Shaving head after fue

[httime]

Hi, I'm considering have transplants by the fue method. This is appealing to me as I currently buzz my head (not totally bald), would like to gradually add my hair back, and would like to keep the option of potentially buzzing my hair down the road if I don't ultimately like the results. I am wondering 2 things. #1, how soon after the initial surgery is it safe to buzz my head again, and what is the average time to having a buzzed head with no evidence of prior surgery (i.e. scabs, erythema etc..)?

[httime]

Hi, I'm considering have transplants by the fue method. This is appealing to me as I currently buzz my head (not totally bald), would like to gradually add my hair back, and would like to keep the option of potentially buzzing my hair down the road if I don't ultimately like the results. I am wondering 2 things. #1, how soon after the initial surgery is it safe to buzz my head again, and what is the average time to having a buzzed head with no evidence of prior surgery (i.e. scabs, erythema etc..)?

[Pumpkin]

hi,

 

this is my very first post on this forum, but i have been reading everything i can about hair transplants for about 3 years. i am 25 years old, and the hair loss i have today is almost the same as it was when i was 20. i was told via phone consultation that i am a norwood 3, but i'm not sure that i agree. i've lost hair in my temples, not a lot, but enough to make the angles appear a bit sharp. if i had to compare my hairline to a public person, i would say my hairline resembles ben stiller's, though we have dramatically different hair characteristics (i have light brown, medium shaft thickness). naturally, i don't need a big ht surgery because i only want my temples restored (i was told 800 fu's would be sufficient) so i thought that fue was the best option. i've read everything i can about the procedure, and because of the higher cost, i wanted to be sure i would get a transplant that was the best possible. lately, i have become a little hesitant about moving forward with fue because of some of the things i have read - and some of the things i haven't.

 

theoretically, fue is supposed to leave an imperceptible mark in the donor area because the small punch contracts when it heals. i just believed this because it seemed logical and i had no reason to doubt many good doctors. recently, i met someone with an fue transplant of more than a year ago, and he told me that with his head shaved, he has many visible white, small hairless patches of skin. he provided a resource to confirm this by looking at dr. bernstein & rassman's site. i would encourage you to look into that and determine for yourself if shaving your head will be an option if you don't like your fue transplant.

 

i have a couple other reservations about the procedure. the graft survival rate was a concern for me, and after reading more thouroughly about graft harvesting i had reason to be. the subaceous fat around the hair when harvesting is difficult to have any control over, which can seriously affect the grafts survival. a small, but necessary amount of fat around the follicle is really important to ensure it grows and grows in the direction in which it was implanted.

 

*i'm not an expert on hair transplants, and i have never had a hair transplant. my post is just my opinion and observation*

[gillenator]

The desire to wear a short buzz cut is one of the primary reasons why someone would prefer these isolated extraction techniques. Younger patients who do not have a known family history may find this technology helpful in case they realize much more dramatic levels of hairloss as they get older. They may opt out for the buzz cut later in life and not want any detection of a linear scar.

 

Now obviously there is some level of scarring in either method of harvest strip or FUE, but in general FUE/FIT/FUSE leaves less "visible" scarring when done by a talented surgeon. Yes there are cases where the "moth-eaten" or "white dot" appearance is more evident on some patients and not as pronounced as others. How a patient heals can have a bearing on the outcome and there are those types of differences between patients. And the more extractions that are made (larger sessions), the more potential to notice the white dots or spaces where the FUs were taken.

 

I've had many opportubities and still see patients who had basically the same amount of extractions taken from their donor areas, yet one patient may look more depleted than others and/or the visible dots so-to-speak. My perceptions are those differences relate to the size of punch used 1mm and .75mm, how close the extractions were made to each other, how well the patient healed, and even dark coarse hair with a very fair complexion, compared to blonde hair with a very fair complexion which can make the spots or missing FUs less noticable.

 

I've also noticed several patients who had the redness of scalp complexion in the donor area that seemed to linger on for awhile. This redness obviously can happen with strip excisions as well and not uncommon to take as long as a year or so to lighten up. The few patients who displayed these areas of lingering redness were very fair-skinned which was/is something I noticed. Obviously there are exceptions.

 

There are some very fine, barely detectable scars from strip excision and have seen some who buzzed their head and could barely see the scar up close.

 

So FUE/FIT/FUSE may also be great for the patient who desires a small session like mildly touching up the temporal lobe areas and hairlines. But since genetic hairloss is progressive in its nature, most patients will undoubtedly lose more hair and want more work done. Then what, more FUE? Will that not deplete the donor areas further and could it at some point leave a more depleted or moth-eaten look compared to a fine linear scar and wearing one's hair a little bit longer to hide it?

 

And I agree that there are very limited data published on transection and yield. It is not as complicated to monitor as some have suggested on other threads.

[nile]

Check out the truth about white dots post fue.

Also how donor sealing can prevent it.

donor area post fue

[Mahair]

Also remember that the hair in front is not the same guage thickness as your existing hair it will be thicker and even with fue once you start regardless of technique you are committed.just so you know the transplants will not look like your existing hair in the front and wont be as close together either.