Raymond Konior, MD | Chicago Hair Institute | 3,685 Graft Hairline Repair of Frontal Flap

[Dr. Raymond Konior]

This is a 34-year old patient with a history of undergoing a frontal hairline flap using tissue expansion of the left donor region.  He presented to my office with complaints of an abrupt hairline, a frontal hairline scar, an unsightly left-side donor scar, and thinning in the midscalp and crown regions.  His primary goals were: 1) create a more natural hairline; 2) camouflage scars along the hairline and in the donor area; and 3) enhance hair density in the midscalp and crown.

His physical examination revealed:

1.       An overly-thick frontal hairline flap with backward-oriented hair. 

2.       A disfiguring, hypopigmented scar that traversed the entire length of the hairline. 

3.       A prominent 1 cm scar in the left and back donor areas that traversed the path of the previously transposed hairline flap. 

4.       Significant density reduction in the temple region surrounding the transposition point of the flap. 

5.       Advanced miniaturization in the midscalp and crown.

6.       A clinically apparent scar along the back edge of the flap.

7.       Disproportionate thinning in the lower left crown which had resulted from this edge being displaced downward during closure of the flap’s donor defect.   

Surgical Plan: The entire left donor area and left occipital region were eliminated from consideration for donor harvesting because of severely limited elasticity and density reduction that resulted from removal of the flap and because of the preexisting wide scar.  In anticipation of a large graft requirement to accomplish the many goals at hand, a multi-stage approach was developed that would begin with strip harvesting and later convert to future FUE harvesting once the donor region elasticity threshold had been fully utilized to preclude any additional strip harvesting.  The right temple and occipital donor regions demonstrated sufficient density and elasticity to allow strip harvesting for the initial stages of this restoration.

Result: Presented here is the result of two graft sessions that were staged seven months apart and utilized a total of 3,685 grafts procured via strip harvesting.  Session 1 consisted of 2292 grafts, distributed into the frontal hairline scar region, the occipital scar, and the midscalp region.  Session 2 consisted of 1393 grafts that were distributed into the crown, a gap located between the right end of the flap and the adjacent temporal hair, the right hairline scar, and a thinning left-side donor area surrounding the flap’s transposition point.  Postoperative photos demonstrate results nine-months following the second session.  Additional density gains are expected. 

 

 

Preop - Front

 

Preop - Left

 

Preop - Right

 

Preop - Top

 

Preop - Back View

 

Planned Graft Zone - Front

 

Planned Graft Zone - Midscalp

 

Planned Graft Zone Session 2 - Crown

 

Postop - View 1

 

Postop - View 2

 

Postop - View 3

 

Postop - View 4

 

Postop - View 5

 

Postop - View 6

 

Postop - View 7

 

Postop - Top View

 

Postop - Back View 1

 

Postop - Back View 2

 

Flap Donor Scar - Anterior

 

Flap Donor Scar Graft Placement - Anterior

 

Flap Donor Scar Result - Anterior

 

Flap Donor Scar - Posterior

 

Flap Donor Scar Graft Placement - Posterior

 

Flap Donor Scar Result - Posterior

 

Graft Placement - Front Hairline

 

Graft Placement - Crown

[Melvin- Admin]

How on earth is a 34 year old receiving a fleming meyer flap procedure? This is absolutely insane. He is lucky to have found you @Dr. Raymond Konior it truly baffles me how some surgeons are still performing outdated procedures, especially for patients who would benefit from the gold standard follicular unit transplantation. 

[Gasthoerer]

+1

I had to re-read twice to make sure it did not say 34 years ago. 

He must be over the moon now.

[OliverAtom]

On 1/26/2020 at 6:51 PM, Melvin-Moderator said:

How on earth is a 34 year old receiving a fleming meyer flap procedure? This is absolutely insane. He is lucky to have found you @Dr. Raymond Konior it truly baffles me how some surgeons are still performing outdated procedures, especially for patients who would benefit from the gold standard follicular unit transplantation. 

+10000 Totally agree with you Melvin. It´s insane and it should be banned somehow to use other options over FUE when it´s possible. A total pity some clinics are taking advantage of uninformed and desperate patients : (

[Pete-from-Farjo]

What an interesting case. Shocking that he's had a flap procedure in this day and age. He looks so much better now. Completely natural. Great repair job.

[Ads]

Fantastic repair work, completely natural looking result.

[stephcurry30]

What a result. Can someone aware me what a flap is? they cut out a section of hair from the back side (similar to FUT) except they place the entire piece as a hairline?

[Al - Moderator]

2 hours ago, stephcurry30 said:

What a result. Can someone aware me what a flap is? they cut out a section of hair from the back side (similar to FUT) except they place the entire piece as a hairline?

 

That's basically it. It was done mostly in the 1980's and early 90's to fix a receding hairline. This was in the days when hair transplants were done with 4mm plug grafts, so the only way to get somewhat of a natural looking hairline was to do a flap. Once hair transplant grafts got small enough to look natural in a hairline flaps became outdated.

 

[killa]

I remember back in the day seeing flap Tv ads. Thank god flaps fell out of favor. But believe it or not theyre still performed. Guess maybe for special cases.