should i get a fue/fut with dr rahal?

[alex02]

hi guys i was just wondering if i could get some advice:

 

i am currently i think nw5 or maybe early nw6, not really sure, but i am thinking of a hair transplant with dr rahal. since i am in a more advanced stage of hair loss, he has recommended 4000 grafts.

 

im still undecided whether to go with fue or fut. if i do fue, it would have to be in two separate sessions of 2000 grafts.

 

here are the pros and cons i can think of:

 

fut pros:

better graft yield

cheaper

only would need to do one session

dr rahal more experienced doing fut

 

fue pros:

not as noticeable a scar, so i can buzz my hair which i like doing

less painful

healing time quicker, so less issues with returning to work and having people notice (im planning on taking 3 weeks off though, but i guess if the healing time is quicker maybe i could even take a vacation after 10-14 days?)

 

the other thing is i might be getting married next december and it would be nice to have more hair for the wedding, so if i do fue, i dont know how long i would have to wait for my second session. they do say it takes a year for the hair to grow

 

any thoughts or suggestions? thanks!

[orlhair1]

I think you pretty much have the pros and cons. Dr. Rahal can speak to you about it as well. In the hands of a skilled surgeon like Dr. Rahal and others, the vast majority of time, the scar from FUT will be difficult to find once it heals, unless you like to buzz your hair really short. At two months post surgery, mine was hard to find. Even at five weeks it was barely noticeable. At the end of the day, you just have to weigh it out and decide for yourself what you would like to do. I considered both and went with FUT. My two cents worth is that if you need 4,000 grafts you should go with FUT.

[scar5]

if you need 4,000 grafts you should go with FUT.

 

I don't think this should be a consideration.

If you need 4000 grafts, you need 4000 grafts.

Doing three small sessions to achieve 4000 grafts via FUE sounds good if you are prepared to wait, but...

 

You will get 4000 grafts growing quickly with strip and you will feel better sooner if you let your hair grow out and give up the idea of buzzing your hair. You may find a new joy in growing out your new HT locks and if medications hold you may never look back.

 

But with strip you must maintain your tolerance for maintaining a haircut that supports the illusion of volume alongside or even when/if hair loss progresses. Say, if your crown starts to thin in five to ten years, you may want to buzz. But a 4 guard to cover the strip scar will still look like a horse shoe. So that's something to think about.

 

The yield is a legitimate question, but more an issue on the supply side. The Doc should steer you in the direction of strip, all things being equal, and then you are in a corner unless you go to an FUE only surgeon.

 

But the whole deal about FUE for small, FUT for big is bogus technically from your side - the patients' side. It is a reality though in respect to docs and clinics. Docs don't wanna do big FUE. Fair enough. So you can do small FUE.

 

So it's back to yield. Get the doc to convince your most skeptical side why his/her FUE will grow well, and are halfway to a scarless future with hair. Albeit, slowly and more expensively.

[aaron1234]

You can't beat a 4K strip procedure with Dr. Rahal. It's your best bet!

 

You'd be surprised how thin a scar from an elite surgeon can be.

[orlhair1]

In my opinion, the amount of grafts is important in deciding between FUE and FUT because of the fact that taking 4000 grafts out by FUE thins your overall donor area if you need future surgery. Your best bet is to talk to Dr. Rahal about it and take his advice (or talk to several surgeons if you want to, but if you have settled on Dr. Rahal, you have settled on an excellent surgeon). ....after all, the surgeons are the ones that are the experts. People on here, including me, can just give you their opinion.

[Levrais]

Alex,

In my case I went for the fue in 2 ops and did just over 4000 grafts. It's a personal choice that you have to make. For me, I love being able to buz my hair on the back and sides. You will probably get more people saying to go with a strip though. Carefully consider what the Doc tells you he can accomplish with each method and see which best matches your goals. Rahal is one of very few docs who is exceptional at both methods.

[NEWHAIRPLEASE]

For the record, I'm having 4k with doctor Rahal in January(fut). I'm hoping I can get close to 4500-5000 grafts though! Lots of scalp exercises!

[hairthere]

Sorry, I am not sold on any clinic performing fue megasessions and I'm a bit surprised when I hear doctors attempting them. Fue is still a relatively new procedure for Dr. Rahal, too. Sorry, but look at all the failed Armani megasession fue cases... donor grafts are finite; I would not risk that many of them.

[mattj]

Sorry, I am not sold on any clinic performing fue megasessions and I'm a bit surprised when I hear doctors attempting them. Fue is still a relatively new procedure for Dr. Rahal, too. Sorry, but look at all the failed Armani megasession fue cases... donor grafts are finite; I would not risk that many of them.

 

I understand completely why you would say this. What sets the larger FUE sessions apart from the more common, smaller procedures is basically the length of time that the doctor is spending performing the systematic task of extracting the grafts. I believe (and correct me if I'm wrong) that the main worry with the larger sessions would be that the doctor will start experiencing fatigue which may compromise his/her ability to maintain the necessary amount of care - with the result being damaged grafts and poor yield.

 

Dr Rahal has set the maximum number of grafts he will transplant with FUE at 2500 per day. This is an amount that he has found he is comfortable with with no decline in concentration or dexterity. He's aware of problems other clinics have had with FUE and, believe me, would not want to follow that same path.

Dr Rahal's interests and the interests of his patients are intrinsically linked, and to exceed his capabilities would be to damage both. This is not a risk he would take.

[Sparky]

2500?, are you sure you meant to type that?

[hairthere]

matt, Firstly, I think Dr. Rahal is an amazing surgeon and one of the best in the world. Had I not gone to Dr. Feller I would have traveled to Dr. Rahal. And I respect and believe the fact that Dr, Rahal is a surgeon who knows his limits and truly cares for his patients. However, I think there are issues with fue surgery that not even the most competent surgeon can control.

 

Firstly, as you mentioned, there is a fatigue factor involved. I have seen fue surgery performed, and I have had it performed, so I know how different a procedure it is from strip. Extracting a fue graft is an entirely different animal, and takes total precision and care. The mechanics and skill level involved with removing those grafts is quite astounding. I think this type of skill comes with years and years of practice. (How long has Dr. Rahal been performing fue on a consistent basis--especially fue megasessions?)

 

This is just my opinion, and I understand that certain patients do not want a strip scar. But 4000 grafts is quite a bit to risk.

[aaron1234]

Dude, if you need 4K grafts then why go FUE?

 

And dude, if you are going to Rahal then why the heck not get a strip procedure done? His scars are pencil thin and his results with strip are consistently great! I'd go with the sure thing. For every FUE procedure I've seen by Rahal I've seen about 2,000 good strip results. Don't let the scar thing freak you out.

[orlhair1]

I agree...

[HARIRI]

With Dr. Rahal, FUT and FUE yields almost the same based on what i have observed. However, with NW5 strip will serve you better. However If I were in your shoes and have a virgin scalp I would go FUE. Scar is pain in the ass, not only invasive but you wont be able to cut your hair short always plus you will lose senses in part of your scalp. I would never do FUT ever if I knew about something called FUE from the start. FUE can yield great if it was performed by a good doctor cause this type procedure is more into individual doctor's talent.

 

Go FUE if you have sufficient budget. You wont regret it and save your scalp and skin. But in condition that you have patience and have them in two sessions. FUE mega session isnt recommended. Do 2000 grafts and other 2000 later.

Edited August 30, 2011 by HARIRI

[Sparky]

With Dr. Rahal, FUT and FUE yields almost the same based on what i have observed. However, with NW5 strip will serve you better. However If I were in your shoes and have a virgin scalp I would go FUE. Scar is pain in the ass, not only invasive but you wont be able to cut your hair short always plus you will lose senses in part of your scalp. I would never do FUT ever if I knew about something called FUE from the start. FUE can yield great if it was performed by a good doctor cause this type procedure is more into individual doctor's talent.

 

Go FUE if you have sufficient budget. You wont regret it and save your scalp and skin. But in condition that you have patience and have them in two sessions. FUE mega session isnt recommended. Do 2000 grafts and other 2000 later.

 

 

Totally agree

[jessie1]

Just when I think I am close to arriving at a decision regarding next HT and then a thread like this crops up....... which is all good of course because the right choice needs to be made.

 

I would definitely consider Dr Rahal for FUE, having researched his cases. But I detect that a few guys posting on this thread have some reservations about his ability to perform FUE. Personally I am yet to come across any less than satisfied FUE patients ....(?)

 

From a cost perspective, there is very little published about what he charges for FUE and FUT. I understand that every case is different, however it would be great to have a ball park figure per graft. Anybody know???

 

Jessie

[HARIRI]

According to my basic informations.. The flat rate without any discounts or deals is $4 per graft if FUT and $8 per graft for FUE plus Canadian tax which is 13%. Hope it helps.

 

I suggest you go to search option above and type Rahal FUE in both categories (results posted by clinics and results posted by patients and see the wonders)...

 

I trust Dr. Rahal in FUE as I heard he was trained by Dr. Feller (The best FUE surgeon in USA). Im not sure about that but thats what I heard. Also I saw popularity of FUE option when I did my strip repair procedure. I have seen 3 patients doing FUE in the same week I was there. One was 2700 grafts and the other 2200 grafts as I recall.

[jessie1]

Hariri,

 

Spot on thanks.

 

Rahal and R Shapiro are unquestionably among my top two or three if I was to make the long journey again.

 

Jess

[aaron1234]

Really it just boils down to whether you can handle a scar or not. If you are willing to risk less grafts, less yield, and a thinned out donor region to avoid a thin lined scar that is entirely your own call. To each his own.

[hairthere]

"I trust Dr. Rahal in FUE as I heard he was trained by Dr. Feller (The best FUE surgeon in USA)"

 

Hariri, I think you are correct in that Dr. Rahal learned fue from Dr. Feller and uses his tools/technique. And yes, Dr. Feller is clearly one of the top FUE surgeons and a pioneer of it. Here's the rub though: Dr. Feller does not, and will not perform fue megasessions, and I have already discussed the reasons why. Dr. Rahal is clearly a top HT doctor, but I don't think he has been performing fue surgeries for even a year (perhaps MattJ can address this). This would not be such a big issue if we were talking about smaller sessions, but again, 4k is a lot of grafts to risk.

 

Regarding the strip versus fue scar: I have two strip scars and fue scarring. I buzz my hair down to a number 3 and the strips are not visible. I cannot however buzz down any further than that. I will say that the recovery time of fue versus strip was way easier (although my fue was a much smaller session). In a perfect world I agree, to not have the strip scars would be nice.

Edited August 31, 2011 by hairthere

[aaron1234]

And we all know what happened to the last "great" strip doc to start doing FUE megasessions. A slippery slope in my opinion.

[hairthere]

aaron, yep. Although that other doc and his operation seemed pretty slippery even before he made the switch... Dr. Rahal is an amazing surgeon, and having spoken to him on the phone he seems like a really good person, too.

[Levrais]

According to my basic informations.. The flat rate without any discounts or deals is $4 per graft if FUT and $8 per graft for FUE plus Canadian tax which is 13%. Hope it helps.

ll.

 

I'm not sure if it's still true but I used to go to Canada years ago and if you weren't Canadian you could get the tax refunded by submitting your receipts when crossing the boarder.

[HARIRI]

Thanks Levaris, I just knew that, Its true... Check this out...

 

Canadian Visitor Tax Refund

[Levrais]

It doesn't look like a medical procedure would included??