FUE into two scars

[GWN86]

I recently had an FUE procedure done by Dr. Lindsey into 2 scars on my head. The scar on the back of my head was a result from a small strip procedure to repair the frontal scar. Dr. Lindsey and his staff were excellent and I am hoping for good growth in the months to come.

[Dr. William Lindsey]

Thanks for putting your pictures up. As you and I talked, a couple of things made your case interesting. First was all the trouble you went through elsewhere in order to get a very small number of grafts to improve your front scar. Second was the donor size and location done elsewhere, which I believe was way too low and almost entirely responsible for the spreading despite having a surgeon revise it. And third, putting FUE's into that scar, in the back (the front was easy) and your need to really watch how you let your head touch things (like pillows, car seat rests...) until the grafts are secure.

 

The scars had good blood supply so I would expect you to get a nice result down the road. Please send me pictures periodically and call or email if you have questions.

 

Thanks for coming to see me.

 

Your final breakdown was 257 singles, 227 doubles/triples.

 

Thanks

 

Dr. Lindsey McLean VA

[aaron1234]

Looks good. Very interested in how this case turn's out. There's been some skepticism on this board about the effectiveness of FUE into a donor scar. Thanks for posting!

[corvettester]

I think a lot of the skepticism regarding the efficacy of FUE into donor scars is simply due to the dearth of examples and case studies we have available to us. These aren't the things that docs typically focus on in their B&A's.

 

In fact, this is probably the first FUE into a donor scar that I've seen on the HTN in two or three months...

 

Good luck GWN86. I hope it works out well for you.

 

 

Corvettester

[aaron1234]

I think a lot of the skepticism regarding the efficacy of FUE into donor scars is simply due to the dearth of examples and case studies we have available to us. These aren't the things that docs typically focus on in their B&A's.

 

You're right on that one. It's not an every day picture thread that is for sure. Very little glory if it goes right and a lot of blame if it goes wrong.

[Dr. William Lindsey]

Excellent points.

 

As I've posted a bunch of times before, I'm very comfortable excising scars and trying to improve them that way FIRST, and using FUE or even a separate strip to get hair to plant as a refinement of a scar revision.

 

Now a couple of specifics. This fellow has already tried that, and I think it didn't really work well due to the really low position of the strip. Its way down on the neck and it stretches with even mild neck motion. Plus from talking with the patient I'm not sure deep layer sutures were placed during his scar repair...but that may not have changed anything given the location of the scar as I mentioned above.

 

So I think this was his really only viable option, and I make it clear that there is no gurantee with planting grafts in scar. But this was a nice soft scar with good vascularity. I think it will work and he'll get 50% improvement, IF the grafts don't get dislodged before "taking root" over the first week.

 

Next, some people don't want a second excision. I just FUE'd a bad browlift scar in a young lady. I'm cropping the pictures and will post it next week or right after labor day. I told her that I would be glad to excise that scar first, but she did not want to go through that ordeal, so we FUE'd it. I expect her to get a nice result and don't disagree with her choice to avoid another larger surgery, given her poor scar and significant mental anguish after her browlift by a local plastic surgeon.

 

Finally, sometimes scar excision doesn't work...I had a fellow that I excised a horrible scar on early this year, who never showed up for any followup...which is critical if you are trying to improve a scar in someone whose already documented bad scarring. He walked in last week and I'd guess we got 30% improvement...and quite honestly I was perturbed he didn't show for the one month scar check(or more checks) since he lives 10 minutes away....but I was honest with him that he may not have had improvement even if he had come in for checkups...but he burned that opportunity. I told him that if he wants anything else, I would only offer FUE into the scar because I could not tell if he'd either be compliant with followup OR if he'd get improvement even if we re-excised the scar.

 

So to summarize, I expect this young man to get a pretty nice result, in about a year. Hopefully he'll keep us all posted with pictures.

 

Dr. Lindsey McLean VA

[Dr. William Lindsey]

As I indicated above, I recently FUE'd a browlift scar. I posted the case and early postop pics and as she lives in our area, I expect to put up pics in a few months.

 

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/162681-fue-repair-female-browlift-scar-dr-lindsey-mclean-va.html

 

Also, an FUE into facelift scar female we worked with in May, and who has posted her case somewhere on this forum, sent me pics last week showing 1 side already growing, and the second side starting...both kind of early but promising. I asked her to put up those pics for everyones's review.

 

Thanks

 

Dr. Lindsey McLean VA