Is the scarring and recovery time from FUE unequivocally better than FUT?

[FUE2014]

Is this now generally accepted as a given?

[chrisdav]

Recovery time has always been better for fue and scarring will nearly always be better with a GOOD fue surgeon. I emphasise good as with a bad one, you can end up being far worse off than having the dreaded "smiley face" as some people refer to . IF strip scars for everyone after one procedure or several turned out pencil thin for every time, there would be some argument to this but it is clearer to me now they don't. I have just had shoulders surgery and at first the closure was good but 7 weeks later I have a stretched 2 inch scar on my shoulder.

 

Scarring will be worse for FUE if large punches are used and if you end up having too many grafts taken (made even worse if the surgeon does not formulate the pattern correctly), there is a higher chance you would look thin in the back whereas strip is one line and if it turns out good, then on that scenario a linear scar would be better. I have poor fue scaring from a rubbish clinic, large punch and clustered together. Had I seen a good surgeon - it would not have happened. Also donor area with low density could be a problem too.

 

Overall though I agree with you. I don't like the clinics who over exploit the idea and use it as hard sell but fail to produce and demonstrate consistently a high standard of results. The good surgeons who I think do great FUE don't even use this as a selling point and let their work do the talking which is how it should be.

 

One thing I have noticed as that when people have FUE, they never shave down to the bone. Now when people want a strip scar repaired, pictures are always shown shaved to a zero. I am interested to see cases where patients have had a large proportion of their donor taken via fue and shaved down to the bone to see the scarring. People often make this comment you can shave down and buzz your hair with fue if you lose the battle with baldness, but this is not entirely true.

Edited September 7, 2014 by chrisdav

[StaggerLee123]

Recovery time for FUE is unequivocally faster. Are FUE scars better? Better is a subjective term. Are 3000 tiny scars better than 1 linear scar? If you wear your hair short then FUE scars are less obvious and I suppose "better." If you wear your hair about an inch or longer, then nobody will see what's going on at the scalp level so it's really a non issue.

 

That being said there is much more of an "x-factor" involved with a strip scar wherein a skilled surgeon can do everything right and the patient can follow the correct recovery protocols and the scar will still stretch.

[Cryingoutloud]

I had FUT 3 years ago. Was uncomfortable for 4 months, shock loss started to correct itself after 5 months and still have ever-so-minor numbness.

 

3 months ago, I underwent FUE to add density. Surgeon took photos of my scar after shaving donor down for FUE; said it was one of the most discreet he'd ever seen. Lucky me!

 

Donor was uncomfortable for about 4-6 weeks after the procedure. No shock loss but the hair in my donor area simply didn't grow for a couple of months, After that . . . BAM, it took off like a rocket and I was back to having to have a trim every 10 days.

[FUE2014]

Thanks for the responses so far guys and some interesting points about the "x-factor" with the strip scar (which is something I worried about with FUT) and lack of pictures where patients have shaved to the bone after FUE, which will be interesting to see more of.

[bismarck]

One thing I have noticed as that when people have FUE, they never shave down to the bone. Now when people want a strip scar repaired, pictures are always shown shaved to a zero. I am interested to see cases where patients have had a large proportion of their donor taken via fue and shaved down to the bone to see the scarring. People often make this comment you can shave down and buzz your hair with fue if you lose the battle with baldness, but this is not entirely true.

 

Some unnerving pictures.

 

I think these were with larger punches, and the risk of this stuff happening has decreased with time, but my god.

[1978matt]

Is this now generally accepted as a given?

 

It sure is, but don't lose sight of what's more important. The result on the top of your head.

[PupDaddy]

One thing I have noticed as that when people have FUE, they never shave down to the bone. Now when people want a strip scar repaired, pictures are always shown shaved to a zero. I am interested to see cases where patients have had a large proportion of their donor taken via fue and shaved down to the bone to see the scarring. People often make this comment you can shave down and buzz your hair with fue if you lose the battle with baldness, but this is not entirely true.

 

 

chrisdav makes an excellent point. You can never shave down to zero (slick), even with good FUE. Well, you can, but your head will look like a white polka dot festival. The practical difference between "good" FUE scarring and a "good" linear strip scar is a single blade length. With a good strip scar you can cut down to a 2 blade. With good FUE scarring, you can cut down to a 1 blade. That said, good FUE scarring is probably a bit more predictable from a good FUE surgeon (these days) than a good linear scar from from a good strip surgeon -- although there are some strip docs who seem always to achieve a paper thin scar.

[bismarck]

You can never shave down to zero (slick), even with good FUE. Well, you can, but your head will look like a white polka dot festival. The practical difference between "good" FUE scarring and a "good" linear strip scar is a single blade length. With a good strip scar you can cut down to a 2 blade. With good FUE scarring, you can cut down to a 1 blade.

 

How insightful. This is a remarkably honest way to think about it.

[KO]

-- although there are some strip docs who seem always to achieve a paper thin scar.

 

Who would you say these docs are?