FUE Procedure after FUT.

[JeffC45]

So if someone "strips out" by having one or more FUT procedures to maximize their available grafts, does the FUE procedure make the strip-scar more visible by thinning out the donor area around the scar?

[Louisjams]

It is absolutely possible that this could happen. How many FUTs have you had?

[JeffC45]

None. Just trying to plan ahead. People sometimes advise that FUE should be done after FUT, but I wonder about the risk of exposing the scar.

[hsrp10]

That's a good question and legit concern, a skilled surgeon will be able to choose the best donor sites to avoid overly thinning out the immediate FUT scar areas (above the scar in particular to allow more hair to grow down over it).

And if it's your first FUE and not so high graft count they will likely remove from the area on the back of your head in the center not requiring many/any grafts taken from the sides. A large FUE procedure or your second or third smaller FUE procedures they will start to have to use the sides if you are getting low on donor though.

 

However if you have to shave down the donor for the procedure itself then the FUT scar will be visible of course and that would make a good time for some FUE grafts into the scar and or SMP/trico micropigmentation such as offered by ASMED etc.

 

If you need a massive amount of grafts (NW6-7) FUT is the clear choice, though mega session FUE is becoming more common these days.

(as a former NW 2A-3, I've had both FUT and FUE)

[Dr Blake Bloxham]

Jeff,

 

If the doctor is practiced with both the FUT and FUE technique, then he/she will know how to maximize the yield from the FUE (after the FUTs) without making the FUT scar more visible. If done inappropriately, a scar could be more visible because of the generalized thinning effect from FUE. But if done properly and responsibly, no reason you can't obtain some good grafts via FUE after you're "stripped out." And this is the best method to maximize your lifetime donor availability.

 

Hope this was helpful!

[JeffC45]

Thank you for these helpful replies. Do subsequent FUT's (after a first FUT) generally make a scar wider and more difficult to hide?

[hsrp10]

Not necessarily, most doctors will try to use the same scar for the second procedure.

I've had two FUT's (Hasson and Konior) and my scar when I was shaved down to for a previous FUE procedure looked like attached. Pic is a bit blurry from my mirror but you can see it mainly sticks out due to the color difference and not due to the width.

 

Also I did restart heavy weight training 1 month post-up. Waiting 2-3 months maybe could have made it bit thinner I guess but life needs to go on lol

Also SMP and or FUE into this scar would make it disappear if I ever wanted to wear my hair extremely short.

Edited October 29, 2016 by hsrp10

[lorenzo]

A good friend of mine is a bodybuilder (top 5 Canada), you can see him on Frank Red Hot Sauce commercial with his fake Arnold accent. He had a great result and a thin scar but wanted to be able to change his hairstyle. He received around 600 FUE in the scar 6 months ago and even with a mostly shaved head it is hard to see the scar even though its early still.