Dense packing frontal area with 3096 FU's; Dr. Beehner

[Dr. Michael Beehner]

This 23 y/o came to us first in 2013 and had an initial session of 1559 FU's placed in the far frontal area only, for a total of 3118 hairs at the time. His results after that first session were posted here in June of 2014. In July of 2014 he had a second session to increase the density even more. 1537 additional FU's were placed amongst the first grafts, and those photos are shown here 12 months later.

Mike Beehner, M.D.

[Yaz89]

Great result! Well done Dr. One of the finest results from your clinic. I am sure the patient is extremely happy.

[TakingThePlunge]

Very impressive case Dr. Beehner!

[Dr Blake Bloxham]

Dynamite! Keep up the good work, doc!

[Torn]

Awesome work doctor !!

 

I hope to achieve similar results in my upcoming repair.

[Mick50]

Must be a great feeling to get his hair sorted at such a young age seems to have great hair characteristics and that central tuft, guys with that hair loss pattern always seem to get the best results in my opinion especially if there's no crown balding, all the grafts can be placed in the front and the tuft just helps the with the density, looks great

[Frankmello]

I would be completely satisfied if I get that result. thanks for putting them up!

[newbie33]

Hi Dr Beehner, was the plan always to get a second session soon after the first?

[mav23100gunther]

This 23 y/o came to us first in 2013 and had an initial session of 1559 FU's placed in the far frontal area only, for a total of 3118 hairs at the time. His results after that first session were posted here in June of 2014. In July of 2014 he had a second session to increase the density even more. 1537 additional FU's were placed amongst the first grafts, and those photos are shown here 12 months later.

Mike Beehner, M.D.

 

Outstanding result, however, why couldn't you have just performed 3,000 grafts the first time around and done it all in one single pass?

[Dr. Michael Beehner]

In answer to the two questions posed above as to whether or not we could have done the 3000 grafts in one session, there definitely was a strategy involved. First of all, for men with only receding in the lateral fronto-temporal areas, we do like to use the relative "dense packing" of FU grafts as our grafting method. Because of his age, we were fairly sure this receding would progress during the next 10-20 years further back. On 30x magnification, he did not show miniaturization in the back half of his head, so I feel fairly confident he will not bald in this area for some time, if ever. We did not want to "shock" the hair he had in his frontal tuft of existing hair.

We placed the grafts during his first visit at around 35-40 FU/cm2, which is a comfortable density for our team, with large enough slit recipient sites that we can safely get them in without worrying about trauma to the grafts due to sites that are "too tight."

And the last reason, and perhaps the most important, is that I have great respect for the blood supply of the scalp, and I like to not overwhelm it with super density. I feel this way I get a higher yield of survival to my grafts. Regardless of how dense a first session is, if you polled such patients, you would find that the vast majority of them choose to come back for a second "fill in" session anyway. Taking two sessions also allows the hair surgeon more chance to be artistic and "paint" a final picture that is more in harmony with a natural look.

I will attach two photos of how he looked after only the one session of 1500+ grafts, which I thought was fairly decent. But he wanted it thicker. Many of my patients would have stopped with the result we obtained after that first one.

Mike Beehner, M.D.

[newbie33]

Thanks for the comprehensive answer Dr Beehner. Two more for you! Was this done via strip or fue? And how thick is the guy's hair? Looks to be pretty decent, above-average hair from the pics.

[Dr. Michael Beehner]

His grafts were all from a strip. His result, even from close-up, appeared dense similar to the hair of a man who hasn't lost any hair. As you probably know, we only have to re-create half of the original density in order for it to appear the same as full density. For example, if a balding man originally had 90 follicular bundles per square centimeter, and now is totally bald some years later, if we can transplant 45 FU's per cm2, we can duplicate the same look.

Mike Beehner, M.D.

[newbie33]

Thanks doctor. Much appreciated. Should have phrased my question better - I meant the hair shaft: how many microns?

[Torn]

Outstanding work doctor. Of the two sessions were they the Combination Method or the All-FU Graft Dense Packing Method ?

 

I believe you placed the grafts in the first session at 35-40 FU/cm2, after the second session what would you say his FU/cm2 currently is ?

 

Did you buzz down the recipient area for either session ? I understand you don't always. How do you determine if and when you should ? I've always wondered if that was a risky endeavor.

 

Thank you, Torn

[Dr. Michael Beehner]

This patient was "all-FU" planted at medium to high density. As I said, he had no miniaturization at all in the rear 2/3rd of his scalp and none of his male relatives were completely bald. When I see clear signs (ie: miniaturization on high-power examination), then I back off and do usually go to a "combination" approach with mostly FU's, but some DFU grafts in the front central for density. We shave nothing except the exact narrow, horizontal area where the strip will come from. If the physician and the patient are not too greedy for too many grafts, you get wonderful scars that are hard to detect, and the grafts are coming from the central, absolutely best area of the donor hair, whereas with FUE often you see high and low areas being harvested. The future of those hairs can sometimes be limited as they age and bald further.

Mike Beehner, M.D.