Dr. Lindsey 1 and 4 years out from large FUE cases McLean VA

[Dr. William Lindsey]

So ultimately this case is about a couple of issues.

 

1. Guys change their minds about hairstyles and at some point, may want longer hair than a crew cut.

 

2. FUE works and even after more than 3000 punches, a view of him from behind shows no real donor area thinness.

 

3. FUE works and can certainly allow a crew cut hairstyle to show hair where there was previously bald skin...but would this fellow have been better off with strip? or MFUE?

 

This guy is a few years younger than me, will not take any meds, and presented with the request of ONLY FUE so that he could keep his very short crew cut. He's pretty much class 6, active, and otherwise very healthy and successful in business.

 

We did 2600 FUE several years ago and he'd show up periodically and talk about doing more. I always pushed him to simply let his hair grow a half inch long and let me do a medium sized strip case to finish him off and pack more in the front inch or so.

 

Then, about a year ago he came in and we did 7 or 800 more FUE...again insisting he'd never have his hair longer than a 2 cut. That was early in our MFUE experience but I pushed him to go that way and showed him a very similar guy who we'd done MFUE on and who kept a 2 or 3 cut....depending on the desires of his girlfriend.

 

Nope. Wanted FUE. Now I'll tell you and Dr. Feller and I've posted before...you go back in a head that has had a couple of thousand punches and even if the skin shows no visible scarring (it often does, just not in this guy)...there is a lot of subcutaneous scar tissue under the surface that makes extractions difficult and more stressful to the root balls. See a few of the youtube videos that I've done discussing this please.

 

Anyhow, he emailed in yesterday morning, not quite a year out from his last FUE. He's growing his hair out due to a change in his social life and likes it. Now he wants more hair, particularly in that front inch where the fragile single fue's probably didn't grow as well as if they were from a strip or MFUE.

 

Again we're at the same dilemma. Do we do more FUE (hard! now particularly with more scar tissue), MFUE, or strip. Assuming we move forward I'll update with his choice and followup pics.

 

Shown are his preop pics.

Next is a pic around a year out with slightly longer hair than the next 3 year pic. Note how hair length is a double edged sword... too short and all hair, even my non transplanted but thinning hair looks thin, too long and you can see thinness in his hair and in mine too. Like Goldilocks and the cereal.

Next are at 3 years after around 25-2600 FUE

Next is his donor area after the approximately 3000 punches I did 4 years ago, before our small case last summer...showing no donor depletion that is obvious to the naked eye in this light...although I suspect that in some lighting and with different cuts it is...

Finally a pic he emailed in yesterday showing a good, not great, result.

 

In summary, he's been very happy with his decisions and results. But like lots of guys, hair greed is always lurking. Perhaps he'll let me at that front inch this summer.

 

Dr. Lindsey McLean VA

[Dr Blake Bloxham]

Dr Lindsey,

 

Very interesting story!

 

To me, this gentleman is the perfect mFUE patient. The subcutaneous scarring from the previous FUE procedures will make future (traditional) FUE extraction difficult. And yield will likely suffer. He doesn't want to consider a strip scar, but he NEEDS reliable extraction and strong grafts. What to do with a patient who wants the advantages of strip but won't consider a linear scar? mFUE!

 

Look forward to updates.