FUE cheaper than FUT - How?!

[gbhscot]

Apparently i'm one of a dying breed looking to still get FUT, but from all I've been advised, it just makes more sense for me and my characteristics. I've spent the last few months researching and having photo consultancies with different surgeons / extremely helpful members of this forum, and most have suggested FUT being the way to go. However, i'm in Europe, I'm a student (= limited $) and i'm going on a NW5 in my mid 20's. Not loving life. The problem is, most of the clinics in Europe which I can afford (mainly in Turkey) are just so focussed on FUE, and I have yet find a clinic offering FUT which is competitive in terms of price.

 

How can FUE possibly be cheaper than FUT given the effort required for individual graft extractions?! Does anyone have any FUT suggestions here in Europe?

 

Oh, and my standard question - Where the hell are all the good blonde hair results?!?!?!

 

Cheers,

GBH

[Swooping]

Feriduni/Bisanga both offer FUT at a cheaper price than FUE and both are elite level. What is your budget? Just work a little bit harder and save up some more so you are completely sure you go with a quality surgeon.

[Dr Blake Bloxham]

GBH,

 

It's interesting you bring up the blonde hair results conundrum. I get questions about this all the time and just made a video discussing blonde hair transplant results.

 

Take a look:

 

And here's the thread if you wanted to discuss it further: Blonde Hair Transplants

 

As far as the price question: many of the clinics who offer FUE at lower rates do so because it is what I call "technician FUE." This means a technician, not a doctor, is carrying out the procedure. There are varying degrees of this. In some scenarios, a technician extracts and a doctor makes the recipient sites. In others, however, the entire process is delegated to the technician. Not making any comments about the outcomes, but this is one of the reasons why you see big price disparities.

 

I can only think of one doctor who does FUT and FUE in Turkey. Dr Karadeniz. I'm actually a big fan of his philosophy and work, so you may want to take a gander.

 

As far as other FUT surgeons in Europe:

 

Dr Bisanga does about 50% of his cases FUT (and his work is meticulous)

Dr Devroye

Dr Feriduni does about 50% FUT as well (especially in higher NW cases and guys older than 30)

 

I'm sure there are a few other great ones I'm forgetting -- and I do apologize for that! Take a look at HTN's recommendation list in Europe.

 

And don't feel like you're in the minority for going FUT. Trust me, it's more common than you think ; ). Both procedures, FUE and FUT, are great in certain scenarios. You, just like everyone else, happen to be better suited for one above the other.

 

It's been great talking to you. Feel free to ask any additional questions here or via email.

 

Best of luck!

[Swooping]

 

Dr Bisanga does about 50% of his cases FUT (and his work is meticulous)

Dr Devroye

Dr Feriduni does about 50% FUT as well (especially in higher NW cases and guys older than 30)

 

Blake just a bit off topic but where do you pull these numbers from? Just recently I read from someone else that Feriduni almost completely performs FUE, with FUT being a minority. The guy is so extremely occupied because of his FUE work primarily lol. The whole online community fancies him as the god of FUE pretty much. You can PM me how you got these numbers, thanks.

[Dr Blake Bloxham]

Hey Swoop,

 

It's my understanding that he does FUE on lower NW patients and prefers it on guys younger than 30. For the others, he may utilize FUT. As far as the numbers go, take a look at his HTN Coalition profile. This is automatically updated with results posted in the "Leading Clinics" section. In this section, he has 91 results displayed. 39 of them are FUE. This gives a ratio of 43% FUE and 57% FUT.

 

Just rough numbers and doesn't say much about a trend, but I think it's probably the norm for those who can offer both; pretty much split because of the indications for both.

 

And yes, his FUE protocol is quite refined. I believe he's used the same technicians for extractions for quite some time now, and it's clear he's dedicated to it.

 

PS: Your results are looking great! Glad you're keeping us updated!

[gbhscot]

Thanks guys for the replies - I actually wasn't aware that a couple of those surgeons do FUT as I mostly see their (extremely impressive) FUE results. I'll look into it though. I'm definitely aware that you get what you pay for with this, but trying to balance out the price/quality as best I can on my budget. If money was no object I'd just fire up the private jet and fly off to NY to see Dr. B in person! (least I could do after all of his advice recently!!) For now at least, it'll be Europe and I will be checking out the docs you've both suggested.

 

And just watched the video on blonde transplants, really helpful. It's amazing how seldom we see blonde results posted. I recall reading an article a year or so ago in which it was argued that blonde men have a higher propensity to lose their hair than other colours, which would suggest a large market for HT. I wonder if the anxiety over poor results is fuelled by the lack of examples and is hindering blondes from going for surgery...If so, videos like that & encouraging patients to post their results would be extremely helpful

[Swooping]

Hey Swoop,

 

It's my understanding that he does FUE on lower NW patients and prefers it on guys younger than 30. For the others, he may utilize FUT. As far as the numbers go, take a look at his HTN Coalition profile. This is automatically updated with results posted in the "Leading Clinics" section. In this section, he has 91 results displayed. 39 of them are FUE. This gives a ratio of 43% FUE and 57% FUT.

 

Just rough numbers and doesn't say much about a trend, but I think it's probably the norm for those who can offer both; pretty much split because of the indications for both.

 

And yes, his FUE protocol is quite refined. I believe he's used the same technicians for extractions for quite some time now, and it's clear he's dedicated to it.

 

PS: Your results are looking great! Glad you're keeping us updated!

 

Ahh ok , that explains it thanks . Thanks again and no problem.

[Dr Blake Bloxham]

GBH,

 

Let me know when you get that private jet up and running! Glad you liked the video. Best of luck with your research!

[FUE2014]

Not to get into another fue/fut debate (!), but counting Dr F's posted results since beginning of 2012 he has posted 34 FUE results and 15 FUT results and the rest are FUT/FUT combos....so does seem to be a trend towards him performing more FUE.

[mav23100gunther]

GBH,

 

It's interesting you bring up the blonde hair results conundrum. I get questions about this all the time and just made a video discussing blonde hair transplant results.

 

Take a look:

 

And here's the thread if you wanted to discuss it further: Blonde Hair Transplants

 

As far as the price question: many of the clinics who offer FUE at lower rates do so because it is what I call "technician FUE." This means a technician, not a doctor, is carrying out the procedure. There are varying degrees of this. In some scenarios, a technician extracts and a doctor makes the recipient sites. In others, however, the entire process is delegated to the technician. Not making any comments about the outcomes, but this is one of the reasons why you see big price disparities.

 

I can only think of one doctor who does FUT and FUE in Turkey. Dr Karadeniz. I'm actually a big fan of his philosophy and work, so you may want to take a gander.

 

As far as other FUT surgeons in Europe:

 

Dr Bisanga does about 50% of his cases FUT (and his work is meticulous)

Dr Devroye

Dr Feriduni does about 50% FUT as well (especially in higher NW cases and guys older than 30)

 

I'm sure there are a few other great ones I'm forgetting -- and I do apologize for that! Take a look at HTN's recommendation list in Europe.

 

And don't feel like you're in the minority for going FUT. Trust me, it's more common than you think ; ). Both procedures, FUE and FUT, are great in certain scenarios. You, just like everyone else, happen to be better suited for one above the other.

 

It's been great talking to you. Feel free to ask any additional questions here or via email.

 

Best of luck!

 

Dr Maras also offers FUT, and then one of the female surgeons in India specializes in FUT

[KO]

Fue is cheaper in places where they have heavy tech involvement. So you will have a team of techs extracting, while doctor implants. Add low labor costs etc....

 

I think Feriduni's FUT results are a level above his FUE results, but he is doing mostly FUE these days, so why not go to a surgeon that does heavy amounts of FUT? Plus that yearlong wait list is just too much.

 

In Europe: Bisanga, Devroye, and Maras look really good.

 

Or you could save up and go to Konior and Hasson...

[RecedingTide]

Dr. Feriduni is doing 95% FUE these days. He doesn't like to offer FUT to anyone under 30 unless they already have a strip scar. He has transitioned his practice to almost entirely FUE the last 3 years.

 

That being said, clearly FUT still has a role for a 50 year old norwood 5 or 6 who wants to get as much hair as possible now and move on with life.

[Dr Blake Bloxham]

95% FUE? This seems higher than what he's posting online. Where did you get this info from? It'll be nice to get a confirmation as to what he's actually performing. Like I said before, I was under the impression he's still fairly split. FUT for larger NW cases and FUE for smaller cases and preferred for guys under 30??

 

UPDATE:

 

I just looked at his site, which says it's content is current through 2015, and saw the following:

"FUE (Follicular Unit Extraction) and FUT (Follicular Unit Transplantation) are two well-established and state-of-the-art hair transplantation methods. Which of the two methods is best needs to be decided on a case-by-case basis, with an experienced doctor weighing up the pros and cons, risks, costs and benefits and discussing them face-to-face with the patient."

 

"An FUE is best for patients wanting to avoid a linear scar at all costs, and for younger patients only requiring minor treatment."

 

"Patients with a Norwood V or VI diagnosis should choose a combination of FUE and FUT to attain the highest possible number of donor hairs."

 

"Though both extraction techniques basically allow the same number of hairs to be extracted, there is one major difference. In an FUT, under good working conditions, 4000 - 5000 FUs can be extracted in one operation session. The corresponding figure for FUE is 3000 - 3500 FUs. Using the FUE technique, a second operation is generally needed to achieve the same number of FUs."

 

"Extracted grafts [FUE] are vulnerable to dehydration. Moreover, continuing cell metabolism can lead to a sort of self-poisoning. This is the reason why the environment and handling that FUs are subject to between extraction and implantation are very important ... Generally speaking, grafts extracted vie FUE are much more sensitive, as the extraction technique leaves much less protective tissue around the hair follicles. This ultimately leads to a slightly lower survival rate. "

 

This actually seems very logical to me. Also sounds like he still utilizes both when appropriate.

 

Again, sorry for derailing GBH. I'll stay on topic from here on out!

[gbhscot]

I don't really believe he would have an FUE only policy for U30s. Surely this is the age group where future hair loss is likely to occur and a tidy donor area would need to be preserved.

 

I get that with the techs, however I have to say, several of the surgeons I have contacted have insisted that they themselves carry out the work (Karadeniz, Yaman). Spent this evening looking at some of the surgeons mentioned, been very impressed by a few (Maras in particular!) although also pretty underwhelmed by some of the results too Damned high expectations...

[RecedingTide]

I don't really believe he would have an FUE only policy for U30s. Surely this is the age group where future hair loss is likely to occur and a tidy donor area would need to be preserved.

 

As far as I am aware it's not a policy set in stone but it is his preference for a number of reasons. He mentioned this in a video a year or two ago I believe. It was on one of the European forums but might be up on youtube. It's not in English btw.

 

Ok, think of it this way from the doctor's perspective; you have a 25 year old man who is adamant on getting a HT. He is norwood 3 but his family history indicates he may have extensive loss if the future. Now of course you could just turn the case down but you're pretty sure if you don't offer it he will go elsewhere where he may end up getting FUT.

 

How about 2500 FUE or 2500 FUT (and the scar that comes with it)? Which do you believe is better for the patient? Which would you rather have in this situation if it's one or the other? Which provides more options for the future? Not that we should always practice defensive medicine but which route is less likely to come back and bite us 10 years down the road (as the doctor I mean). These are all questions you have to answer for yourself as YMMV but I personally can see the doctor's perspective on this issue.

 

In truth, younger than 30 is never an ideal age for anyone to have a transplant (don't let anyone tell you otherwise) but just think about the ramifications of doing so since nowadays this demographic makes up a large proportion of prospective patients.

 

Clearly FUT provides great results in the right hands but FUE gives a young man an option he would not otherwise have. Both have roles. Both can be awesome, one is right for one person, the other for another.

 

If the market is demanding FUE, well then clinics will evolve and attempt to master it. However, if we have a spate of unhappy FUE patients (like we did 10 years ago) public opinion will swing back towards FUT. Both will be around for some time to come.