Strip vs FUE vs mFUE - Dr. Alan Feller Great Neck, NY

[Dr. Alan Feller]

Keyser-Soze

 

Have you seen the results of HTs from people who have gone to India or Turkey for so-called "cheaper- better" surgery?

 

Have you seen even a single result in person?

 

Have you met with a young man whose world was destroyed along with his donor area and whose only wish was that he never did it? And now he looks to you in desperation to fix him?

 

And have you ever stood accountable to him and the world for what you are going to advise him and how you are going to perform surgery on him?

 

I have. You haven't.

[Mickey85]

Lol. How did you work that out, did you count the hairs?

 

Yes

[Dr. Alan Feller]

Hairweare,

 

I guess you aren't going to take me up on my offer.

 

It's a different story when you have to stand accountable for what you write in your own real name, isn't it?!

 

Even though you won't take me up on my offer, I will take you up on your offer. I would like you to put up your real name and your credentials here on line please.

 

UPDATE:

I just read your post a bit closer and see that you had THREE strip procedures before going to FUE? What did it look like? Have you posted the photos? Perhaps this explains your vehement FUE support? After three PROPER strip procedures you should look great. And if you were "stripped out" meaning you can't have any more strips, then FUE is EXACTLY what you would need and what I would recommend. It is cases like yours that I believe FUE was invented. To get more hair out of a patient who is stripped out. Clearly you are upset with your strip procedure and are now denouncing it at every turn, and you may be justified, but I haven't seen any photos, don't know who did it, nor what method of Strip was performed. Not all HT doctors perform the same procedure the same way. The variation is massive and is why websites like this one are so important.

 

I just had a guy in for a repair who had TWELVE strips done. TWELVE! He and the doctor who did him are not representative of modern day strip FUT. In fact, I repaired him using a PROPERLY performed strip, which he had never had.

 

I truly wish you the best in your growth. I'm an HT patient as well. And I had a bad strip done in 1993, but did a proper strip in 2001 when I was in the business a while and got stellar results. Both were strip procedures. Try not to throw the baby out with the bath water. FUE has its place, but as sure as there is gravity so does FUT.

 

 

Dr. Alan Feller

New York College of Osteopathic Medicine

Class of 1993

Edited June 9, 2015 by Dr. Alan Feller

[ontop]

Dr Feller

 

myself can see through the trees and your history of doing such FUT speaks for themselfs with some great outcomess for your Pts.

 

I want to ask you, when a Pt walks in your Clinic with say fine hair and not the greatest of donor say below par would you still offer Him/her a FUT or this New Method mfue? when do you make that Call that maybe this Pt is better served with this New Method.

I know this is going to be a type of question that will differ from Pt to Pt but please try to answer if you can.

Thanks

[keyser-soze]

Which of your own questions are you answering on my behalf Dr Feller?

I will answer them myself if thats ok with you?

I have seen about a dozen patients that have been to turkey and non from india

 

I have not met a person in person who has had there world destroyed along with their donor.

And final one no i have never stood accountable to the world on what i would advise him because ive never met him.

One response to this dr feller.

Most of the answers you already knew but if you were not so bloody expensive he might have come to you in the first place, In his desperation it seems he will pay any price!

The way i see it thee is ethical and then theres ethical.

You as a ht surgeon are dealing with desperate people as im sure you know.

Why charge so much and burden people with financial suffering?I dont expect or want you to answer this next point its your own buisness- but how much do you earn anually? ask yourself do you really need all you have? i presume nice big residence,nice car ect ect ect.

You alieviate one type of suffering then cause another.

Its this simple for me it had to be fue, do i hate fuss?not at all brilliant results are gained by it but what puts people off is the scar as you know.

Its all well and good saying i will only give someone WHAT I THINK IS BEST FOR THEM but answer this point trufully.

If your clinics patients dried up because everyone was going for fue would you just do fue like everyone else or would you shut the clinic and retire? You probably are in a position financially now but what if this happened when you were'nt?

Would you stick to your principles or sell them for 40 pieces of silver?

What price do you put on your morals your principles?

When i first came on here looking for help you was THE MAN but that was back in the day and i personally have nothing a all against you but i think your fue skills have been surpassed by quite a few drs but i still rte you as one of probably the top 5 fuss drs.

I like being talked to straight and i talk straight.

I admire brutal honesty and i'm brutally honest.

You can say what you want to me and i wont be offended and i hope i have not offended you i am just being brutally honest.

Keyser-Soze

 

Have you seen the results of HTs from people who have gone to India or Turkey for so-called "cheaper- better" surgery?

 

Have you seen even a single result in person?

 

Have you met with a young man whose world was destroyed along with his donor area and whose only wish was that he never did it? And now he looks to you in desperation to fix him?

 

And have you ever stood accountable to him and the world for what you are going to advise him and how you are going to perform surgery on him?

 

I have. You haven't.

[HairJo]

I have had consults for a different cosmetic procedure not to get off the HT subject and from one doctor to another I got all sorts of prices the difference in the prices and what procedure they thought would be best for the results I wanted. It was up to me to decide to I pay the doctor who I felt had the best before and after pics and considered how much money I was willing to pay or could pay. I ended up waiting a little longer to save up for my procedure and went with more expensive doctor because I felt confident with him and I am very happy with my outcome. Let's face it most people would love to have the money to do these procedure it's costly so you do what you can do. These doctors can't save the world and they don't work for free why should they? And to talk about a doctors income and the the house and cars they own is simply out of line

[Dr. Alan Feller]

Which of your own questions are you answering on my behalf Dr Feller?

I will answer them myself if thats ok with you?

I have seen about a dozen patients that have been to turkey and non from india

 

I have not met a person in person who has had there world destroyed along with their donor.

And final one no i have never stood accountable to the world on what i would advise him because ive never met him.

One response to this dr feller.

Most of the answers you already knew but if you were not so bloody expensive he might have come to you in the first place, In his desperation it seems he will pay any price!

The way i see it thee is ethical and then theres ethical.

You as a ht surgeon are dealing with desperate people as im sure you know.

Why charge so much and burden people with financial suffering?I dont expect or want you to answer this next point its your own buisness- but how much do you earn anually? ask yourself do you really need all you have? i presume nice big residence,nice car ect ect ect.

You alieviate one type of suffering then cause another.

Its this simple for me it had to be fue, do i hate fuss?not at all brilliant results are gained by it but what puts people off is the scar as you know.

Its all well and good saying i will only give someone WHAT I THINK IS BEST FOR THEM but answer this point trufully.

If your clinics patients dried up because everyone was going for fue would you just do fue like everyone else or would you shut the clinic and retire? You probably are in a position financially now but what if this happened when you were'nt?

Would you stick to your principles or sell them for 40 pieces of silver?

What price do you put on your morals your principles?

When i first came on here looking for help you was THE MAN but that was back in the day and i personally have nothing a all against you but i think your fue skills have been surpassed by quite a few drs but i still rte you as one of probably the top 5 fuss drs.

I like being talked to straight and i talk straight.

I admire brutal honesty and i'm brutally honest.

You can say what you want to me and i wont be offended and i hope i have not offended you i am just being brutally honest.

 

 

No, I am not offended, except for where you brought up my income and what I may or may not own. That has no place in the conversation. You sound like you are English or European. In America we are proud of individual achievement and success and don't try to sling it around against someone as if it were some sort of character flaw or something to be ashamed of.

 

I do appreciate you putting me in the top five of FUSS doctors. I certainly won't argue that fact and proud to be in that group. Thank you.

 

You do ask a compelling question: if nobody wanted strip surgery anymore would I perform larger FUE cases even though I know they are not as good as strip. If that were somehow the reality I suppose I would go back to the drawing board and try to find a way to minimize the three detrimental forces afflicting FUE surgery right now. Those being: Compression, Torsion, and Traction.

 

However, mFUE may indeed be the answer. The benefits of strip and FUE. Time will tell, but so far it looks pretty good. Actually better than I thought it would.

 

Interesting that your chosen alias, Keyer Soze was the character of a Turkish criminal mastermind and vicious butcher of people in the movie the Usual Suspects. Of all names you picked a Turkish Butcher, but you support Turkish FUE surgeons. A curious juxtaposition.

[MrMatt]

Doc, I like your style.

[Dr. Alan Feller]

Dr Feller

 

myself can see through the trees and your history of doing such FUT speaks for themselfs with some great outcomess for your Pts.

 

I want to ask you, when a Pt walks in your Clinic with say fine hair and not the greatest of donor say below par would you still offer Him/her a FUT or this New Method mfue? when do you make that Call that maybe this Pt is better served with this New Method.

I know this is going to be a type of question that will differ from Pt to Pt but please try to answer if you can.

Thanks

 

Thank you for the kind words, I really appreciate it.

From what you described I may not take that particular case. Patients with very fine hair throughout the scalp don't fare well with transplants of any kind. This why I don't take most female patients.

 

But let's say the hair characteristics are borderline. I definitely would not do FUE because the detrimental forces of Compression, Torsion, and Traction would kill most of the grafts. Strip or mFUE would be fine choices as it would minimize trauma. If I were worried that the donor scar from an FUT might be visible, then I would opt for the mFUE. Also, I would cut the grafts FAT like minigrafts instead of FUs as the extra tissue around the graft would give it a better chance of surviving the transplant process.

 

Dr. Feller

Great Neck, NY

[ontop]

Dr . Feller,

 

Thank You for that detailed & informotive reply.

 

& just for the record how much money you make or how many boats / cars you have is nobody business I know for a fact what. Commitments US Drs must go through to get where you at now.

 

While most of us in our late teens going out on the town you guys & Dolls are stuck in the text books for over a dacade & some.

I have huge respect for Drs & they deserve every bit of what joys has to offer.

It must be a tuff job what you do & sometimes unforgivin as we see here.

 

Keep ya chin up Doc your do a great job.

[KO]

Is merely based on one Dr's study who to be fair would not be near the top of anyone's list for a HT.

 

 

I think it's interesting how you dismiss Blake's claim due to it being "one study", but yet you go around claiming that "Top FUE yields 90%".

 

So I again ask you, where is any study that shows "Top FUE" yields 90%? Blake's point is not controversial among HT surgeons including those who excel at FUE. Bisanga and Feriduni agree that FUT yields are greater. Feriduni say the difference is minimal, but he will never claim that FUE yields are greater than FUT.

[mav23100gunther]

Hairweare,

 

I guess you aren't going to take me up on my offer.

 

It's a different story when you have to stand accountable for what you write in your own real name, isn't it?!

 

Even though you won't take me up on my offer, I will take you up on your offer. I would like you to put up your real name and your credentials here on line please.

 

 

I truly wish you the best in your growth. I'm an HT patient as well. And I had a bad strip done in 1993, but did a proper strip in 2001

Class of 1993

 

C'mon Hairweare, take the good Dr. up on his offer - would love to hear what Lorenzo and maybe even Erdogan has to say on the matter. If Hairweare doesn't take up the offer, could one of the moderates (minus Blake) please do so? This would be invaluable information , although I wonder if either of those FUE specialists would let themselves get railroaded like that.

[Dr. Alan Feller]

Thank you MrMatt. Hat tip to Mr. Hughes who embodied the statement I think you were commenting on.

 

And thank you Ontop. You're the tops.

Dr. Feller

[mav23100gunther]

Dr. Feller, just out of curiosity, who did your 2nd HT procedure in 2001? Was it Dr. Hasson?

[mav23100gunther]

Dr . Feller,

 

& just for the record how much money you make or how many boats / cars you have is nobody business I know for a fact what. Commitments US Drs must go through to get where you at now.

job.

 

I dunno why, but the above reminded me of the classic Ben Affleck speech from the Boiler Room movie

 

"I'm a f$@&ing millionaire - I drive a Ferrari - whoever says money is root of all evel doesn't fu@$ing have any - whoever says money can't bring you happiness, we'll look at the smile on my face, ear to ear baby"

[Blake Bloxham]

Some excellent replies! Keep up the good convo!

[HairJo]

Well said ,medical school takes up a big chunk out of some of the best young years of a persons life. Not to mention the money it costs to go to med school . Plus the money to own a business pay your staff all that has to be considered.

[FUE2014]

I think it's interesting how you dismiss Blake's claim due to it being "one study", but yet you go around claiming that "Top FUE yields 90%".

 

So I again ask you, where is any study that shows "Top FUE" yields 90%? Blake's point is not controversial among HT surgeons including those who excel at FUE. Bisanga and Feriduni agree that FUT yields are greater. Feriduni say the difference is minimal, but he will never claim that FUE yields are greater than FUT.

 

Janna from Shapiro medical stated a couple of months ago on another HT site, which I can give the link to if allowed, that:

 

"We've always felt our strip yields approx. 98%+ and fue is now closer to 90-95%. We will keep trying to achieve 98% or better with our fue."

 

Would be interesting to hear what other clinics say about their FUE yield...

[LondonHTseeker]

Keyser-Soze

 

Have you seen the results of HTs from people who have gone to India or Turkey for so-called "cheaper- better" surgery?

 

Have you seen even a single result in person?

 

Have you met with a young man whose world was destroyed along with his donor area and whose only wish was that he never did it? And now he looks to you in desperation to fix him?

 

And have you ever stood accountable to him and the world for what you are going to advise him and how you are going to perform surgery on him?

 

I have. You haven't.

 

Actually, I had FUE in Istanbul, 6 months after Dr Feller's third and last strip surgery on me a few years ago. The Turkish operation cost around US 2000 dollars to get around 2500 FUE grafts into my hairline. The Turkish team were friendly and the hair has grown out well. I made a mistake in getting my last strip surgery from Dr Feller, which was only 800 grafts. It wasn't worth the effort of the strip surgery for such a low number of grafts and the donor scar wasn't improved. Luckily I had to make the visit to the states anyway, so in that sense it wasn't a wasted trip. I think he overplayed on this forum the value of having an operation with such a low number of grafts ( http://www.hairrestorationnetwork.com/eve/161553-am-i-one-unlucky-few-4-years-post-strip-dr-feller.html ). If money is an issue, as it was for me, it's a no brainer to go to Turkey for the operation rather than the US - for FUE, anyway.

 

However, after 4 hair transplants I still need one more to thicken it up a little. That's after having had around 6500 grafts into the area already. I don't regret going for a low hairline though as it frames my face perfectly and my hairloss hasn't proved to be the progressive kind...yet (age 39).

Edited June 10, 2015 by LondonHTseeker

[Sean]

Great thread with some very strong medical claims by professionals .

 

Surgical tools need to be defined for patient safety. Medical claims need to be supported by grounded evidence. Photos need to be shown of claims with supporting evidence as is this procedure with defined claims as indicated, with reported benefits, advantges, and reasons it is being publically marketed for.

 

Pending further review.

Edited June 10, 2015 by Sean
FTC FDA Review Needed

[scar5]

Dr. Feller said nothing has changed in 14 years with FUE.

 

I think he means the laws in New York haven't changed (technicians cannot assist in extraction).

 

And so he is wheeling out the same rhetoric of yesterday...only now he has a new kid on the block...a moderator no less.

 

FUE has grown immensely in stature and it hasn't been hype - it is real and customers are voting. They are flying out.

 

He also believes FUE was invented for the purposes of supplementing strip, when patients have been 'stripped out'.

 

No it wasn't. It was invented for one reason only. To do away with the linear scar.

 

I think Dr. Feller challenging people to give away their identity is a good move for him. He knows the stakes for us are different. Do not, under any circumstances get sucked in unless you know what you are doing.

 

We should be grateful to people like Mickey85 for having the guts and composure top post his views in the face of this marketing barrage.

 

I think it hurts Dr. Feller and Dr. Bloxham - this anti-FUE campaign - and make no mistake, that is what it is (nevermind the 'I love FUE disclaimers') Bottom line is I must be wrong. It actually helps them, or at least they think it does. Perhaps it is strip's last gasp.

 

When it comes to statements like 'I know Dr. Lorenzo, we are great mates etc..' I wouldn't take it seriously. I've always had the view that doctor's private views, their aptitude/competence, their best and their worst , be it technical, ethical etc. are off limits to us.

 

i wouldn't mind if deep down , in the bottom of his heart Lorenzo thinks strip is better, or if Feller thinks FUE is better, or scalp-reduction. It nothing to do with me. They won't tell us for the obvious reasons.

 

I do know about the circumstances. I do believe I know what 'tends to happen' due to the context of a hair transplant.

 

Take a look at Dr. Feller's hair. That is what I think of as a prototypical front loaded north American strip job. (and I would say it , even if it were, in fact, an FUE because of those characteristics) The crown is empty. the front is strong. Bang for buck. If you can tolerate a bald crown, a thin look behind but a grand front, then strip you go. Now some will say the choice of technique has nothing to do with the placement of grafts. I believe it does.

 

As for yield, I don't know. I've always suspected strip would do better but I wouldn't know. These days, some of these FUE jobs look great.

 

Guys, don't get personal. I think FUE is really maturing now into the principal and soundest method to restore your hair. If you have a bald crown like Dr. Feller's or mine (getting that way anyway) you have the option to retreat. No scar. Quick recovery and you know that you did not feed these guys who are unfortunately, hamstrung by the law.

Edited June 10, 2015 by scar5

[Sethticles]

Ive had FUE with Dr Bhatti in India, absolutely great result, 4000g at a cost including flights $6000 AUD which at the time was actually $5900 USD, planning on a top up later this year, who knows what will happen in the future, but at least I will never have a that 30cm scar and i can buzz cut it... why on earth people do FUT in this day and age is beyond me,

[Cant decide]

I see almost NO value in mFUE. It would seemingly leave you with several small linear scars as opposed too one long linear scar. It still means you cant shave down without the appearance of work being done. This makes no sense to me at all with all due respect to Dr. Feller and others.

[Blake Bloxham]

Can't,

 

The scarring is akin to the scarring you achieve with traditional FUE. It isn't several small strips, it's hundreds of small punches like FUE. You can buzz down as short as you would with traditional FUE. However, the extraction process with mFUE overcomes the issues that decrease FUE yield and hair quality. So the value is strip results with FUE scarring. Did you see the presentation thread?

Edited June 10, 2015 by Blake_Bloxham

[LondonHTseeker]

The new method sounds a good idea. I'd rather have that kind of scarring than the FUE thinning I have and I don't want another strip. Unfortunately, it might take a while to catch on with other surgeons (if at all).