grafts available

[Mahair]

I was wondering on average how many grafts I have left to repair the mess that was made of my head. The Dr.(MHR) took 2,500, hardly any have grown and most I beleive hit the trashcan. It caused massive shock loss to my existing hair which wasn't too bad. The only growth was in the hairline (pluggy and low.)Dr. Shapiro said it would take 2000 to improve the mess. My scalp is still tight at 7 months. So where does this leave the donor bank . I imagine I might have a few years of possibly looking ok from a few feet away after Dr. Shapiro does his thing.But I will be in retreat from there on out. Didn't know that I would ever end up like this.

[Mahair]

I was wondering on average how many grafts I have left to repair the mess that was made of my head. The Dr.(MHR) took 2,500, hardly any have grown and most I beleive hit the trashcan. It caused massive shock loss to my existing hair which wasn't too bad. The only growth was in the hairline (pluggy and low.)Dr. Shapiro said it would take 2000 to improve the mess. My scalp is still tight at 7 months. So where does this leave the donor bank . I imagine I might have a few years of possibly looking ok from a few feet away after Dr. Shapiro does his thing.But I will be in retreat from there on out. Didn't know that I would ever end up like this.

[baldbozo]

Mahair, im not a doctor but if your head feels very tight now from your mhr transplant, 7 months post op, getting another strip transplant probably wont make it any "looser".

 

You may want to wait a few more months for the tightness to subside, or consider doing FUE type of transplants only. (non strip)

 

Either way i would recommend you wait a few more months and research your options carefully. Get several opinions and take your time. Dr Shapiro is a great doctor, but remember none of these doctors wave a magic wand and presto you are done when they do transplants and certainly cant garauntee your scalp will be looser next time around.

 

I'd say for most guys, the safe zone is about 4-6,000 grafts. Some guys get more, some can only do less.

 

But roughly speaking id say 4-5000 grafts is probably near the average for "most" guys.

If you scroll through the photo albumn here at hairtransplant network very few guys are beyond 5-6000 graft range.

 

If you've been chopped up already by a lousy doctor, then chances are you will be on the low end of that number & every graft will count.

[NW]

FUE ??

 

May be the best future option for tight scalp canidates.

[Belgiumdude]

 

 

But roughly speaking id say 4-5000 grafts is probably near the average for "most" guys.

If you scroll through the photo albumn here at hairtransplant network very few guys are beyond 5-6000 graft range.

 

 

 

sorry but i totally disagree. It is not because very few guys go beyond 5-6000 graft range, that there arent more left. And i find 4-5000 grafts on average a complete joke. I think you are still counting in plug-era. Im sorry Jotronic for always bringing you up in my statements about the average amount of grafts, but i will do it again: Jotronic, considered a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10 when it comes to available grafts in the donor-area could get 10000FU's!!! ( 7500FU's and about 800 m/m-grafts ). Let's take him as average shall we. So 10000 FU's using only strip, which means the back of his head is dry. Add what you can get from the sides with FUE.

When i post this over and over again, i always get comments that i am way off but who can give me some proof??

 

Now ill go even beyond that:

A full head of hair has about 100000 grafts? if you are a NW6, you lost about 30000? 40000? So that is 50000 to 60000 left. If the patient will never go past a NW6, which isnt that uncommon, then he could call this his permanent FU's.

---> appearance of full density requires 50% so if you take 50% out of 50 to 60000, you can get at least 25000 grafts to put in the area where you lost about 30 to 40000 grafts. That is even more than 50%.

 

I am more than willing to believe i am a fool thinking this, but i need some proof. And comments that i am way off wont make me a believer, proove me wrong. I very much appreciate guys who got burnt in the past and want to keep us virgin-patients from making a mistake but things have changed over the years. FUT makes HT's look natural and FUE makes the donor-area way way bigger.

 

Greetz.

[otto]

Belgiumgal... How many HT's have you had?

[arfy]

I believe a range around 5-6 thousand grafts via strip is considered an average maximum. You can say Jotronic had a "three" donor area but I don't know what the heck that means. What scale is that based on? That is a pretty silly "statistic" to quote. Jotronic has said that he has extraordinary scalp laxity (scalp like a "Bassett Hound") and that is the key to his higher yield. Do you understand the concept of "averages"? It means that some guys will be higher and some guys will be lower. But here you are pointing to a higher example and claiming that everyone will be that way... sorry, that is not correct, and that is not how to figure out what is average. Don't make the mistake of thinking that all patients are alike, and that if you go to patient X's doctor you will have patient X's exact results.

 

I get my estimates of 5-6000 based on comments and articles written by modern FU strip doctors. Maybe you can point out some articles or comments that claim a higher number? Anything? It's great if a guy like Jotronic has some excellent characteristics like good laxity but most of us have average charecteristics. If Jotronic was average than there would be a whole ton of guys with similar number of grafts. I don't think that there is.

 

There is a lot of assumptions in your post that I think are incorrect, for example that a guy who is Norwood 6 will still have 70 percent of his hair remaining. A lot of this information is already available if you are willing to read and research.

[Belgiumdude]

Belgiumgal... How many HT's have you had?

 

What kind of a stupid remark is this? Do i need to have had multiple HT's before i get the right to post on this forum??? What is wrong with learning before doing? That is something your parents should have taken in consideration before you came along

 

Greetz.

[Belgiumdude]

I believe a range around 5-6 thousand grafts via strip is considered an average maximum. You can say Jotronic had a "three" donor area but I don't know what the heck that means. What scale is that based on? That is a pretty silly "statistic" to quote. Jotronic has said that he has extraordinary scalp laxity (scalp like a "Bassett Hound") and that is the key to his higher yield. Do you understand the concept of "averages"? It means that some guys will be higher and some guys will be lower. But here you are pointing to a higher example and claiming that everyone will be that way... sorry, that is not correct, and that is not how to figure out what is average. Don't make the mistake of thinking that all patients are alike, and that if you go to patient X's doctor you will have patient X's exact results.

 

I get my estimates of 5-6000 based on comments and articles written by modern FU strip doctors. Maybe you can point out some articles or comments that claim a higher number? Anything? It's great if a guy like Jotronic has some excellent characteristics like good laxity but most of us have average charecteristics. If Jotronic was average than there would be a whole ton of guys with similar number of grafts. I don't think that there is.

 

There is a lot of assumptions in your post that I think are incorrect, for example that a guy who is Norwood 6 will still have 70 percent of his hair remaining. A lot of this information is already available if you are willing to read and research.

 

 

First of all, Jotronic has poor donor density. I KNOW he has very good laxity but i was talking about the donor-desity.

Secondly, read well and you see that i use jotronic as an example and almost my entire post goes about FUE

third remark, i told that the average head has about 100000 FU's and i was thinking that with a NW6, you would have lost about 30000 to 40000 FU's because in my opinion, there are more hairs left on the sides and back than on the bald area. Do you see the question marks after those numbers? so what do you think that means? That means i am asking something.

numero quatro: you still didnt answer my main question, isnt it possible to take 50% of the density you have on the sides and back with FUE, and still have the appearance of full density???

 

I know you probably know the most about HT's on this forum, but stop living in the FUT-only-age!!!

 

Greetz.

[arfy]

BelgiumDude

I think I recall reading that a Norwood 6 has lost approximately half of his total hair, so that would mean about 50,000 follicles left over (average).

 

I am pretty sure this doesn't mean 50,000 FUs, but 50,000 follicles. If there is an average of about 2 hairs per FU, that means 25,000 FUs (I think it might be something slightly less than 2 hairs per FU average).

 

Not all of those grafts are available to transplant: some are too near the "edges" where you'd want to maintain a buffer (example: right next to the crown area, or close to your sideburns). My point here is that not every single follicle is up for grabs, and should not be counted when making calculations.

 

I'm not sure how many FUs are available in total. Like I said already, many people seem to think about 5-6 thousand average for a strip patient. We don't know how many are available for FUE only, I have seen some estimates thrown around but I don't think there is a conclusive number. The same goes for guys who want to combine FUT and FUE. A lot of the numbers people claim are just guesses, like we are doing here.

 

Some people seem to think that FUE means the door has been busted down, on the limitations of donor hair (that FUE means donor hair is no longer a limitation) and that full restoration of your hair is now going to be common. I disagree. I think planning ahead and conservative use of donor hair is just as important as ever.

[Belgiumdude]

Thanks for clearing that up, i thought i had read somehere the total head had about 100000 FU's in stead of fullicules so actuallt my post meant the same only with the numbers doubled.

 

Greetz.

[Belgiumdude]

so why do i get those funny remarks like the one from mister intellect ( otto ) when i post this and in my previous posts where i state that IMO you can get 14000 FU's with stip and FUE combined?

You say about 25000 FU's left with a NW6, take 6000 with strip. So you lost about 60 to 80cm2 of donor from strip. So about 19000 left. Take 15000 that would go as good donor-area for FUE, take half so you can add an extra 7500 FU's.

So you get a total of 13500FU's with strip and FUE.

When you can put this amount in the bald area of a NW6, you can still achieve very good density.

 

Greetz.