Mixed Feelings after First HT (FUT)

[SLA]

I hear you @Gasthoererand @Curious25about needing more grafts than 500-1000.

It is interesting seeing the wide variation in the amount of grafts surgeons use to recreate certain areas.

 am reflecting on the many examples I have seen on this forum in which the front and midscalp were successfully recreated with 3200-4000 grafts.

Some of these include @Wandererind , @juanjs84(he had 5150, however I think 1,500 went toward the crown), @Siyork89 , @MrClean58 , @paddyirishman

I know that there are a lot of factors at play in results including head size, hair caliber, scalp/hair color contrast. I am not sure why the OPs results with ~3,000 look not close to the examples above. You might say that hair quality and caliber played a role, however, I am not so sure as paddyirishman had very fine hair as well. 

Perhaps the others were FUE in which they were able to cherry pick grafts with more hair?

 

 

[Wandererind]

hi, as we talk about number of grafts, each and every clinic i had a consultation with, prior told me that i would be needing around 4800 to 5500 grafts.i was doubtful and surprised when eugenix told me that 4000 grafts would be sufficient! maybe it depends on the surgeon and how they create a hairline! mine was 4072 with 468 going to temples alone!

 

[Melvin- Admin]

I have spoken to Dr. Lindsey on your case, he did mention saying you would certainly need a second procedure for adding density and coverage. I believe he should be contacting you. Please do keep me updated. 

[James5150]

     You had a lot of real estate to cover and were always going to need more then 1 surgery to reach your goal. Don’t beat yourself up you’ll still get there. You’ve been given good advice by some of the guys here. The only thing I’ll add is you need to grow your hair out to get coverage! You’re not doing yourself any favors shaving it down at nine months post op when the grafts are still maturing and exposing your scar which healed really good by the way. 

[elicochin]

On 5/3/2021 at 12:24 PM, Melvin-Moderator said:

I have spoken to Dr. Lindsey on your case, he did mention saying you would certainly need a second procedure for adding density and coverage. I believe he should be contacting you. Please do keep me updated. 

Thank you for your continued support @Melvin-Moderator. I think I met the objectives of starting this thread; I have been given some great advice here. I am grateful for that.

Just to be clear, a second surgery was always part of my plan all along, but it wasn't targeted for the same recipient area though. My plan was to establish a mature hairline and fill the frontal-scalp through an FUT first, and then move on to the back of the scalp with a second FUE surgery. I always knew that the crown was not going to be addressed with my Norwood scale and I was fine with it.

My grievance is mostly on not densely packing the recipient area and needing another surgery to add density, risking damage to the recently transplanted hair, shock-loss and other usual complications. I see many people (even with my Norwood scale) on this forum achieving decent density with just one surgery, and that put them on the driver seat in terms of options. And of course, there are few cases ending up with the prospect of multiple surgeries on the same recipient area to fix the shortcomings of the previous surgery. Unfortunately I am in the latter group and that's a bummer.

[Melvin- Admin]

11 minutes ago, elicochin said:

Thank you for your continued support @Melvin-Moderator. I think I met the objectives of starting this thread; I have been given some great advice here. I am grateful for that.

Just to be clear, a second surgery was always part of my plan all along, but it wasn't targeted for the same recipient area though. My plan was to establish a mature hairline and fill the frontal-scalp through an FUT first, and then move on to the back of the scalp with a second FUE surgery. I always knew that the crown was not going to be addressed with my Norwood scale and I was fine with it.

My grievance is mostly on not densely packing the recipient area and needing another surgery to add density, risking damage to the recently transplanted hair, shock-loss and other usual complications. I see many people (even with my Norwood scale) on this forum achieving decent density with just one surgery, and that put them on the driver seat in terms of options. And of course, there are few cases ending up with the prospect of multiple surgeries on the same recipient area to fix the shortcomings of the previous surgery. Unfortunately I am in the latter group and that's a bummer.

I certainly understand your grievances. Hopefully you can find an amicable solution with Dr. Lindsey, keep the line of communication open. Please let me know if you have any issues. We’re always here to help.

[1978matt]

I think it looks ok, but you just need 2 or 3 more surgeries.  What you have had to be spread out otherwise it would have looked pretty silly compressed into the front quarter/third of your head.

You could:

Get Lindsey to continue with the plan, and place another ~2500; or consider H&W to max out the FUT and do some FUE at the same time.  More costly, but might get you where you want to be quicker.

Edited May 5, 2021 by 1978matt

[JayLDD]

Imo on price and graft numbers this patient should consider a clinic like Eugenix who are competent with body hair work. Depending on laxity Hasson/Wong would be my other main consideration.  

If the goal is simply filling the current transplanted area I still wouldn't even consider 2500 grafts viable. To fill that full NW6 area that was a job for 8k+ grafts, even with the crown completely bare this case should have been 5000 grafts to begin with. To add to that, the growth was mediocre, pretty clear from the post-ops that not everything grew. Not terrible and likely straightforward to repair for the right clinic.

Personally, I just think the clinic chosen was the wrong one for this specific case. Anyone with that level of baldness should be looking to the obvious contenders like HnW, Eugenix, ASMED etc. 

For OP, I wouldn't be too concerned about risk of shock loss or damaging grafts etc with a second procedure, its a very normal process for people to undergo multiple surgeries. For your case it would be very much expected no matter the approach.

I wouldn't risk the same mistake of ultra-conservative graft numbers for a second surgery.  You're basically completely bald beyond a few thousand transplanted grafts and there's no reason to be conservative when the goal is to fill that area to the highest degree possible. That area is huge and takes a lot of grafts, there's no getting around that. That doesn't mean it has to be 4-5000 grafts, but the reality is that the best result is going to be from those kinds of graft numbers. Whatever a clinic like HnW would deem to be the maximum number of grafts that can safely be taken I would advocate for. 

[HairLostYears]

It seems all too often these kind of reviews just get lost in the shuffle without a definitive conclusion.  This doctor is one I've considered before, admittedly mainly due to being the closest recommended surgeon to me.  Care to share any further developments, elicochin?

[Gasthoerer]

Any updates on this case? 

[Melvin- Admin]

7 hours ago, Gasthoerer said:

Any updates on this case? 

Yes