Fue and Skin cancer

[Lex]

I have some concerns I want to raise here and hope there is some knowledgeable people who can help me get some answers.

 

I was butched by a so called ''top doc" with a very good reputation. I had 3000 grafts by him a year ago and it left me with terrible fue dots and overall a very unnatural look. Since I will not let this particular doctor touch me again I need some advice. Before I had the HT I clearly stated to the doc both verbal and by email that I wanted to have the possibility to wet-shave in the future, he said that it would not be a problem since the fue scars would hardly be noticed.

 

Now since I had been doing allot of research before I finally decided to go for the HT I knew that there was a possibility for visible white dots, specially when you go for a bigger session like me. What chocked me was afterwards when I first had to melt the disappointment of the outcome and then reading something that would make me almost lose it.

 

As I recently was planning for the summer I shaved all of and it looked bad as expected. My head is full of white dots and the skin surface of the donor site have the golf ball appearance.

 

2. I have read about skin-transplantation for persons who have Vitiligo, is this possible for the fue dots? Transplanting small pieces of skin with full pigment to the scarred dots?

 

3. Fraxel for fue scarring, could this be an option? Could it actually recreate new skin with new pigment or how does it work?

 

Many thanks for all help provided.

 

Edit

( removed wrong information regarding skin cancer, I had misunderstood something I read.. )

Edited June 17, 2011 by Lex

[hairthere]

Never heard of fue scarring increasing your odds for skin cancer. If that's the case, the same goes for any type of scar. If you shave your head even without scars and you have been overexposed to the sun and have burned you run the risk of cancer.

 

So, with or without the fue you should protect yourself from the sun...put on some good sun block and have fun.

[ziggy00]

Can you call the doctor that performed the surgery? I know you don't want to let him near your hair (and rightfully so) but maybe he can clear this up? I've never heard of this, so I'd say talking to a professional is your best bet.

[Lex]

Except for the cancer issue, has anybody had success with covering the white dots in some way?

 

Fraxel,skintransplant, anything?

[RCWest]

Why do you want to shave your head after getting a hair transplant? Isn't that counterproductive?

[scar5]

This sounds dodgy.

 

Top Doc said shaving is no problem? Top Docs don't talk like that, they know better. My Fue scars, btw don't cause me a problem at all, but I may be lucky. No FUE doc has ever guaranteed it.

 

You say the results are poor, how did you assess this if its just 12 months and you have already shaven your head?

 

3000 is a pretty decent sized FUE, so do you mind telling us what kind of instuments were used.

1) a hand/manual punch?

2) An electric rotary punch?

3) needles or other instruments?

4) Were you told the size of the outside diameter of the punch. All 'top docs' should tell you that because they all know that punch size has a bearing on scarring

 

As for dots. Now I base this purely on pics, but it seems that it might be much easier to hide pixilated FUE dots with micropigmentation than a strip scar. pigmentation is a risk though and you would want to do MUCH more research than you did with this FUE 'top doc' you speak of.

[moses0324]

I have also heard that scars increase the chances of cancer. Not sure if there is any truth to this.

[Lex]

Why do you want to shave your head after getting a hair transplant? Isn't that counterproductive?

 

Well if you red my first post you will understand that the HT looks bad so either go with a unnatural look or shave..

 

Top Doc said shaving is no problem? Top Docs don't talk like that, they know better.

 

Really? Well I am the living proof that at least one talk exactly like that, I also have it on email. But I am not here to discuss what the doctor told me, rather to find a solution.

 

You say the results are poor, how did you assess this if its just 12 months and you have already shaven your head?

 

I just recently shaved it off after waiting for about 12 month.

 

3000 is a pretty decent sized FUE, so do you mind telling us what kind of instuments were used.

 

Since I eventually will open a juridical case against this doctor and his clinic, I am not sure how much info about them I should provide at this moment. But regarding you question I think most were standard instruments since as I said he is one of the "top docs".

 

I hope anybody could help with some tips regarding covering the dots. Can anybody answer the questions about Fraxel and skintransplantation in my first post?

 

Thank you

[mattj]

I doubt if the white dot scars are any more susceptible to skin cancer than fair skin is in general. Obviously people with very skin are at greater risk, but they don't need to avoid all sun exposure. It seems unlikely that your small scars would present an increased risk, but can you show us where you read that?

 

Skin grafting for vitiligo is quite an extreme solution, and will lead to scarring at both the skin donor area and the site to which the grafting is applied. It's used for small areas of skin affected by vitiligo, but those areas are still much larger than a FUE extraction. It would be incredibly time consuming to prepare 3000 tiny pieces of skin and then fix them to the scars. I would doubt that the result would be an improvement. Each little graft would be so small that they could basically be consumed by scar tissue during healing.

 

I've heard of lasers using UVB light being used to repigment skin. That's something you should research for yourself.

 

As others have said, micropigmentation is possibly your best bet. Basically tiny dot tattoos mimicking stubble. The presence of this darker point within each white scar can essentially eliminate the appearance of varying skin pigmentation.