope, seek out a quality FUT surgeon with a proven track record and I should think you will see growth far more along the lines of what you were expecting. Just go to the list of Recommended Doctors on this site and click on someone in your area. I think you'll feel instantly better and more hopeful. LINK TO FAILED FUE REPAIRED WITH FUT: http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/181104-failed-fue-repaired-dr-feller-thank-you-dr-feller.html Best of luck to you. Dr. Feller Great Neck,NY

Neither FUE nor FUT produce "invisible" scars. What I mean in the "Scar Search" series about my scars being invisible is that the overlaying hair in the donor area covers the scar so that it cannot be seen. You need to view a few more of them to understand what I'm trying to say. Understand that no surgery scarring is invisible. FUT and FUE included. There have been claims made by FUE clinics that their scars are invisible, but they most certainly are not. They require to overlaying hair to cover them as well. The reason you would want an FUT procedure over an FUE procedure in the context of this video is because BOTH require grown hair in the donor area to hide the evidence of the surgery. The difference I contend, however, is that the growth yields for the FUT are consistently higher than that for FUE so you should obviously go for the FUT (strip) procedure. The general thinking among hair transplant doctors today is to begin with FUT (strip) and then end with FUE to get as many grafts as possible. Thanks for the question and watching the video. Please view more of them, and if you have any question by all means ask. Dr. Feller

Scott, Dr. Bloxham, Dr. Lindsey and I were over there to do consultations and see follow up patients. We have had many patients from the UK visit us for procedures so we visit every once in a while. Also, Spex is our showcase patient there and he has a large UK following as a professional hair loss expert. He co hosted our gathering in London. The patient is this thread is a renowned celebrity hair stylist who we transplanted a few years ago so we just put his results online. The trips to the UK are always busy and fun, but rather whirlwind though. We'll likely be back next November or so. Dr. Feller Great Neck, NY

The prevailing thinking for someone with your level of baldness is to begin with one or two megasession FUT procedures. The follow up with FUE if needed. The reasons are very simple: First, FUT will give you the most reliable growth yields because the trauma to each graft is far lower than for the equivalent FUE procedure. Second, FUE will damage your donor area far more extensively than FUT would for the equivalent number of grafts thereby limiting the supply available for procedures later on However you go, best of luck on your procedure and results. Getting your hair back after being bald is one of the greatest feelings. Dr. Feller Great Neck, NY

Ha. Fair enough. Thanks for the considered comments. Hair Geeks. I like that. Dr. Feller

I must disagree. Here is the raw cut of all the uncombed hair sequences. I think you would need x-ray vision to see any scar under that hair. Which is the point. Hair transplant scars are completely obscured by donor hair. That's what makes it such a great procedure and almost always pointless to have an FUE procedure.

Thank you for the comment. In the photo below, does the arrow point to the scar ?

Really? I'm impressed. Can you describe where in the photo you see it? Dr. Feller

Low density donor areas usually don't make for very good FUE candidates because each and every hair becomes that much more precious and cannot tolerate the consistently lower yields produced by FUE procedures. FUT procedures are ideally suited to patients like this because the grafts will have the highest yields possible known to medicine and surgery. The fact that someone would have to lift up the hair to see it speaks volumes as to how tiny the scar is, even more so since he has a lower density donor area to begin with. Using FUE instead of FUT is a trade off. No amount of online hype is going to change that. If you don't want a linear scar, and that's fine, you either have to accept that doing the procedure as an FUE is going to compromise growth yields and needlessly damage healthy donor area. OR, you can go mFUE route and achieve strip yields, but also have more donor damage than you would with FUT. To my mind, the most rational choice is FUT. In fact that's what I chose for my procedures, my family members procedures, and friends. Here is a video of a patient I repaired using 3000 grafts. There is no way this many grafts could be taken on this patient using FUE without damaging the entire donor area, thus decreasing the hair available in the future should he need it.