Correction of old, dark plugs; Dr. Beehner

[Dr. Michael Beehner]

This 36 y/o male first presented to me 13 years ago, having undergone multiple transplants with large plugs, which decimated his donor area and left him very unhappy with his appearance. He was wearing a hairpiece when I first met him. Every 3-4 years he would come in, and we would perform the "Lucas Technique" on his old grafts, coring out some of the hairs within them and then replanting them as FU's and micrografts where needed. He had his most recent procedure in late 2009 and recently returned for me to evaluate the results, at which time these photos were taken. Our goal was to gradually soften his old plugs and at the same time place FU's in the spaces between the old grafts. He has received a total of around 4000 FU's during those procedures, the most recent one having been 565 FU's. His "before" photos are first listed, followed by the recent ones I took.

Mike Beehner, M.D.

[Spanker]

Is he 36 now or when you first met? Does he still use a hair piece? He looks so so better. His first pics are some of the worst I have seen.

[mars]

I see some doctors using the word 'repair' when they just add grafts in one session,this is a true repair imo,great work looks way better!

[hairthere]

Dr. Beehner, Why was the plug redistribution done over years and not in one sitting?

[orlhair1]

Wow......his original work was awful. You have done a nice job for him....looks so much better and natural now. I had the same question as hair there.....why was the decision made to do this over a period of years? At any rate, a really nice end result.

[NEWHAIRPLEASE]

Man that is a big transformation. Why was it done over years? I know when redistributing grafts from old plugs you have to let the area heal before re transplanting in that region, but years seems like a long time!

[Dr. Michael Beehner]

His first two procedures were done only a couple of years apart, and the next couple a few years later, and then the touch-up a couple of years ago. The answer to your question is twofold: the first two procedures effectively removed the pluggy look enough to get rid of the hairpiece, and the second reason was spreading it out for financial reasons. He was 36 when he first came in 1998 and is 48 now. I hope that clears up that point for you.

Mike Beehner, M.D.

[folliclehero]

That's a pretty incredible transformation, I must say.

[NEWHAIRPLEASE]

Thanks for the clarification..

[aaron1234]

Those plugs were awful - it's case where good yield was his worst enemy at the time. The guy looks a lot better now.

[RCWest]

That's a textbook example of when they say dolls hair! How in the world could the hair transplant industry have ever settled on that method in the past?

 

Repair cases interest me very much and you did a stellar job Dr. Beehner. It is completely natural looking now.

[NEWHAIRPLEASE]

This 36 y/o male first presented to me 13 years ago, having undergone multiple transplants with large plugs, which decimated his donor area and left him very unhappy with his appearance. He was wearing a hairpiece when I first met him. Every 3-4 years he would come in, and we would perform the "Lucas Technique" on his old grafts, coring out some of the hairs within them and then replanting them as FU's and micrografts where needed. He had his most recent procedure in late 2009 and recently returned for me to evaluate the results, at which time these photos were taken. Our goal was to gradually soften his old plugs and at the same time place FU's in the spaces between the old grafts. He has received a total of around 4000 FU's during those procedures, the most recent one having been 565 FU's. His "before" photos are first listed, followed by the recent ones I took.

Mike Beehner, M.D.

 

Dr Beehner

Did you actually excise all of the old plugs, or is there some camouflaging of existing plugs going on?

[Dr. Michael Beehner]

I really don't know the percentage of hairs that are present today that are in the exact same location they were when he first presented to me. I would guess somewhere between 40-50% are still intact where they started in the large plugs. The "Lucas technique" uses a 2.0mm or 2.25mm diameter electric punch and cores down through the firmed-up large graft. This firmness is created by "tumescing" the tissues around the graft with saline solution which is injected prior to doing this.

The way I approach this is that, at the first repair session, I remove several hairs from the large grafts near the periphery (front, back, and sides) which appear most "tree-trunk-like" and then a year later at a second surgery, I again look through the patient's hair from the four views and then again will core out with this punch a portion of those grafts that appear this way.

 

Mike Beehner, M.D.