Long Hair FUE

[MM94941]

Is anyone more educated on this? Is it a scam? And do any US surgeons do this?

 

Here’s where I found it:

 

https://m.hairtransplantfue.org/long-hair-fue

[Lennney]

I didn't see any photos of post HT, nor any recovery photos. I only searched for 3 minutes, but didn't see any.

 

My HT experience has been that nearly 100% of transplanted hair will shed before they begin to grow. Sure the long hair will look sweet for about 3 weeks. After 3 weeks, you'll lose hair like a chemo patient. Does spending the resources (both your capital and the clinic's time) become worth it if the net result is a shed of the HT hair?

Having said that, I'd love to see how transplanting long hairs is overall better. I know that some docs will do a partial shave/no shave donor area (which is more beneficial than transplanting long hairs), but never have I ever seen a transplant of long hairs.

[MM94941]

Thanks for your reply. It’s not that I’m so interested in having an immediate result, it’s that i’m trying to avoid shaving my head because of work - I just can’t do it, and if doing FUE with long hair is available, I could do the procedure without shaving.

[MM94941]

17 minutes ago, Lennney said:

I didn't see any photos of post HT, nor any recovery photos. I only searched for 3 minutes, but didn't see any.

 

My HT experience has been that nearly 100% of transplanted hair will shed before they begin to grow. Sure the long hair will look sweet for about 3 weeks. After 3 weeks, you'll lose hair like a chemo patient. Does spending the resources (both your capital and the clinic's time) become worth it if the net result is a shed of the HT hair?

Having said that, I'd love to see how transplanting long hairs is overall better. I know that some docs will do a partial shave/no shave donor area (which is more beneficial than transplanting long hairs), but never have I ever seen a transplant of long hairs.

Thanks for your reply. It’s not that I’m so interested in having an immediate result, it’s that i’m trying to avoid shaving my head because of work - I just can’t do it, and if doing FUE with long hair is available, I could do the procedure without shaving.

 

 

[Lennney]

17 minutes ago, MM94941 said:

Thanks for your reply. It’s not that I’m so interested in having an immediate result, it’s that i’m trying to avoid shaving my head because of work - I just can’t do it, and if doing FUE with long hair is available, I could do the procedure without shaving.

No problem. So, no matter what, the recipient hair (the bald areas) will 1. receive hair 2. become red (will last 1-16 weeks depending on your skin tone) 3. fall out.

Please understand the above, and know that there's currently no procedure that will escape 2 & 3.

1. Get a FUT surgery. This will allow you to potentially keep all of your donor-area hair looking like it was untouched. Several HT docs on this forum preach using FUT as your initial HT due to maximizing donor capability. Con - you have the scar which may expand/ cause discomfort. You will still have 2 & 3.

2. Not nearly as common as unshaved FUT is the unshaved FUE. This method will require a least some portion to be shaved/cut. This is much more noticeable (initially) than the FUT equivalent in the donor area. You'll still have 2 & 3.

[Forty Six & 2]

Can you post a picture of your current status? It is possible to hide the surgery, if you only get 1.- or 2.000 grafts in your Hairline done and have a fringe hairstyle. Your donor area has to be shaved, but it looks pretty normal after a few weeks of vacation.  Note, that not every surgeon is willing to perform with a partial shave.

If you are a norwood 4 or higher and need a big amount of grafts, it is almost impossible to hide the surgery, your recipient will be red and look really ugly for 2 or 3 months, once you start shedding.

Edited May 17, 2019 by Forty Six & 2

[Lennney]

3 hours ago, Forty Six & 2 said:

Can you post a picture of your current status? It is possible to hide the surgery, if you only get 1.- or 2.000 grafts in your Hairline done and have a fringe hairstyle. Your donor area has to be shaved, but it looks pretty normal after a few weeks of vacation.  Note, that not every surgeon is willing to perform with a partial shave.

If you are a norwood 4 or higher and need a big amount of grafts, it is almost impossible to hide the surgery, your recipient will be red and look really ugly for 2 or 3 months, once you start shedding.

I agree in that Norwood 2 & 3 FUT/FUE can be camouflaged with your long original hairs with the right styling.

Yes, there is no way to get away from the ugly shed phase. It will happen (with variation based on your physiology), and will be noticable. If it was possible, you'd definitely hear about it and see advertisment for it.

I think you (OP) just have to own the procedure. There's no easy way that let's you look like you didn't just get 1,000+ incisions in the most vascular area on your body. 

[gillenator]

There are HT surgeons who perform long haired FUE, but not many.   Most prefer to shave the area down both in the donor and recipient areas.

[DrTBarghouthi]

The standard practice is to shave the donor and recipient areas for both FUT and FUE. The shaved portion of the donor area for FUT is minimal and hair above usually covers the scar initially. The recipient area can be minimally shaved depending on the size that needs transplanting, the pattern of hair loss and your current style. Clients with longer hair and only minimal recessions or some crown work can hide this pretty well.

Nonetheless, nothing is 100% hidden and redness and shedding will always occur.

Now, more recently, a trend to do more “hidden” work has emerged. This is usually divided into two techniques:

1. Preview Long hair FUE as the name implies involves extracting long haired follicular units and transplanting while maintaining the long hair shaft. This is done by some clinics and gives you an immediate “preview” of what the end result will be and also avoids shaving the donor. The downside is that those hairs will shed in few weeks (might be more upsetting to some clients seeing that happen after seeing an almost fully grown set of hair), but also might be satisfying to some. The main downside is probably cost and the fact that the yield per session is smaller. It is a more time consuming process and probably yields 1000 grafts at most per session. 

2. The other way to sort of avoid a full shave FUE is to have your hair long in the donor and to shave several strips of hair (similar to FUT shaving) and extracting those grafts from there. The hair over these strips will hide the areas being extracted quite well. Again, the yield is less per session and we usually plan the procedure in stages every 3-4 months so that you can extract from different areas every few months and make it look undetected. Usually 1000 grafts per session (depending on how long the hair is ofcourse). The longer the hair in the donor, the wider the shaved strips can be and hence a bit more per session can be done. This one works well in my opinion, but it’s important to have it well planned because you need to have a uniformly extracted donor by the end of the sessions. 

I hope this helps. 

Different clinics can name these techniques differently so I wont get into the different names that can be given to these procedures. 

[Dazed]

I have never heard of transplanting long hair.  I have had both FUT and FUE, and the donor area was buzzed down.  I did not have the recipient area buzzed with either procedure.  The buzzed look is not for everybody.  Since shedding seems to be the norm I see little reason to do this unless you are looking at a very temporary fix because of a special event, and acknowledge that most will shed shortly.

Edited May 19, 2019 by Dazed

[gillenator]

On ‎5‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 6:11 PM, DrTBarghouthi said:

The standard practice is to shave the donor and recipient areas for both FUT and FUE. The shaved portion of the donor area for FUT is minimal and hair above usually covers the scar initially. The recipient area can be minimally shaved depending on the size that needs transplanting, the pattern of hair loss and your current style. Clients with longer hair and only minimal recessions or some crown work can hide this pretty well.

Nonetheless, nothing is 100% hidden and redness and shedding will always occur.

Now, more recently, a trend to do more “hidden” work has emerged. This is usually divided into two techniques:

1. Preview Long hair FUE as the name implies involves extracting long haired follicular units and transplanting while maintaining the long hair shaft. This is done by some clinics and gives you an immediate “preview” of what the end result will be and also avoids shaving the donor. The downside is that those hairs will shed in few weeks (might be more upsetting to some clients seeing that happen after seeing an almost fully grown set of hair), but also might be satisfying to some. The main downside is probably cost and the fact that the yield per session is smaller. It is a more time consuming process and probably yields 1000 grafts at most per session. 

2. The other way to sort of avoid a full shave FUE is to have your hair long in the donor and to shave several strips of hair (similar to FUT shaving) and extracting those grafts from there. The hair over these strips will hide the areas being extracted quite well. Again, the yield is less per session and we usually plan the procedure in stages every 3-4 months so that you can extract from different areas every few months and make it look undetected. Usually 1000 grafts per session (depending on how long the hair is ofcourse). The longer the hair in the donor, the wider the shaved strips can be and hence a bit more per session can be done. This one works well in my opinion, but it’s important to have it well planned because you need to have a uniformly extracted donor by the end of the sessions. 

I hope this helps. 

Different clinics can name these techniques differently so I wont get into the different names that can be given to these procedures. 

It is option 2 that is most often done in long haired FUE procedures.

[DrTBarghouthi]

True. The reason being is that it is not technically different than a conventional FUE. Just needs some planning of the donor area and the procedures are staged. Option 1 is more technically challenging as it needs specific slitted punches and non rotating machine or a manual extraction. Nonetheless, it is being done by some.

[gillenator]

Very true!