Would 4000ish grafts cause the donor area to be noticably thinner (FUT surgery)

[Transhair]

I'd prefer the topic to be answered by people who have had their own transplant experiences, but I couldn't fit that in the title.

I'm looking into my second transplant, which I'm hoping to have during February 2016 to fill in the area from my previous one. There's plenty of images showing people with huge thin spots after FUE, but I've never really seen the same thing from FUT surgery, but obviously since the hair is removed from the area there would be some degree of difference.

 

So to anyone who has had large transplant sessions and a lot of grafts taken, did you notice that your donor was appreciably thinner than before, or does it more or less seem the same to you?

 

My first surgery was 2177 grafts, and my second would likely be 1500 grafts, so my total would be 3677 grafts total. Donor density started at around 86 FU/cm.

 

Thanks to anyone taking the time to read this.

[gillenator]

I had 4 separate FUHT procedures and you would never think that my donor area was thin. My original donor density from what I remember was in the higher 90's per cm2 however I was also told that my density did vary somewhat throughout the occipital zone where strips are typically harvested. This is not uncommon.

 

IMHO, your donor zone should look fine after your second procedure "providing" that you have adequate scalp laxity to accommodate the strip that will be taken. The goal is to heal with a thin strip scar so that you end up with hair intact on either side of the scar.

 

Some will say that when the scalp is stretched after taking a subsequent strip will reduce the remaining density in the donor zone. Yet what they don't state is that the scalp does relax eventually for most individuals and does not impact the overall visual density post-op. Your overall donor density would have to be really low for that to occur.

 

Also, my total grafts from FUHT are just under 7,000 and yours at roughly 3700 is not a huge number to date.

 

But at the same time Trans I would recommend that you get some estimate from your surgeon as to how many grafts you would potentially have left to harvest providing again, that you have the accommodating laxity. Otherwise you're looking at FUE for the future.