Looking to set the date this week

[HaveAFUE]

I'm only a couple months out as my procedure was in Octobwr. I had a strip at 3500 grafts. This week I noticed new hairs coming in and the scar seems to be healing very well.

[FUEsday]

Good for you. The hard part is over. Hopefully you can update us with some pictures at some point. Happy growing!

[NEWHAIRPLEASE]

^LOL. I thought I was the only one. Seems like some doctors have not caught up with the times. No one responds if you need advice but everyone argues if you say something that isn't perfectly representing a doctor. Unfortunately not everyone can be number one.

 

Fuesday

Really??? You say some doctors haven't caught up with the times. Why don't you call Feller, Shipiro, Hasson and Wong, Konior, etc... And tell them the are behind the times of the " gold standard"

I went to Rahal, as you well know, however if he would have used staples I still would have gone.

IT'S NOT right for you to say you saw ONE patient of Feller or Wong whose scar looked terrible. These guys have done thousands of surgeries. Look at 500 patients and then decide if they are shortcutting or behind the times

[FUEsday]

New hair please you are not fooling anyone on here. You are either paid or have way too much time on your hands. Let me post the experience I had for others in peace.

[Shampoo]

Let me first say I am not working for or with any clinic and never have and never will. I am just the average typical interested patient. No agenda, no money to be made.

 

Guys as with anything you must take the good with the bad. This site has been very educational to me. I am not sure I would have had my recent mega-session without the education from this site, education from other posters, and education from doctor's reps that all frequesnt this site. And dont always assume the worst about the doctor's reps. I have personally got private messages from two different doctors reps after I chose another doctor telling me good luck and to keep them updated on my progress. Post-op they PM'd to see how I was doing. One of the doctor's reps even offered to remove my staples after I went to a different doctor. There are some very good people on this site, and I think you guys are jumping to way too many conclusions about most people's motivations.

 

I see some sound advice to FUEsday in this thread. FUEsday is asking for opinions and he is getting some....don't complain when people respond with their thoughts when that's what you asked for. People have strong opinions about sports, politics, and yes hair transplants...no surprise about that is there? So why not take it all in...the good...the bad....and the form your own opinions?

[NEWHAIRPLEASE]

New hair please you are not fooling anyone on here. You are either paid or have way too much time on your hands. Let me post the experience I had for others in peace.

 

I've been around way longer than you bud! I started out trying to help you and now you've just gone silly. Believe me, I'm not paid. There are several people on here who can speak to the validity of that! As far as having too much time on my hands, I haven't been on this site regularly for 6 months, however when I saw you had a failed surgery with Rahal I took interest. Also, I , like others tried to steer you away from Armani! However, since you got it all figured out, I'll quit giving my advice. Just trying to help you like I have hundreds on here. There were people who helped me and I try and return the favor.

[FUEsday]

I get that new hair please says staples are just as good as sutures. Agree to disagree and move on, who cares. Through my journey so far I have had a lot of experiences that may be beneficial to others. I thought this is what the forums were, to share experiences. Not to attack someone that has an option. I get that he likes staples but went to Rahal and got sutures. Maybe he can request the staples next time he goes if he needs another procedure.

[FUEsday]

New hair please you attacked me for expressing my opinion. I appreciated your advice at first but then you started being rude. I am here for advice not to argue or to play elementary games and say things like, wow your opinion is dumb!, without explaining your reasoning.

[NEWHAIRPLEASE]

I get that new hair please says staples are just as good as sutures. Agree to disagree and move on, who cares. Through my journey so far I have had a lot of experiences that may be beneficial to others. I thought this is what the forums were, to share experiences. Not to attack someone that has an option. I get that he likes staples but went to Rahal and got sutures. Maybe he can request the staples next time he goes if he needs another procedure.

 

 

I never attacked you. YOU said doctors who were using staples were outdated. I said that was a joke. If you are gonna quote me quote me right. Also, who in the hell would be paying me. That's funny.

[Janna]

Jenna, I abbreviated, I meant tricho- closure.

 

That's what I thought but didn't want to assume since you can do the tricho closure when staples or sutures are used. Once the strip is harvested, the wound needs to be closed (obviously). 1mm by 1mm of the lower or upper lip of the tissue is snipped off so that when the top and bottom lip come together with sutures or staples, hairs can grow through the scar.

[FUEsday]

Okay, so since I prefer sutures and have seen better results with them than staples in my own experience, you are happy that my FUE procedure did not work out, for Dr. Rahals sake, because that makes me a difficult customer. Got it.

[NEWHAIRPLEASE]

Okay, so since I prefer sutures and have seen better results with them than staples in my own experience, you are happy that my FUE procedure did not work out, for Dr. Rahals sake, because that makes me a difficult customer. Got it.

 

 

Yea, that's it. Since as soon as it happened I tried to help you. It was only when you made the comments about staples not being good or outdated I spoke up.

Why don't we just start over, who are you considering for future FUE or FUT? Any chance you go back to Rahal for FUT?

[Shampoo]

I thought this is what the forums were, to share experiences. Not to attack someone that has an option.

 

FUEsday...I think you may underestimate how other's may take offense to statements like:

 

sutures are superior in every way.

 

When you throw around absolutes...it sometimes can cause friction.

 

It doesn't really with me, but it may have 10-15 years ago when I was younger and more fiesty...lol.

 

Basically when you make a statement like "sutures are superior in every way" you are basically calling some of the most respected surgeons in the world "misguided", "dumb", "not up with the times", "lazy", "not skilled or artistic enough".

 

So you see that can piss some people off.

 

Janna works at one of the most respected hair restoration clinics in the world, Shapiro Medical Group, explained politely to you how the two Shapiro surgeons view this issue. Why not just say "I prefer sutures for me", but don't try and say staples are inferior for everyone....because really you are not a doctor and you can't be completely sure what's best for every patient....each with their own tensions, scalp laxity, and specific issues.

 

Personally I feel very comfortable if you for example feel all those things listed above about Dr. Jerry Wong who uses staples and performed my recent mega-session. I have the utmost respect for Dr. Wong, have seen countless outstanding results he has produced, have seen my own "scar" closed with staples turn out wonderful, have seen the awards and recognitions he has achieved....so like I stated in my earlier post....I take the good with the bad....I obviously dont agree with you and trust my world respected surgeon....but I'm ok with you having your own opinion....but dont be surprised when you throw out absolutes to get some return fire flak.....not just in here....but in life in general.

 

Lets keep talking......

[orlhair1]

It is one thing to have a preference for sutures or staples, but to say that staples are outdated or inferior is simply an uneducated statement that is not true. I am not trying to attack anyone here, but if you do thorough research, many of the top surgeons who produce some of the best FUT scar results in the world use staples to get those results.

[FUEsday]

Okay point taken, but it is not an uneducated opinion. I will give you a little background. I am a doctor of pharmacy, and have had a professional rotation in neurosurgery for 6 weeks. I also have a bachelors degree specializing in biology and minor in psychology. I am not just expressing opinions that are hot air.

[FUEsday]

And new hair, yes, I would consider Dr. Rahal for a FUT. He is booked for a while though. My uncle went to Dr. Beehner for 2 procedure and was a Norwood 5, now looks like fabbio. That is why I am leaning towards him. I like that he uses smaller sessions as well. Would be good to see what type of results I can expect for the next session instead of getting a mega session and turning out to be someone that doesn't get good growth and have a scar from ear to ear.

[Shampoo]

Okay point taken, but it is not an uneducated opinion. I am a doctor of pharmacy, and have had a professional rotation in neurosurgery for 6 weeks. I also have a bachelors degree specializing in biology and minor in psychology. I am not just expressing opinions that are hot air.

 

Cool....so you are a well educated, smart guy and are doing some serious investigation about hair transplants. I hope some of the doctors and reps will chime in and discuss the specific reasons why they use staples over sutures like Janna has done. I think it needs to be addressed since you have opened this discussion. I am curious and interested as to what frequent doctor posters like Dr. Lindsey, Dr. Charles, ect....might add to this discussion. Personally I would not choose one doctor over another just on suture vs. staple....and I am not saying you would either....because there are so many factors to consider when choosing a surgeon....stuff like the volume and history of producing over-all great results, great patient feedback, peer respect, cutting edge clean surgery center, the depth of skilled technicians with the ability to pull off large long tedious sessions on a routine basis, full time hair transplant dedicated clinic...ect

[HaveAFUE]

Jenna I have a FUE questions (lol) and comments. How would you use a tricho closure with stitches? To my understanding tricho closure is one continuous stitch throughout the linear incision followed by more stitches spaced closer together throughout? How could you do this with staples? When I got my stitches removed by my GP they said the method used to stitch me up and was very intricate and a skilled practice; I believe this because it almost took her a good 45 minutes to remove them all. I was also wondering, in your honest opinion, which method provides better healing and less scaring; staples or stitches?

[Shampoo]

this is not really about suturesVSstaples

but since we are discussing tricho...

thought you guys might enjoy this earlier thread:

 

http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/138982-tricho-closures-effect-donor.html

[FUEsday]

Shampoo, looking at your procedure dates I see that you had a small procedure a while back and then a mega session recently. Did the first procedure have a big impact on the available donor left? The two procedures I am considering right now are FUE 1400 grafts and FUT 1500-2000 grafts. I am wondering, if either were to not work out, and I decided to go mega session in the future, which procedure would have depleted more donor hair, or would they be similar? Would one particular procedure have more consequences for having a subsequent procedure?

[Janna]

Jenna I have a FUE questions (lol) and comments. How would you use a tricho closure with stitches? To my understanding tricho closure is one continuous stitch throughout the linear incision followed by more stitches spaced closer together throughout? How could you do this with staples? When I got my stitches removed by my GP they said the method used to stitch me up and was very intricate and a skilled practice; I believe this because it almost took her a good 45 minutes to remove them all. I was also wondering, in your honest opinion, which method provides better healing and less scaring; staples or stitches?

 

The technique of the trichophytic closure isn't about sutures or staples. Or whether you use two layer or single layer technique. Trichophytic is the technique of trimming away 1mm tissue and hairs on the lower or upper boarder of the wound after the donor is harvested so the hairs will eventually grow through the scar line.

I've attached a photo for better clarification of the technique that I found on google. Google trichophytic closure technique. You'll come across a lot of pics with sutures and few staples used after the trichophytic technique was used. In the pic below on the bottom left corner, you can see part of the tissue being trimmed off.

 

It's hard to say which technique is better. I can say that regardless of staples or sutures, I like the double layer closures the best.

[NEWHAIRPLEASE]

Shampoo, looking at your procedure dates I see that you had a small procedure a while back and then a mega session recently. Did the first procedure have a big impact on the available donor left? The two procedures I am considering right now are FUE 1400 grafts and FUT 1500-2000 grafts. I am wondering, if either were to not work out, and I decided to go mega session in the future, which procedure would have depleted more donor hair, or would they be similar? Would one particular procedure have more consequences for having a subsequent procedure?

 

If you are really planning on doing both, FUE and then FUT, do FUT first. Make much better use of your donor area.

[b61]

'Hi FUEsday,

 

Firstly I wanted to say that I've read this whole thread and your experience is very much appreciated as is your medical/scientific knowledge or background! Please stick around.

 

You seem to be very much set on FUE, but now considering FUE or FUT. I would say that this is a good idea.

 

In my understanding, FUT is the golden standard. That's according to Dr. Rahal and Dr. Feller (I hope I am not mistaken, I don't think I am), who are among the very best in the field of HT.

 

As Newhairplease said, the best strategy is always : FIRST fut, THEN fue. It seems obvious to me. If it is not to you, I - or somebody else - should try to explain why this the case. UNLESS you completely rule out fut because you do not want a linear scare. Then only FUE, but you appear to not be the best of candidates for FUE.

 

Lastly, if you go the FUT route :

 

my advice would be to talk to Dr. Rahal again. I hope that this thread doesn't jeopardize your chance of going back to him... It really shouldn't. I, personally, do not see anything wrong with an educated and demanding patient. However, making it public was perhaps not the best of choices. I don't know. Just talk to his team.

 

Apart from Dr. Rahal, I would consider for FUT : Dr. Feriduni (earliest date : june 2013 unless it's been pushed back further or I'm wrong), Dr. Konior, Dr. True and Dorin, Dr. Hasson and Dr. Wong, Shapiro Medical Group.

 

I must say that out of this list Dr. True and Dorin seem to be very ethical surgeons and they are in New York, which is close to where you are located I think. But they also are on the conservative side imo (in terms of density, etc.). Dr. Hasson and Wong make a very good impression as well. These are all very good doctors from what I can say.

 

For FUE :

 

Dr. Feriduni without a doubt (I would say he is the best when it comes to FUE, but he is in Belgium), Dr. Feller (check also poor outcomes by this doctor and more importantly how they were handled online... very disappointing and actually chilling).

 

I really hope this can help you.

 

And just to make it clear : I'm not a doctor, I'm not a salesman, just a patient like you who does as much research as he can.

[Fueforlife99]

About the part you asked about stitches compared to staples, i wanted to add this, someone would be crazy to get staples! You need to have an artistic skill to give a patient stitches, there is no art in staples at all!

[NEWHAIRPLEASE]

About the part you asked about stitches compared to staples, i wanted to add this, someone would be crazy to get staples! You need to have an artistic skill to give a patient stitches, there is no art in staples at all!

 

And again this simply is not true