FUT Scar types and yields

[nsuede]

Hey all. Another quirky FUT scar question. To be clear of my narcissistic purpose of this topic... I like the results, ease of procedure by Doc, survivability of FU's, amount of FU's to be taken, and the cost of FUT. I do not like the scar (smiley face) left by FUT even by the most elite of surgeons....only because I dont know how bald I will be at 50 or 60 and I plan to have the option of buzzing my head in my older years ( again totally narcissistic! ) . This is the only reason I have even considered FUE, due to the different more exceptable scar to me. But I realize the pain in the ass FUE must be for Docs to preform, the cost, and limitations of FUE...but it is still an option on the table for me. By the way I have had no work done yet and this will be my 1st HT.

 

Obviously current HT techniques have evovled and been refined over the past years and continue to do so. There must be a reason the ear to ear strip is used. Again probably due to laxity, variance of FU's, and limited area that the known unknown safe zones are in.

 

SO HERE IS MY narcissistic question. Can a surgeon and will any surgeon preform an FUT HT according to the red line - Not the yellow smiley face line in the pic provided? Will they? can they? And what are the pro's and con's? Besides less yield and probably having to do mulitple HT's more so than normal higher yield HT?

 

By the way - I have a bush on the back and squat in the front

Edited August 29, 2010 by nsuede

[Blake Bloxham]

Nsuede,

 

Technically, as long as the incision you indicated by the red line is within the universal safe extraction zone, then follicles can be removed from that area. However, it's my understanding that the incision site you drew would actually create more scarring in general.

 

Say you are trying to get a certain number of grafts, and you can do so by either taking a shorter, wider strip or a longer, thinner strip. If you took the shorter, wider strip, you would save any potential scarring from the sides of the head, but the closure would involve more tension (because the width of the strip is wider) than compared to a longer strip that is much thinner. Tension is the enemy of the hair transplant scarring process (in my opinion), and you're going to see more tension on closing a short, wide wound when compared to a long, thin wound.

 

Keep in mind that this is simply my understanding (and opinion) and that other members (and some very experienced hair transplant surgeons) may chime in and add some expert input!

[Megatron]

nsuede, I'm not sure exactly what you're asking. if you're asking if a doc can get the same # of grafts from the red line vs the yellow line, then see Future Hair Doc's response above. if you're asking can the scar be smaller and higher then the answer is yes, but you'd have less grafts to impant and risk using hair the is susceptible to MPB in your later years.

 

either way, no it's not a good idea to use the red line. the FUT scar is a bad thing and it limits your future hair style choices. but, if asked would I rather have a good looking head of hair with a scar that no one can see or be bald with no scar, the choice is simple.

Edited August 30, 2010 by Future_HT_Doc

[scar5]

My first scar was along the red line you drew, right side only, and it was too high and stretched badly. Years later, the doc acknowledged the mistake, shrugging it off saying it was "too high". I get your point about the smile and the iconic statement it makes, if you are not in a position to hide it.

[nsuede]

thanks for the info and comments. The lines I drew were an example, not exact placement or width-length etc. The red line could be higher or lower, bigger or smaller. I was basically asking if it was possible to preform one or many smaller red line HT's without any major complications knowing less extracted would be less implanted. I could live with the smaller scar no matter how jacked up it was....... I mean what else would a hawaiian surfing accident scar look like!!!