2436 grafts FUT Dr. Gabel - May 3, 2021

[soundasleep]

Hello!  I am 4 weeks post-procedure and I wanted to post some photos and a little about my great experience with Dr. Gabel.  Excellent consultation, friendly and helpful staff, lots of patience.  Just as many others have noted. After a fair amount of research I chose him for his good communication and design work, his FUT experience, and his reputation for good results and dense packing in the front.  My goal was to bring my hairline forward a bit and fill in the sides/corners which have receded a lot over time.  I am 51 and have been receding steadily for about 25 years.  Never tried any oral medication or topical treatments.

 

He confirmed that my hair is indeed quite fine (small diameter), but with decent donor density.  I think the design phase in the morning took longer than usual, and I appreciate that he was patient during that process.  A few things to note that may be helpful to others:

 

1. Apparently local anesthetic wears off quickly for me, and it seems I need more than most people.  Also, I was pretty out of it from the narcotics and my communication wasn't great at first.  I was slow to let them know that I was starting to feel pricks as the local wore off, and did not always give them warning when I moved my head.  Remember that during surgery, communication is key!
2. During the procedure, the doctor told me that my grafts were quite large and splayed - and that I would NOT have been a good candidate for FUE.    Presumably because there would have been a high transection rate with FUE, i.e. it would be difficult to extract grafts without damaging them due to their size.  I had never heard of this before (someone having extra large grafts).  I was pretty set on FUT during my research, but there were a few times when I thought maybe I would go with FUE.  Glad I didn't.
3. When I started applying Polysporin to the recipient area a few days after surgery, I used too much.  Plus it seemed to pool together and coagulate, maybe from sleeping upright.  You can still see some of it mixed in with my scabs in the "1 week" photo.  It took a LOT of spraying to get it to dissolve.  So, go easy on that stuff!

 

Shedding has happened quickly. I think I may have actually started shedding in under one week.  You can see that at 4 weeks, most hairs have been shed.  Seems my ugly duckling phase happened sooner than it does for most people (from what I read on these forums), but maybe that means the growth process will start sooner too?  Hoping that's the case!

 

Anyway, hopefully this post will be helpful to someone. I will post more pics after I have had some new growth. Looking forward to it!

[UnbaldEagle]

It looks great, I'm pretty sure you'll be very happy with the final result.

Best of luck.

[Gatsby]

You've gone to a great surgeon and you are just getting into the ugly duckling phase. Also for 51 you have managed to hold onto a good head of hair for that long! I look forward to your updates and thanks for sharing!

[BDK081522]

The work looks great! Thanks for sharing. I'm surprised Dr. Gabel had you put polysporin on the recipient. I've always been instructed by every surgeon to only put it on the donor. It seems that would be very difficult to wash out when doing the no touch cup and shampoo technique. My post op instructions from Dr Konior suggested that the recipient only gets saline spray for the first few days then aloe vera. 

[Britanium]

Really nice work from a very good Dr. Look forward to following your ongoing result. 🙏

[soundasleep]

4 hours ago, BDK081522 said:

The work looks great! Thanks for sharing. I'm surprised Dr. Gabel had you put polysporin on the recipient. I've always been instructed by every surgeon to only put it on the donor. It seems that would be very difficult to wash out when doing the no touch cup and shampoo technique. My post op instructions from Dr Konior suggested that the recipient only gets saline spray for the first few days then aloe vera. 

Yeah, I think it was supposed to be a very thin, light application.  I definitely went overboard.

 

[Melvin- Admin]

Looks very clean I look forward to seeing your updates 🙌🏼

[giegnosiganoe]

17 hours ago, soundasleep said:

During the procedure, the doctor told me that my grafts were quite large and splayed - and that I would NOT have been a good candidate for FUE.    Presumably because there would have been a high transection rate with FUE, i.e. it would be difficult to extract grafts without damaging them due to their size.  I had never heard of this before (someone having extra large grafts).  I was pretty set on FUT during my research, but there were a few times when I thought maybe I would go with FUE.  Glad I didn't.

This is the second time I've heard this now, again from Dr. Gabel.

It's quite interesting, and I wonder what other surgeons have to say about it. You hardly ever hear of surgeons advising FUT instead of FUE, only the other way around. And I've never heard this concern mentioned. Would be an interesting question for the next Q&A @Melvin-Moderator

 

In any case, you can't really go wrong starting with FUT. Work looks good to me. Best of luck!

[Melvin- Admin]

Dr. Gabel is truly one of the best in the industry. One of the nicest people i've ever met. Eager to see your updates. 

[soundasleep]

On 6/2/2021 at 6:25 PM, giegnosiganoe said:

This is the second time I've heard this now, again from Dr. Gabel.

Interesting, I have seen that thread but I guess I missed that part.  I assume it's something that hair restoration doctors encounter and have to deal with every once in a while.  Probably not their preferred situation!  It is probably less likely to be mentioned during an FUE procedure so as not to scare the patient.

[Melvin- Admin]

Final update?