Luis Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 Hi, I haven't had the procedure yet, but I'm still curious about a couple things. I shave my head for now until I do the procedure. I hear alot of you saying that it takes about a year for the growth of the hair to maximize. Also hear complaining of hair shock. Will the scar be too big for me to continue to shave my head until I see the hair growth kick in? What is the average time each of you have experienced you hair start to grow back? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luis Posted August 25, 2005 Author Share Posted August 25, 2005 Hi, I haven't had the procedure yet, but I'm still curious about a couple things. I shave my head for now until I do the procedure. I hear alot of you saying that it takes about a year for the growth of the hair to maximize. Also hear complaining of hair shock. Will the scar be too big for me to continue to shave my head until I see the hair growth kick in? What is the average time each of you have experienced you hair start to grow back? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member arfy Posted August 25, 2005 Senior Member Share Posted August 25, 2005 After the transplant, it looks like the grafted hair is growing. But usually after a couple of days or weeks, the grafted hair follicles gradually fall out (no problem... the root is the crucial part of a hair transplant, and that part remains in your scalp). You then go into the dormant phase, where it appears nothing is happening, for roughly about 3 months. (10-12 weeks) After the dormant phase ends, the transplanted hairs gradually emerge again, and grow at the regular rate... about a half-inch per month. As far as shaving your head after a transplant, forget it. The scar typically goes from ear to ear, more or less. Unless you are the type of guy who can sport a long scar way out in the open, it's totally unrealistic. For one thing you are going to have sutures or staples holding the gap together wile the scar forms. You will probably want a couple of inches of hair, to cover that up. If you shave your head, then I wonder why you are getting a transplant in the first place? Why not just continue shaving your head? Shaving your head AFTER a strip excision hair transplant (the way most of them are done) is totally unrealistic. Most people will NOT want to shave their heads post transplant, because they need hair to conceal the scar. PLEASE do not get any type of hair transplant surgery, unless you really know everything there is to know. Otherwise it could be a big disappointment, or even a disaster. PS: about post-surgery shock loss. The transplant surgery can cause weak or "at risk" hairs to fall out faster than they would have, if you didn't get surgery. Nobody is sure why this happens, and it doesn't happen in every patient. Depending on the guy, the shocked hair may return eventually (although I think that is probably less common than permanent loss...the hair is gone for good). Basically if you still have a good amount of original hair remaining, then you need to weigh the pros and cons of surgery carefully. The worst case scenario is that you end up with less total hair coverage AFTER surgery. Almost as bad would be a situation where you lost hair from shock loss and ended up with the SAME amount of hair coverage after surgery, except now you have a scar in your donor area and you're out "X" thousand dollars. One way to help prevent shock loss is to make sure you've halted your hair loss before going in for surgery (with Propecia, Minoxidil etc). This is just a good idea in general. But guys who haven't stopped the hair loss from progressing, who go in for surgery while they are in a hair loss "free fall" can get hammered badly, with shock loss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luis Posted August 26, 2005 Author Share Posted August 26, 2005 Thanks for the info Well, I only shave my head since I have very little hair on the top of my head, and by shaving it helps me look my age, but I would much rather have hair instead. As far as the scar, i have a long scar on the side of my head which I received in an accident when I was 20, but the scar healed nicely, and when I shave it is hard to see. I was just curious to know if once it healed if it was that obvious to see until my hair starts to grow and I can grow it all out. I guess I'm just a little nervous and worried about the period between the transplant and when the hair begins to grow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Skywalker Posted August 26, 2005 Regular Member Share Posted August 26, 2005 After a strip HT you should not count on EVER being able to shave your head again. That is just the reality of the situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member bverotti Posted August 28, 2005 Senior Member Share Posted August 28, 2005 I agee with the other poster, forget shaving after a strip surgery. Even surgeon with the best hands, best techniques will have wide or widening scars from time to time because part of the healing process is in the patients nature. My personal advice : Take the FUE route FIRST. If you run out of FUE you can still opt for strip. BV Consultant-co owner Prohairclinic (FUE only) in Belgium, Dr. De Reys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Robert_ Posted August 28, 2005 Senior Member Share Posted August 28, 2005 bverotti, While I won't let this turn into a "FUE vs. Strip" debacle, I do feel the need to chime in and offer a different perspective on your advice to "Take the FUE route FIRST. If you run out of FUE you can still opt for strip." You as well as anyone should know that this approach would not be the wise one to take in many situations, perhaps most. The most glaring reason is numbers: it depends on how much the donor area is depleted from the initial FUE session(s). FUE can greatly deplete the harvestable hair for a future strip excission. To take a large or even mid-size FUE session initially could be setting the patient up for failure for a subsequent strip session. -Robert ------------------------------ Check out the results of my surgical hair restoration performed by Dr. Jerry Cooley by visiting my Hair Loss Weblog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luis Posted August 29, 2005 Author Share Posted August 29, 2005 Sorry, but what is FUE? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member arfy Posted August 30, 2005 Senior Member Share Posted August 30, 2005 FUE is when the tiny individual FU grafts are moved one by one, instead of removing a donor strip and dissecting it into grafts. Don't confuse it with the big plug approach from years ago. The doctors are targeting each "follicular bundle" and try to remove the smallest amount of tissue as possible. They are using tiny tools and it is a slower process compared to a regular transplant Other than the harvesting method it is fairly identical to the process described on the home page herem (look for it: "Best Hair Transplant"). You should learn about "Follicular Units" first, why excess tissue in a graft causes problems, and so on. That is possibly the crucial aspect to getting good results. Extracting grafts on a one by one basis is slower, so it is more expensive. It's also a new procedure, with only a couple of doctors doing it, and it's also controversial among the other doctors who don't do it. If you're interested, there is a lot of reading and research you can do, and then make up your own mind. FUE's advantage is that it is supposed to be less invasive than removing a donor strip of scalp. Some people think that is important, and some other people say they don't care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member truthseeker Posted August 30, 2005 Regular Member Share Posted August 30, 2005 Fue is about double the cost of a strip surgery, but may leave little to no scarring in the donor area. Yet, I have heard that when you shave your head after fue, that you may see tiny white dots all over your donor area. Not sure really. I would want to see live patients of both strip and fue and inspect their scar/donor areas of the doctors you are considering. The question about fue is how much coverage and density that you want. Fue is usually for smaller cases, but it depends on the doctor doing the procedure. do lots of homework about both methods and lots of doctors before making a decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member Robert_ Posted August 30, 2005 Senior Member Share Posted August 30, 2005 Originally posted by Luis:Sorry, but what is FUE? Luis, This page explains what FUE (follicular unit extraction) is and its advantages and disadvantages in relation to strip-method of graft harvesting. -Robert ------------------------------ Check out the results of my surgical hair restoration performed by Dr. Jerry Cooley by visiting my Hair Loss Weblog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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