FUT Scar Revision - Dr. Steven Gabel

[OtherSyde]

Hello everyone, I'm back in the game for a quick procedure this time - I'll be doing a scar revision with Dr. Gabel on this Thursday (Oct 17th). All of my results have been great so far, but after three FUT procedures totaling around ~4,500 grafts, my incision scar had gradually become larger and larger, and now that I have coverage over the majority of my scalp and will just use some small-to-medium FUE procedures for any further necessary touch-ups, I just want to get my incision scar reduced down to where it was after my first HT (it was basically invisible at a #3 Guard haircut).

First pic is from 2011 - about a year after my first FUT in late 2010, at about a #3 Guard buzz...

 

 

Pic below is after my third HT, with roughly a #6 Guard buzz - it can be hidden, but is still quite visible under bright lights due to the very light skin color underneath and the relatively sparse "curtain" of hair covering it - and on top of that I have to cut my hair myself because no stylist seems to be able to figure out the concept of how to properly mask it with longer hair above and shorter hair below without giving me a total botch-job or exposing the scar. Also, the longer #5 or #6 Guard buzz kind of chafes against military standards - it's not technically out of regulations, but everyone constantly thinks I need a haircut 

 

 

And Below you can see the incision scar revealed...

 

 

I want to point out that Dr. Gabel is a pro with his subtle trichophytic enclosures (as per the first pic, and the second procedure wasn't even bad at all either) and the increasing scar size was not an error, but a calculated temporary sacrifice; the size of the scar is really due to multiple incisions and a bit of stretching, and due to the fact that since I'd already done two FUT's before the third one, my scalp skin was already pulled fairly tight at that point - meaning that Dr. Gabel didn't want to cut out the entire scar while also taking another ~1,300 graft strip out simultaneously - it would have been too large of an incision at that point with my scalp laxity. So we settled on only removing about half of the scar tissue that time around - as you can see in the picture below from HT #3 in late 2016 (the blue marker line is right through the middle of the scar), compounding upon the current scar with the understanding that I would need to come back in a year or three for a scar revision.

 

So basically we're going to do a strip-FUT procedure - but with no hair removed from the site - only the old scar tissue, and the doc says he plans to use staples this time in addition to the regular methods, in order to ensure there's no stretching so the scar heals as narrow and invisible as possible. After a year or so, I may return for some SMP or small FUE into the scar if necessary, but if it turns out like my first incision scar and I can easily hide it completely in broad daylight with a #3 Guard buzz then I think I'll be fine!

I fly out to Oregon tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. It should also be noted for anyone considering Dr. Gabel that he has relocated to a township called Tigard which is only ~20 minutes from the Portland PDX airport (as opposed to being in Hillsboro nearly an hour away), so a quick Uber will get you there much faster and cheaper than before (which was a pleasant surprise).

I'll keep you guys updated as progress is made!

Edited October 16, 2019 by OtherSyde
Adding pics...

[Melvin- Admin]

Othersyde you're a veteran man, I've been following your progress for quite some time. Tell Dr. Gabel I said hi, i'd like to go out there and visit his new facility. 

[OtherSyde]

4 minutes ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

Othersyde you're a veteran man, I've been following your progress for quite some time. Tell Dr. Gabel I said hi, i'd like to go out there and visit his new facility. 

Haha thanks, it's good to be back! Been gone on two back-to-back deployments for almost two years now, and finally some time to get a few things done! I'll try and get some pictures of the new setup

[Melvin- Admin]

1 hour ago, OtherSyde said:

Haha thanks, it's good to be back! Been gone on two back-to-back deployments for almost two years now, and finally some time to get a few things done! I'll try and get some pictures of the new setup

Awesome man look forward to seeing your progress.

[hairlossPA]

good luck. interested to see how this turns out. you must have a ton of movement to still close that 

[OtherSyde]

Welp I'm done for now, the procedure was quick and streamlined as usual. Dr. Gabel's new office and facilities are freshly-constructed and very classy! 

 

 

I will get some more pictures tomorrow morning when I go back. I'm now back in my hotel room recuperating with Tylenol and Ibuprofen, vegetating on the YouTubes with my head all bandaged up :)

 

Not much more to update on at the moment, but I'll be sure and post some nice gory pictures of my stapled-up incision site tomorrow when the bandages come off!

[Melvin- Admin]

Wow that facility is a huge step up from their previous office. Very impressed. Looking good man 🙌🏼 looking forward to your updates.

[OtherSyde]

Alright! Back home in San Diego! I went in for my follow-up this morning before I flew out, here are a few more pics as promised. I grabbed a few shots of Dr. Gabel and his swanky new place (it's way bigger than the previous place, I kept getting lost among all the rooms!) - not too many pics though, as the Doc himself is putting together a new tour presentation that he plans to release soon, highlighting all their classy facilities and high-tech gadgetry

 

 

 

Annadaya de-bandaged my noggin and gave my hair a quick washing and cleaned me all up (made sure the staples looked good, no signs of infection or inflammation, etc.), and I was on my way! Very streamlined and smooth experience overall, as usual!

 

 

And now I'm back home snapping a few pics. Even with my hair covered in wet gooey Polysporin ointment it's difficult to see the scar even with all the staples, and my obscuring curtain of longer hair above the scar is clearly way longer than it needs to be at this point  in order to mask the scar  - no more #6 Guard buzz in the back!

 

As you can see below, nearly all of the old scar tissue was removed.

 

The Doc said he was aiming to reduce the total scar width by roughly ~50%, but if you look at the zoomed-in pic below you can see that the hair follicles actually go right down almost to the very edge of the new scar on both the top and bottom sides; I would wager that he ultimately managed to reduce it by closer to 70% or more, which will make it very easy to hide with much shorter hair!

 

Compare the post-op pic above with the zoomed-in version of the pre-op pic below (from above in the first post of this thread) to see the sheer difference in coverage pattern - so much less bare skin area!

 

Overall I'm really excited to see how this turns out, especially after I get the staples all removed in 9-12 days! Once the staples are out and I can stop gooping it up with ointment every day I bet it will be basically undetectable.

In a year or two I might make another pilgrimage up to Oregon again to get some SMP into the scar if it's even needed, and also to get my crown filled in via FUE, as you can see in the pics above that I've got a little thin spot slowly developing - shouldn't take a huge procedure though. Happy for now though! I'll do at least one more update in a week or two just to show how it turned out.

Edited October 19, 2019 by OtherSyde

[OtherSyde]

Well I got antsy this morning buzzed it down to a #4 Guard. This was after taking a shower so it was all dry and clean instead of goopy and wet (before I put more Polysporin on). Even being somewhat swollen with the staples in and only 2 days old, it's already less visible now at a #4 Guard than it was before at a #6 Guard! Loving it so far, and very little pain.

Edited October 19, 2019 by OtherSyde

[home1212]

looks amazing! hope you have a speedy recovery and everything turns out as you expected. 

[OtherSyde]

Welp my staples are out, and things are looking good so far; scar is still a bit red and angry-looking, as to be expected ~13 days post-op, but looking at the pictures compared to the before shots, you can see that the scar itself is barely thicker than a credit card and there is hair growing throughout the region as well, right up to the edge of the scar!

 

 

 

It's still slightly visible with a #4 Guard shave, but during staple removal and while gently washing the scabbing off in the sink/shower, I did experience a fair amount of shock-loss as well - probably 40-50 hairs at least. I think these will grow back in time as healing progresses and the follicles begin their growth cycles anew, so I'm very optimistic towards the final result which will be in a few months. I'll post an update when I get there. Cheers!

[Melvin- Admin]

The scar looks promising, did Dr. Gabel is the trichophytic closure?

[hairlossPA]

any update to how this turned out?

[OtherSyde]

Yep! I keep my hair at roughly a 3 to 4 guard in the back now, instead of a 5 or 6 guard like before. The scar is still slightly visible under brighter lights if you know what you're looking for, but no one has ever commented or asked about it in real life. Overall much happier than before!

I threw in a few pics (under bright vanity light) below as well just as a comprehensive update, ~4 years since my last actual HT.

Edited February 9, 2021 by OtherSyde

[Scarwork]

@OtherSydeThanks for sharing the update. your hair looks great. I am going for scar revision and can you please share us how your scar looks like with some pics. A close up of scar after revision will help the community to go for scar revision or not. 

Edited February 9, 2021 by Scarwork

[Melvin- Admin]

14 hours ago, OtherSyde said:

Yep! I keep my hair at roughly a 3 to 4 guard in the back now, instead of a 5 or 6 guard like before. The scar is still slightly visible under brighter lights if you know what you're looking for, but no one has ever commented or asked about it in real life. Overall much happier than before!

I threw in a few pics (under bright vanity light) below as well just as a comprehensive update, ~4 years since my last actual HT.

Damn that’s a perfect hairline 🤩 do you mind putting up some old pics of how it looked before surgeries?! 
 

Guys, 

You should know @OtherSyde is an OG, I remember looking up his reviews back in like 2011 10 years ago. 

[Britanium]

Still looking amazing. One of the first journeys I ever followed 👌

[Mycroft]

I feel like we don't see many scar revisions posted here on the forum, but this is a great improvement. That scar is a fraction of the size it was before, and pretty impressive in general considering this is technically a fourth op.

[Sean]

Othersyde, 

been a while, Lookin good, hairline looks great, scar looks much better.  Significant change all around.  Awesome!  Happy for you!  

[OtherSyde]

On 2/9/2021 at 9:05 AM, Melvin-Moderator said:

Damn that’s a perfect hairline 🤩 do you mind putting up some old pics of how it looked before surgeries?! 
 

Guys, 

You should know @OtherSyde is an OG, I remember looking up his reviews back in like 2011 10 years ago. 

Thanks, and here are a few pics from over a decade ago, back before I got anything done; I'd basically be a hard Norwood 4 or 5 by now without the expert intervention of Dr. Gabel and the patience of the members on this forum teaching me the ways!

Edited February 19, 2021 by OtherSyde

[Gatsby]

That is a stellar result! The FUT scar you now have will only improve in time. Thanks for the update! All the best!

[Melvin- Admin]

9 hours ago, OtherSyde said:

Thanks, and here are a few pics from over a decade ago, back before I got anything done; I'd basically be a hard Norwood 4 or 5 by now without the expert intervention of Dr. Gabel and the patience of the members on this forum teaching me the ways!

You look a decade younger, a decade later. Remarkable 👏🏼

[OtherSyde]

I feel I should mention that I only have moderate density in the mid-scalp with a heavier density placed in the frontal-most rows to give me a solid phalanx of frontal hairline density for people to see; I have, however, augmented it significantly with some good ole' SMP, done in late 2019. This stuff works wonders in darkening your scalp to emulate density, especially if you have a pale-ass scalp like mine that strongly contrasts the color of your brown hair.

 

Before - you can see how thin it looks even with somewhat longer hair to try and mask my glowing scalp:

 

And after - with density appearing higher even with shorter-shaved hair:

 

And after I grew it out a little (3 or 4-guard I think?):

[hairlossPA]

is it possible to get a picture of you with a comb holding up your hair by the scar to compare it to one of your original pictures where it shows it at its worst?

[follically challenged]

On 2/20/2021 at 9:26 PM, OtherSyde said:

I feel I should mention that I only have moderate density in the mid-scalp with a heavier density placed in the frontal-most rows to give me a solid phalanx of frontal hairline density for people to see; I have, however, augmented it significantly with some good ole' SMP, done in late 2019. This stuff works wonders in darkening your scalp to emulate density, especially if you have a pale-ass scalp like mine that strongly contrasts the color of your brown hair.

 

Before - you can see how thin it looks even with somewhat longer hair to try and mask my glowing scalp:

 

And after - with density appearing higher even with shorter-shaved hair:

 

And after I grew it out a little (3 or 4-guard I think?):

Wow. The SMP result gives it a fantastic boost i think. How often do you get the SMP? Does it need topping up each year? Does it looks worse as the months go by..?

All in all, great head of hair now!