Two strips scars ,now FUE ?

[dabra]

Dear Friends, i have two scars from my three precedures, i am very happy with the results ,but i am thinking in another procedure ,what do you think?

Another strip or fue procedure?

My last procedure ,was almost 10 years ago and fue procedures weren' t so amazing like the today' s results ,look at Lorenzo results ,Firiduni ,etc

[tacolinowest]

A strip from 10 years ago? I'd love to see it can you post some pics?

[greatjob]

pictures would be extremely helpful (you can crop out any distinguishing features). My personal opinion is that if you have already undergone strip procedures you might as well max out your donor with strip if you have extensive loss. Again I don't know your level of loss and what you need, or what your scars look like. However if your laxity will allow it I think excising both of your scars and extracting the maximum amount of grafts via strip may be a wise next step. Then after you have maxed out from strip and reduced to one scar you can turn to FUE. Of course this is all hypothetical without pics.

[Dr. Michael Beehner]

I assume you mean that the two strip scars are "stacked" on top of each other. It is totally unrealistic to assume that they can both be cut out and the bottom edge of the lower scar and the upper edge of the upper scar can be brought together. That virtually never happens, unless you went to the extent of using a balloon expander.

 

What you don't want to do is take any of the hair that lies between the two scars, as this hair directed downward is your savior for camouflaging the bottom scar. If you take any of this hair, you will create the visual image of the two scars being one massive, ugly scar.

 

Another thing I try to do in those situations is, when doing FUE, is not to do the FUE in the 1/4 inch or so above either scar, so that area of hair has maximal density for camouflaging the scar below it.

 

If there is sufficient laxity and there is a pretty good height of "good" donor hair either above the top scar or below the bottom one, taking another narrow strip at one of these places is the best course of action, during which you can have that scar excised also if it is slightly wide.

 

Mike Beehner, M.D.

[dabra]

Thank you Dr Beehner, i mean which way to go? if i have a scar ,go on with the strip procedure or fue ?

Should i go on with the strip ?because my donor area is not a virgin area ,any sense to go with fue ? My donor area allow another strip that' s my Doctor opinnion.Sorry for my english.Please give me your opinnion

[dabra]

Thank you Dr Beehner, i mean which way to go? if i have a scar ,go on with the strip procedure or fue ?

Should i go on with the strip ?because my donor area is not a virgin area ,any sense to go with fue ? My donor area allow another strip that' s my Doctor opinnion.

Go on with fue and avoid the suffer and the risks of the strip?

Sorry for my english.Please give me your opinnion

[dabra]

Thank you Dr Beehner, i mean which way to go? if i have a scar ,go on with the strip procedure or fue ?

Should i go on with the strip ?because my donor area is not a virgin area ,any sense to go with fue ? My donor area allow another strip that' s my Doctor opinnion.

Go on with fue and avoid the suffer and the risks of the strip?

Sorry for my english.Please give me your opinnion

[alix]

I don't know the position of your scars,but I have 2 scars from 2 procedures.(they are so close together and I didn't even know that there are two! I always thought the first one was removed in my second procedure until I was told there are 2 in my recent consultation).

my first scar is from 10 years ago and second one is from 5 years ago.

for my 3rd surgery I'm going for another strip,and the surgeon says he will create a 3rd scar (to maximise the number of grafts possible) and then will do a scar correction next year so that I will have only one scar.

[Spanker]

I think that the biggest red flag here is that I have not seen who your Dr. is.

 

While Dr. Beehner may be correct that this in unrealistic, your Dr. has seen you in person. IF this is a reputable Dr. I would consider his advice, however, if he is not, I would not have surgery with him at all. It sounds like you are saying that he is saying to make a 3rd strip scar and he will make it one after you transplant. I have personally never ever heard of this happening, although I have seen them make 2 into one and it came out better than pre-op, but this is very unusual.

 

Make sure that you are making the correct choice in doctor FIRST and then figure out what you want to do. If your scars bother you, I would go to a reputable doctor now, see if it is possible to make it into one scar NOW, do that and plant the grafts that are in that tissue, and then follow up with a FUE if that is what you want to do and you are "stripped out."

 

Maybe at least consider another consult by a leading physician and see what he says.

[greatjob]

I assume you mean that the two strip scars are "stacked" on top of each other. It is totally unrealistic to assume that they can both be cut out and the bottom edge of the lower scar and the upper edge of the upper scar can be brought together. That virtually never happens, unless you went to the extent of using a balloon expander.

 

What you don't want to do is take any of the hair that lies between the two scars, as this hair directed downward is your savior for camouflaging the bottom scar. If you take any of this hair, you will create the visual image of the two scars being one massive, ugly scar.

 

Another thing I try to do in those situations is, when doing FUE, is not to do the FUE in the 1/4 inch or so above either scar, so that area of hair has maximal density for camouflaging the scar below it.

 

If there is sufficient laxity and there is a pretty good height of "good" donor hair either above the top scar or below the bottom one, taking another narrow strip at one of these places is the best course of action, during which you can have that scar excised also if it is slightly wide.

 

Mike Beehner, M.D.

Thank you for this reply Dr. Beehner, very educational.

[alix]

I think that the biggest red flag here is that I have not seen who your Dr. is.

 

While Dr. Beehner may be correct that this in unrealistic, your Dr. has seen you in person. IF this is a reputable Dr. I would consider his advice, however, if he is not, I would not have surgery with him at all. It sounds like you are saying that he is saying to make a 3rd strip scar and he will make it one after you transplant. I have personally never ever heard of this happening, although I have seen them make 2 into one and it came out better than pre-op, but this is very unusual.

 

Make sure that you are making the correct choice in doctor FIRST and then figure out what you want to do. If your scars bother you, I would go to a reputable doctor now, see if it is possible to make it into one scar NOW, do that and plant the grafts that are in that tissue, and then follow up with a FUE if that is what you want to do and you are "stripped out."

 

Maybe at least consider another consult by a leading physician and see what he says.

Spanker,I think you mixed up what I said with with what dabra (OP) said?

are you referring to him or me?

[dabra]

Dear Friends , the problems aren't the scars ,i know i ll 'always have two scars .

If i have strip or fue always will be there ,but the main concern here is go on with strip or fue.

I am sure if it were my first surgery ,i will go with fue procedure,but it's not the first ,I don't know what to do?

.My surgeon is one of the top and i am very happy with the results(my surgery was10 years ago) ,but he doesn't do fue.

If i want fue i should change the sugeon . I am thinking in Lorenzo .

[alix]

dabra,

personally I'd go with another strip,because you already have a scar,but I don't know how many grafts you need with your new procedure and whether your laxity allows that?

I think if you already have a scar,it makes more sense to go for another strip and "max out" strips,and leave FUE for future when you cannot have anymore strips taken.

I think in your case it might be a good idea to consult with some doctors who do both FUE and Strip and see what they suggest..

[dabra]

Alix ,thank you very much for the opinnion,you are right ,i am think the same but i would like to know any surgeon opinnion

[Dr. Michael Beehner]

Dabra,

You asked what I would advise you to do. Obviously, as one of the other commentators mentioned, your doctor has examined you and knows your age, the amount of laxity in your scalp, the density of the hair, whether there is hair that can be harvested in the lateral areas above the ears, and a whole host of other things that I don't know.

If you don't have that much more that has to be done, perhaps no more than 2000-3000 FU's, then perhaps FUE is the best way to go, as long as your fringe margins don't drop down past where the FUE grafts are harvested, I personally think the grafts cut under a microscope from a strip are far superior to FUE grafts, which are "plucked" out of the hole made and thus are often denuded of protective tissue in their lower part. You're going to lose a little bit either way you choose: If you go with FUE and have a lot of that work done, then the hair shingling down over your double scars is going to be less dense and fewer in numbers. If you do a strip just above (and contiguous with) the upper scar you have, then there is a good likelihood that scar will widen slightly.

What to do is a decision only you and your doctor can make together, based on all the factors I mentioned.

My strong recommendation to anyone just starting out getting a hair transplant is to go with the strip method if you have a large area that is going to need to be filled in over the years and make sure you end up with only one scar. When everything is done as far as your hair transplant needs, the scar can then be dealt with using FUE grafts, tattoo dots,and/or partial excision of the scar. Sometimes a trichophytic closure can be used if the area excised isn't too wide.

I stand by my statement that it is near impossible to turn two stacked scars, especially if they're wide in any way, into one thin scar through some surgical procedure. You would need a "perfect storm" of factors present: 2 thin scars about 1cm apart and a lax scalp. This is rarer than hens' teeth.

 

Alix:

Alix, you said you would go on to have a THIRD scar stacked with the other two and said your doctor plans to make everything nice with some corrective procedure when it's all done. Other than some camouflaging with FUE and tattoos, I have no idea what he could have in mind. I would avoid that third scar and just have him harvest a narrow strip just above the upper scar and, if possible, try to excise some portion of that upper scar at the same time if the laxity allows for it. Good luck.

 

Mike Beehner, M.D.

[dabra]

Dr Beehner , thank you for time and your advice ,i was very interesting in your comments about the hair shingling down the scars ,that ' s a very important point to take care .Now I know the way to go, another strip procedure .Thank you again