Dr. Lindsey 2300 graft plug repair McLean VA

[Dr. William Lindsey]

This 50ish year old fellow was disfigured by plug surgery in the 90s. He and his family give a terrible story of his self consciousness limiting his participation in his kids’ activities and his need to wear hats to even dressier social functions. His donor hair is quite wirey and we got a few more grafts than I expected from his scar filled strip. Shown are preop, intraop, and 1 week pictures. A couple of issues warrant clarification. First, as I’ve posted before, I treat these cases like trying to camouflage a Christmas tree farm. Those plugs contain good, growing hair…and I don’t want to change that. Rather, we simply want to plant a LOT of hairs at the hairline and irregularize that otherwise straight arc framing his face. Second, he has really dark hair, and really white skin. That makes his plugs look even worse. Those qualities don’t help me at all in his repair, but I can’t change them. Third, he simply doesn’t have enough hair to accomplish everything at this setting and together we set priorities. We’ll hopefully come back with a second case and join the top to the sides and work back a little further to cover the remaining plugs on the right.

 

But overall this is a great case. We got 2300 grafts, about 800 singles which were placed along the hairline as close to his existing plug grafts as I could get without damaging their roots. And we did a 3 layer closure. The intraop strip picture shows the deepest layer in, taking the tension off of the skin edges. Lastly he did a decent job cleaning and I’ll plan to see him in 5 weeks for a scar check and more pictures. Since these cases often take longer to grow in due to scar tissue, I expect it will be late 2014 til we get a nice result and start planning a second case.

Dr. Lindsey McLean VA

[Spanker]

Man, that is terrible. Good case to illustrate future loss when you see the separation from the top and sides. I really hope this guy gets a good result.

[Patriot34]

This is certainly a challenging case. This patient will have an up hill battle, but Dr. Lindsey is a responsible doctor and has a realistic plan.

[Dr. William Lindsey]

Spanker, I completely agree with your as usual frank but on target assessment. AND I want him to get a great result too. You know I really pride myself on never calling patients after the consultation is done to try to "sell" them. This is the only guy we've called to try to get him to book in a LONG time. And its only because I truely think that we can dramatically change his life.

 

Often times I spend the consultation trying to give a realistic assessment of options to a patient who has been elsewhere and perhaps has been sweet-talked. Hair transplants will not get you a hot blonde, a corvette, a new job, or eternal happiness... They may increase your self confidence or camouflage a problem that causes you distress...and let you have a better chance of excelling if those things are holding you back..but hair transplants are not miracles, just one potential solution to a problem.

 

But this fellow I feel for...he is ashamed of a poor decision 20 years ago, and it affects how he deals with his kids, their friends, their teachers...and I do believe that we'll almost certainly improve that in the next 16 months. And yes, he may need a second case, and no, it will never be perfect, but I am potentially more excited about this fellow's results than he is.

 

Only time will tell however...

 

Dr. Lindsey McLean VA

[ThinToWin]

Dr. L -- That's why I went for a Corvette and hot blond before the HT... Haha

 

Seriously, though, my HT with you has resulted in a HUGE improvement to my self esteem (which wasn't lacking that much to begin with), and I'm betting this guy will see an even bigger improvement to his.

 

Great job. Keep up the good work, Dr. L.

[Dr. William Lindsey]

Excellent comment thin 2 win. See you at the beach next summer if not before down here for lunch.

 

Dr. L