Is HT for someone who scars easy ?

[nucklhead]

Hello, this is my first post and I have finally decided to join since i have been reading and doing some research over the last month or so. Im glad i was able to find this forum with so many knowleadgable people and experiences.

 

Anyway to the point, i am considering an alternative to hair loss however i am the type of person who scars very easily and for some odd reason it is always from the waist and UP! i have a small but noticeable scar on my arm, another one on my shoulder from a shot i took when i was just 7 or 8 yrs. old and one that turned into what is known as a keloid on my chest from a stab wound i suffered when i was 17, i actually had that cut out just 2 yrs ago and had to go in for radiation to stop it from coming back, it has helped and looks much better than it was but there is still a noticeable scar there.

 

With that being said would i be crazy even to consider HT knowing that I am prone to these type of scars? I once read somewhere that any patient who is prone to these types of scars should not consider any type of cosmetic surgery. It is obvious to me that I would most likely scar If i am to get an FUT type surgery, but my question is would I be able to get away with a lets say FUE type transplant?

 

I would appreciate any advise on this matter, I have a consultation with Dr. Rassman next week and want to also be able to have all the questions I need answered but not sure if I have read or educated myself in such short time to ask all the right questions.

 

What would you guys say are some key questions I should ask during this consultation?

 

At this point im 31 and starting to quickly thin and lose hair so at the very worst I would maybe go with Prophecia or Rogaine if recommended by Dr. Would this still be better than doing nothing at all if I am definately NOT a candidate for a HT ?

 

Sorry for the long post and all the questions, i just really feel that I need to be a lil more prepared for when I go in for consultation next week. Thank you!

[nucklhead]

Hello, this is my first post and I have finally decided to join since i have been reading and doing some research over the last month or so. Im glad i was able to find this forum with so many knowleadgable people and experiences.

 

Anyway to the point, i am considering an alternative to hair loss however i am the type of person who scars very easily and for some odd reason it is always from the waist and UP! i have a small but noticeable scar on my arm, another one on my shoulder from a shot i took when i was just 7 or 8 yrs. old and one that turned into what is known as a keloid on my chest from a stab wound i suffered when i was 17, i actually had that cut out just 2 yrs ago and had to go in for radiation to stop it from coming back, it has helped and looks much better than it was but there is still a noticeable scar there.

 

With that being said would i be crazy even to consider HT knowing that I am prone to these type of scars? I once read somewhere that any patient who is prone to these types of scars should not consider any type of cosmetic surgery. It is obvious to me that I would most likely scar If i am to get an FUT type surgery, but my question is would I be able to get away with a lets say FUE type transplant?

 

I would appreciate any advise on this matter, I have a consultation with Dr. Rassman next week and want to also be able to have all the questions I need answered but not sure if I have read or educated myself in such short time to ask all the right questions.

 

What would you guys say are some key questions I should ask during this consultation?

 

At this point im 31 and starting to quickly thin and lose hair so at the very worst I would maybe go with Prophecia or Rogaine if recommended by Dr. Would this still be better than doing nothing at all if I am definately NOT a candidate for a HT ?

 

Sorry for the long post and all the questions, i just really feel that I need to be a lil more prepared for when I go in for consultation next week. Thank you!

[Dr. Ricardo Mejia]

You can review the reply on scars below which may give you some food for thought. Dr. Rassman will help clarify any issues for you. However, whenever I see patients that have stretch scars (that do not seem to have other plausible reasons for it), it is always a concern to me that there is a possibility of a stretch scar, irregardless of technique. I take into consideration and minimize all the factors to reduce the risk of a stretch scar. In all my consultations and informed consents, there are risks. You can ask all the HT surgeons to post their informed consent and I can guarantee you no one claims you will not have a visible scar. The key is to assure your surgeon takes all the factors into consideration to minimize these risks.

 

 

Perhaps there are patients in your same boat that have had the procedure done that will comment.

 

Scar stretching

[PLEASE GROW PLEASE]

The last thing you want is a thick long keloid scar across your head. Your in a tough situation and maybe there are steroid creams or injections that could be used in conjuction with surgery. You need to pick your surgeon VERY carefully. Dr Bernstein or Shapiro would be a good start.

[PLEASE GROW PLEASE]

I dont know how I missed the Rassman consult .Thats another great start.

You want a top notch surgeon that has seen it all and these 3 have seen it all

[nucklhead]

Thanks so much for all your responses! yes in my case unfortunately specially with upper body wounds I tend to get those stretched scars, In fact when i first got that scar removed on my chest the first time around they tried the injections just after surgery, it was painful and it didnt stop it. I had to get it removed the second time around and the only thing that has worked so far ( and still crossing my fingers that it does not come back ) was Radiation! which depending on what type you get can cause hair to fall, can lead to cancer in the long run and you still end up with a minor scar.

 

I guess i answered my own question there, it is definately not worth the risk for me. I will still go for consultation and see what else I can get other than surgery and worst comes to worst well then I guess I will have to just shave and learn to live with it.

 

Which brings me to one last question that maybe many of you can answer. having a shaved head or being bald is not as bad as it used to, in fact there its been a bit of a trend over the last 10 yrs. or so, so why would someone put themselves through so much anxiety, suffering, depression, pain etc. etc. and spend the ammount of money that you spend when it seems to me that MOST guys out there have a nice shaped head or skull and wouldnt look bad at all being bald ? it kind of makes more sense to me to do that but i dont know. I my case I hate the way i look when im bald, but that is because i have a weird looking shaped head! i look like a conehead and I know this because I have shaved before, That is the only reason i still would like to keep my hair but other than that I would shave it in a second and put all this anxiety aside and the depression that it does cause to watch how your hair slowly falls off day by day and you cant do anything to stop it!

 

anyway, just a thought and something I really wonder about. And one final thing I would like to add is this: I have seen many pictures of all this transplants and in the majority of them I notice the hair just kind of sits there very lightly on top of the head and very natural in most cases but I have not seen any of pictures of someone with hair transplant styling their hair with lets say Gel, hair spray etc. DO any of you guys out there who have had HT style your hair that way? and does it give it the same natural look that a hair without transplant would give you or would doing that make your head appear to have less hair and give you more of a thinning look?

 

Just a couple of questions I have been very curious about and did not want to create a new thread just to ask about this, any response or feedback will be greatly appreciated just like all your other comments! thank yoU!!!

[maxzor]

Nucklhead,

 

having hair on top of your head is certainly not the most important thing. However restoring your hair can certainly give you a boost. There are a lot of hair loss sufferers who are depressed with only looking at their decreasing amount of hair on top of their head.

 

A good hairtransplant certainly can increase your confidence. You are right that a lot of men look good with shaved heads. But you feel like it's always other people looking good and not you...

 

Also sometimes people can be cruel , friends and familiy making joke of you being bald.

Maybe because it is the confidence but since my hair surgery I have the feeling that girls are more interested in me.

 

 

The reason many of the transplant patients don't/can't style their hair in a certain way is that they are lacking density.

A person in the advanced stage of balding can only restore partly of his lost hair, he has to sacrifice density for coverage in order to have a full look. So it is actually the appearance of density and not real density.

By the way there are plenty of examples of patients that can style their hair and have a full look.

[Dr. Ricardo Mejia]

Nucklehead,

It is possible a physician can do a small test area on the scalp, i.e. remove an inch , transplant the few grafts in an inconspicous area and see how you do if you are determined to proceed with a hair transplant. Keep in mind there are many factors that can affect the scar in a full strip revision that are not mimicked in a small test case if you get a good result. However, if you get a stretch scar even with a small incision, you can be almost guaranteed you will get a stretch scar in the full transplant. Additionally, it is also known that some parts of the areas are more prone to stretching such as around joints do to the movement after surgery and the central chest area. Please keep us updated with your progress.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if there are other patients out there in your same boat who have had successful results. Hopefully, they will post there scar results.

[nucklhead]

Thanks to everyone who replied specially you Dr. Mejia, it really does mean alot to get an honest and experience response from someone in the practice such as yourself.

 

Well I had my consultation today, Dr. Rassman and his entire staff were very, very friendly, he also pulled out one of his employees from the back of the office to show me his results. I guess the guy had hair transpland and dr. Rassman himself which I would never be able to tell but then again it was all talk, i wasnt 100% convinced and didnt ask for before, after pictures of themselves which i should have.

 

I am not really in a hurry to make such a tough decision so im sure I will have an opportunity to ask for that down the road, He almost asures me that it is very difficult and he has never seen a keloid scar on top of someone's head, i got the impression that he would much rather do a strip transplant if I decided to go that route instead of the FUE, not really sure why! I know the cost is a big difference but in the end its me the one paying and not him. I would rather do the FUE to minimize ANY chance or posibility of scaring if I ever had a transplant. I am very sure an FUE procedure is much longer and more complicate and I can see why ANY surgeon would much rather avoid that and go the EASY and FASTER route which is doing a big strip procedure but that just really makes me doubt!

 

Anyways i did agree to have a couple of hairs removed from back of my head just to test it out and find out if I would scar in the long run but as Dr. Mejia mentioned that can only tell you so much and will never mirror what a full procedure of hair transplant will be like. But I guess it's a start. I will see how that goes and at least for now I was able to get a prescription of Finasteride. I will see how that works as well as the scaring IF ANY forms which i doubt since there were only 5 hairs removed but in the meantine i will have an entire one year to do some more research, see how the medication works for me, check for any scaring and then save money so that if I decide to get a transplant one day I will have enough to pay for it.

 

There is one final question I would like someone to answer for me, out of the 5 hairs that were removed i heard some of the back office medical staff say that 3 were bad and 2 were good, so I guess i was a negative and not a positive ?

 

What exactly does that mean ?