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Is it possible to use leg hair to improve the FUE scars in the donor area?


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I had a 2nd FUE hair transplant by a doctor that didn't do a good job. I feel he over harvested.

 

Is it possible to find better FUE doctor and have them extract hairs from my thigh/legs and use them to cover my scars in my donor area?

Any suggestions of doctors besides the one in Redondo Beach, CA? Any documented cases?

 

Thanks!

Edited by Corbinite
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The only one I know who has used leg hair as donor is Dr Umar in CA as you mentioned. There may be others that have done it, though. Whether it's actually doable in your case depends on your leg hair, but it's no really a good donor source. Is there a reason you don't want to use beard or chest hair? Those work much better if you have hair in those areas.

Al

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(formerly BeHappy)

I am a forum moderator for hairrestorationnetwork.com. I am not a Dr. and I do not work for any particular Dr. My opinions are my own and may not reflect the opinions of other moderators or the owner of this site. I am also a hair transplant patient and repair patient. You can view some of my repair journey here.

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I do have beard and some chest hair...but I was really hoping to save them for the top / crown in the future. 

 

From chest I think I can get 1000 grafts. Beard, I think I can get 2500 grafts. Stomach, I think I can get 1500 grafts

I just have a lot of leg hairs than can grow up to 2 inches long...I feel like I have 5000 grafts at least from leg lol.

 

Also I'm not on fin nor will I ever want to.

Edited by Corbinite
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Can you upload pics of your scars. I take it you are referring to FUE scars, in that case do you know what size punch was used in your previous surgery (s).

It is quite rare for a patient to try and hide FUE scars in this way, you may well be better off just getting a little SMP done on the area.

Again, clear pictures will be most useful.

Edited by Shera
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Sure, here are my photos. In one of the pics I'm shaved fully.

 

On the other ones, you can see a depleted donor area under bright light...which was caused by a poor surgeon who I mis-chose. He's actually recommended here...I may want to write a negative review on him later and hopefully help others.

 

 

IMG-20181230-WA0001.jpg

Snapchat-1347813604.jpg

Snapchat-1858899371.jpg

Edited by Corbinite
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Corbinite, are you tryig to cover up all those FUE scars with leg hair?  Honestly, from thos pics, that poor FUE extraction made those scars are kind of keloid like (bumpy and standing out like goosebumps). Usually with FUE they are more inverted.  Pretty frustrating to see what you are going through and I can understand it is quite painful to go through this bullshit.  Have you reached out to Dr Bisanga, Dr Lindsey, Dr Lupanzula, Dr Cooley, Dr Wong to start off and see what they say?  

I now think chest and nape hair are useless and money wasters that may look unnatural and grow piss poor.  Beard hair can look unnatural too, it can harm crown if you have native hairs nearby probably.  It could end up causing you more headache.  Leg hair, you seem to have plenty of it, but it has to be extracted properly and has to be able to grow in and out of scar tissue.  

Also, keep this in mind, are you using finasteride?  If so, it has an adverse effect on body hairs.  It grows scalp donor hair but sheds body donor hairs.  I can’t imagine how much money and time you spent already and it is quite frustrating.  I wish you a very solid repair and good recovery.  Best of luck and pm if you need to.  Really hope you are able to get out of this mess and move forward.  

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Yeah, that looks like keloid scarring.

There's so much donor you would need to cover I honestly dont think it would be worth trying leg hair....and what if it scars badly?

4,312 FUT grafts (7,676 hairs) with Ray Konior, MD - August 2013

1,145 FUE grafts (3,152 hairs) with Ray Konior, MD - August 2018

763 FUE grafts (2,094 hairs) with Ray Konior, MD - January 2020

Proscar 1.25mg every 3rd day

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I had a small session of leg hair, which was placed in my crown.  More than 10 years later, it's still growing.  As to how leg hair would grow in scar tissue, I don't know.  I would suggest if you're  going to use leg hair, you do only one session, preferably small, and wait to see how it grows, before going any further. 

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Corbinite,

I would suggest you go down the SMP route. The second and third pics with the hair a little longer will look virtually full with a round of SMP.

This is the easiest and most proven route for you to take.

Anything else you could be opening a new can of worms. My doctor prefers to use beard hairs in FUT scars but with the area where your FUE scars are located, I'm not even sure whether it will be practical or feasible.

Your scarring is most probably down to a bigger punch being used of 1mm or greater during the extraction process. Ideally no more than a .75mm punch should be used in Caucasians to reduce the risk of permanent scarring.

Edited by Shera
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Thanks for the responses guys. Currently I'm going under a repair plan with Bisanga...I'm already month 2 post OP to fix my recipient. He's doing this with pure chest and beard hairs. I'm already seeing some growth!! For donor he also suggested SMP.

 

But just wondering is it not reasonable to at least test leg hairs of 400 grafts to see what may happen? I assume the worst is that they wouldn't grow or could the scarring get worse?

Edited by Corbinite
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Corbinite, it may not be a bad idea to do a small test session as you hinted as well.  If it doesn’t grow then you know its not a good choice.  But you got plenty of leg hair, similar to mine.  Definitely interested in how your repair goes.  

 

As a side note— You may want to consider filing a complaint with detailed photos to ISHRS and IAHRS if the surgeon who did this is recommended there and copy/send those complaints to the local med board and FTC.  Let FTC know you filed a complaint with the ISHRS + IAHRS because it is very important they know ISHRS + IAHRS have been notified about it.  That’s if you decide that route. 

 

But really interesting to see your next repair see as I’ve heard Dr Bisanga is a great repair surgeon.  Regarding smp, remember it is temporary, will you keep getting it again and again every few years?  yar I wish you all the best.  Thanks for sharing too.  

 

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Thanks guys, yeah, leg hair is my dark horse. It's thick enough to give it a shot. I'm also not sure if my donor area is thinning...It feels and looks thick to me. It's just...depleted by the bad surgeon.

I am interested in filing a complaint actually. Not sure what I may get immediately, but I at least hope it could deter future clients... I wish I had known, but even people on these forums tout him as a great unorthodox solution. Actually he's polarized. Many people like him and equally hate him. I now understand why people hate him.

In fact, the doctor is even mentioned here in this very thread. That should give you a hint as to who botched me.

 

Edited by Corbinite
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3 hours ago, Curious said:

For what it's worth, I've used arm and leg hair, and it grew.  Finasteride did not affect my body hair.

Nice! Who was your doctor? What was the transection rate (ratio of what was harvested and what ultimately grew)?

Edited by Corbinite
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I will agree that it certainly looks like you have good leg hair for this. I would try a test session on one area of your scars and see how well it turns out.

 

Edited by BeHappy

Al

Forum Moderator

(formerly BeHappy)

I am a forum moderator for hairrestorationnetwork.com. I am not a Dr. and I do not work for any particular Dr. My opinions are my own and may not reflect the opinions of other moderators or the owner of this site. I am also a hair transplant patient and repair patient. You can view some of my repair journey here.

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On 1/13/2019 at 11:13 PM, Corbinite said:

I am interested in filing a complaint actually. Not sure what I may get immediately, but I at least hope it could deter future clients... I wish I had known, but even people on these forums tout him as a great unorthodox solution. Actually he's polarized. Many people like him and equally hate him. I now understand why people hate him.

In fact, the doctor is even mentioned here in this very thread. That should give you a hint as to who botched me.

Well, those mentioned in thread are: Dr Bisanga, Dr Lindsey, Dr Lupanzula, Dr Cooley, Dr Wong and Dr Umar.

In my opinion it would be fair not letting the innocent ones be subject of suspicion here.

Myself I'm pretty sure who you are referring to but I think it would be right to give the surgeon a proper chance of displaying his ethics - as in refund or free repair. And then share the information with the community.

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On 1/13/2019 at 11:27 AM, Corbinite said:

Sure, here are my photos. In one of the pics I'm shaved fully.

 

On the other ones, you can see a depleted donor area under bright light...which was caused by a poor surgeon who I mis-chose. He's actually recommended here...I may want to write a negative review on him later and hopefully help others.

 

 

IMG-20181230-WA0001.jpg

Snapchat-1347813604.jpg

Snapchat-1858899371.jpg

God knows thats not how the donor should look like after a procedure. That looks awful. 

Plus body hair has a very low rate of success. Also, body hair remain dormant for a longer period of time after their shedding. 

If you want an honest opinion then you shouldn't go for the procedure to fill your donor area with the donor grafts from your thighs. You should opt for SMP. It would prove to be more helpful. It would require maintenance but you will be satisfied with the results. 

Also, risking scars on your thighs is also not worth it considering the high probability of failure in the donor grafts extracted from your thighs.

Usually scars in the donor area are a result of the bigger sized punches. If fine (small sized) and sharp punches are used + expertise in extraction; the donor should be fine. 

According to my experience and what I have seen so far.

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Hey guys, I'm doing well so far. I've been healing well with Bisanga post op going to reach 3 months in 2 weeks. Already I see quite a bit of hair growth in the recipient...this is great considering my grafts only came from beard and chest. I 'll post some updates in a different thread.

 

I've spoken to Bisanga about the thigh hair...they suggest doing a test next time I visit Brussels. But for now I'm focussing on a successful 1st repair.

Edited by Corbinite
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