Dr. Lindsey 4 years out from scar repair McLean VA

[Dr. William Lindsey]

This professional man had an unsatisfactory scar from 2 previous surgeries elsewhere that we addressed in 2009. He stopped in a few weeks ago and let me take a look.

 

Shown are periop pics showing the scar being excised, the size of the defect, and the closure using 3 layers. 1 month scar pictures show a little shock loss on either side of the repair and then nearly 4 years out he has a pretty decent, although not perfect, repair. The final pics are shown with and without flash for completeness.

 

 

 

He has a few pluggy grafts that we're FUEing out soon, which is the cause of his revisit.

 

Dr. Lindsey McLean VA

[Blake Bloxham]

Great work! Thank you for sharing.

[hsrp10]

Always find your work impressive Dr. Lindsey.

 

allow me to make one comment that the photos of a chunk of removed scalp and linear gaping hole in the back is a bit much for the eyes, even though I've had two FUT procedures myself.

It's an extremely honest approach, but maybe best to leave those out except for medical journal publications etc. But that is just my opinion.

[drumchunky]

That's me. I have no issue with Dr. Lindsey posting the scar revision photos from 4 years ago. It is what it is, and gives a holistic view of the procedure.

 

I am VERY happy with my result. My goal was scar reduction, not elimination and that was achieved as you can see in the follow up photos from Dr. Lindsey. I had very realistic expectations as the scar was difficult to work with. I am now able to cut my hair much shorter around the back and sides. It is actually a little longer than what I normally wear in the follow-up photos as I was a few weeks out from my regular hair-cut. I have a great hair stylist who I have been with for almost 10 years - so she has been dealing with my scar for awhile. After Dr. Lindsey performed the scar reduction, she is now able to use about a #4 guard in the back, and tapers down to a #3 and 2 along the bottom, and just leaves my hair just a tad longer over the scar. Even when wet after swimming, it is very hard to see.

 

On Friday (yesterday), Dr. Lindsey removed a few dozen mini-plugs via FUE from the 1990's that were sitting in the middle of my crown. They were performed by another physician, looked clumpy and always bothered me. The removal procedure was very easy, and yielded about 80 hairs that Dr. Lindsey and staff were able to dissect and slide into the front rim edge of crown hair line. I was perfectly fine to pitch those hairs if they were not usable, but they apparently came out really clean and could be salvaged. They will probably make an incremental cosmetic difference at best - but still glad they did not go to waste.

 

I just took my first gentle shower late Saturday evening. There are small red spots where the old hair implants were removed which I gently cleaned, gently padded dry with some sterile gauze and have been covering with a thin layer of Vaseline. After my shower they look like they should heal very nicely and should not be noticeable in a few days. There was also very little oozing the previous evening. I gently poured a Dixie cup of tepid water over through my fingers on the close packed recipient sites at the front edge of my crown and they look great as well - nearly undetectable with my existing hair.

 

I am really excited to watch the results progress over the next few months - year.

 

Dr. Lindsey and his staff are really terrific, friendly and accommodating. It was a great experience and basically painless - even the numbing medication with the needle was very gentle (and I hate needles). He has a great touch. I found Dr. Lindsey through this forum. If you are in the DC area (or even if you are not) I would recommend this physician wholeheartedly.

Edited December 15, 2013 by drumchunky

[Dr. William Lindsey]

Wow, what a nice post. Thanks for the fine comments drumchunky.

 

HSRP10, I acknowledge your comment on the wound picture, and somewhat reluctantly I no longer post that view on all of my cases...although I think the shopping prospective patient ought to know what really goes on in a strip case so they can make an informed decision about who they will get to take the strip and then sew it up.

 

However on scar repair issues like this I believe its critical for the patient and prospective patients to realize just how wide a preop scar is, how wide the scalp will naturally pull open on its own, and the key to a 3 layer closure taking the load off of the skin edges. And then hopefully some improvement in the end result. Virtually anyone can close a standard strip excision, but to excise a scar in a tight scalp and close it with limited skin tension does require planning and experience. Hence I want people to know that many scar revisions aren't just quick "money makers" but actually real surgical expeditions.

 

Lastly as drumchunky heard first hand, we did an FUE on the day before drumchunky's case on a repeat patient. A few years ago we blew through lots of grafts quickly and got a nice result. Last week he returned and we spent all day getting 500 grafts and it was almost like the man had a completely different scalp. Multiple FUE punches were ineffective. So when Drumchunky wanted some hair removed, I told him preop what a tough time we had the day before, and coring out old plug hairs can be even more difficult.

 

BUT, suprisingly virtually everytime I removed the 1.1mm punch (hand) a nice crisp graft came out spontaeously. Really it looked like a made for tv movie it was so easy. Same tools, same operator, different head. Made all the difference. Once again a testimony to Dr. Feller's discription of FUE as F...ing Unpredictable Experiences. I'd never have guessed drumchunky's grafts would have come out easily.

 

Again thanks for the comments.

 

Dr. Lindsey McLean VA