Post 2x FUT & SMP Procedure Results + Looking for Advice

[grt4444]

Hello All,

Hope everyone is keeping healthy! I am a 24 year old male who has gotten 2 FUT procedures (one in 2017 and another in 2018) along with SMP treatment a few months ago and am looking for suggestions in regards to potential next steps as I hope to continue my hair growth procedure. As you can see in the attached photos, this is what my head looks like around 2 weeks prior to shaving my head- which I usually do now following the SMP procedure. There has been solid growth considering what my hair looked like before my first FUT procedure, but still not enough to feel "comfortable" in social settings. Another issue is that the scar is still quite visible, which I was hoping the SMP would help conceal but it hasn't provided the strongest results. 

At the moment I am grappling with the idea of getting an FUE procedure with the hope of adding density on the top and crown of my head along with possibly filling in my scar. I'm not positive whether this can be achieved in one sitting as I know FUE works a bit different, but at this point the biggest thing for me would be avoid any further scarring. As I am working from home for the foreseeable future I see this as a golden opportunity to get any necessary work done, but want to make sure I am doing the right thing with the right person. 

If anyone has any advice or tips on next steps, potential solutions, whether or not to pursue FUE and if so if they know of any good doctors in the NY area it would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

GT

[Louisjams]

SMP might be tough for you as your hair is fair and you are very light skinned. Perhaps grow your hair a bit longer so you can style it a bit and cover your FUT scar, which in and of itself is not that bad looking.

[ciaus]

Hi and welcome, whats the range of hair length/styling you want to have over the long term? Like from shaved up to a 1 or 2 guard buzz, or even longer? SMP looks best with anywhere from shaved to a 0 or 1 guard buzz at the most. Haven't seen much of people getting SMP to help with longer hair styles, but I see how it could help provide the illusion of more hair by lessening the contrast from your scalp skin color and your hair color.

Its hard to tell where all you got the SMP ,it doesn't look very 'dense'. I see what looks like some dots in the crown and frontal area, but there's more space between them than I would expect.

Have you tried finasteride yet to stabalize and maybe regain some of your loss on the top? Add minoxidil and give that a year then re-evaluate.

On the likelihood of avoiding any further visible scarring, for most of us that would mean no further hair transplants, FUT or FUE. I've seen the occasional guy go to a top doc and due to a combination of the doctor's skill, tooling and great skin color and healing properties manage to have almost undetectable scarring. Judging by your FUT scar I think you are in the boat with the rest of us. That being said, a combination of hair styling, hair length, some SMP can make it so that no one is going to be able to detect much unless they get ridiculously close and stare.

[Cardin1977]

Do you know how many grafts you've had so far?

[grt4444]

14 hours ago, Cardin1977 said:

Do you know how many grafts you've had so far?

2,000 grafts for both procedures! 

[grt4444]

15 hours ago, Louisjams said:

SMP might be tough for you as your hair is fair and you are very light skinned. Perhaps grow your hair a bit longer so you can style it a bit and cover your FUT scar, which in and of itself is not that bad looking.

Appreciate the feedback! I've actually already gotten an SMP procedure done and was happy with the "illusion" of density that it added when i buzzed my head really short. In regards to longer hair, because I loose quite a lot of thickness I have used Caboki and other fiber/powders in the past but have found them to be a bit tedious. Maybe I am being a bit unreasonable about expectations given the current hair I have now- but would you think one more FUE procedure would be beneficial? 

[grt4444]

15 hours ago, ciaus said:

Hi and welcome, whats the range of hair length/styling you want to have over the long term? Like from shaved up to a 1 or 2 guard buzz, or even longer? SMP looks best with anywhere from shaved to a 0 or 1 guard buzz at the most. Haven't seen much of people getting SMP to help with longer hair styles, but I see how it could help provide the illusion of more hair by lessening the contrast from your scalp skin color and your hair color.

Its hard to tell where all you got the SMP ,it doesn't look very 'dense'. I see what looks like some dots in the crown and frontal area, but there's more space between them than I would expect.

Have you tried finasteride yet to stabalize and maybe regain some of your loss on the top? Add minoxidil and give that a year then re-evaluate.

On the likelihood of avoiding any further visible scarring, for most of us that would mean no further hair transplants, FUT or FUE. I've seen the occasional guy go to a top doc and due to a combination of the doctor's skill, tooling and great skin color and healing properties manage to have almost undetectable scarring. Judging by your FUT scar I think you are in the boat with the rest of us. That being said, a combination of hair styling, hair length, some SMP can make it so that no one is going to be able to detect much unless they get ridiculously close and stare.

Hi Ciaus, 

Thanks for the response! So the hair length you saw in the first images isn't usually the length I have my hair at. It was more so that length because I've wanted to post on here for a bit and thought it might be easier to show grafts and scarring if I grew it out for a couple weeks. I've attached some images of my hair right after I (poorly) shaved my head- which is the length I've had since getting SMP. I have been taking Finasteride for about 3-4 months now and will continue to do so. Appreciate your take on FUT/FUE as well in regards to scarring. The SMP I got has really helped conceal the scar but I have still had people call it out when in social settings, do you think another round would possibly help? Or does this go back to my light skin, etc. 

My frame of mind was getting one more FUE procedure to add more density onto my head so that I can truly grow out my hair knowing it will be hard to have a shorter hairstyle with the scar. If I were to grow out my hair at the moment I would lose quite a lot of density and have had to fibers to conceal which I'm not crazy about. 

Thanks again!

[ciaus]

About additional SMP to conceal the scar, not an expert or ever had it done, but since you've already had some done and its still pretty visible, maybe its more about the SMP artist's skill instead of your hair characteristics. I think you should consider researching for some better SMP artists instead of going back to the same one. I've seen some pretty good results, some pics and links below:

 

 

One of our members @Gatsby had some great concealment with SMP

 

And @hairthere is an SMP artist, his website has some before/afters at this link:

https://www.aheadink.com/gallery/scar-camouflage-before-and-after

 

 

This guy @alexXx999  started by initially choosing SMP instead of hair transplants, but his latest update today is looking to do some FUE to add some texture to his SMP.  He doesn't have any scar concealment work done, but his SMP is some of the best I've seen.