Uniformly Overharvesting the donor via FUE vs FUT for max grafts

[Fox243]

I’ve been doing some deep dive analysis with FUT vs FUE for NW7s and I’ve come to a crossroads.
 

Traditional wisdom said max out via FUT then do FUE in areas FUT can’t reach. You need to keep your hair long. At the same time, we’ve seen doctors like Zarev basically over harvest the donor such that you’re forced to keep your hair extremely short.
 

Ideally, we could combine the two but unfortunately, one will require you to keep your hair long and the other short.

 

Which technique will end up getting more grafts? 

[A_4_Archan]

Some top fue doctors says that there is no benefit of fut this days...but imo there can be atleast 1k to 1.5k more grafts taken out if combined with fut...though evry doctor will have different opinions on this and no one will get an exact answer for this and the fight debate will continue  

Edited June 23, 2023 by A_4_Archan

[asterix0]

1 hour ago, Fox243 said:

I’ve been doing some deep dive analysis with FUT vs FUE for NW7s and I’ve come to a crossroads.
 

Traditional wisdom said max out via FUT then do FUE in areas FUT can’t reach. You need to keep your hair long. At the same time, we’ve seen doctors like Zarev basically over harvest the donor such that you’re forced to keep your hair extremely short.
 

Ideally, we could combine the two but unfortunately, one will require you to keep your hair long and the other short.

 

Which technique will end up getting more grafts? 

You don't understand, Dr. Zarev will only over harvest the donor with the patients consent if he is a Norwood 7 with a below average donor area, if conventional wisdom to transplants is applied, to get adequate coverage.

He will never deliberately over harvest the donor. His surgical technique, surgical tools, and attention to detail allow him to obtain more grafts than other surgeons can. 

Edited June 23, 2023 by asterix0

[Fox243]

48 minutes ago, asterix0 said:

You don't understand, Dr. Zarev will only over harvest the donor with the patients consent if he is a Norwood 7 with a below average donor area, if conventional wisdom to transplants is applied, to get adequate coverage.

He will never deliberately over harvest the donor. His surgical technique, surgical tools, and attention to detail allow him to obtain more grafts than other surgeons can. 

Sure, I don’t think I properly clarified. Dr. Zarev is one of the few doctors who is willing to overharvest for a NW7 to get good coverage. My question is whether you could get more grafts as a nw7 via FUT + FUE and leaving hair long  or only FUE and overharvesting such that you have to leave your hair short.

[Turkhair]

The solution is body hairs. Just look at Gatsby results. 

If you don’t have scalp hairs, you just don’t.

FUT is ugly and leaves a huge linear scar like you had surgery on your head due to gunshot wound or something. It looks cool when you have dense head of hair with a small linear scar but hideous when you’re thin balding all over the head with a scar as well. 

I don’t think people realise how ugly balding donors look compared to frontal bald.
 

Those Zarev patients are ecstatic now but give it few years when their donor balds further and they have hair at the front. They will regret it and since it’s reverse balding, it’s going to look even terrible 

 

[asterix0]

24 minutes ago, Fox243 said:

Sure, I don’t think I properly clarified. Dr. Zarev is one of the few doctors who is willing to overharvest for a NW7 to get good coverage. My question is whether you could get more grafts as a nw7 via FUT + FUE and leaving hair long  or only FUE and overharvesting such that you have to leave your hair short.

Intuitively, an FUT cross section of a sparse donor area would not seem to yield good results. Also, keep in mind the scar stretches, which seems to happen more often than not, that is more potential donor that is compromised which could have been used to extract good FUE grafts.

I think in 2023 FUT really is an outdated procedure.

[asterix0]

Just now, Turkhair said:

The solution is body hairs. Just look at Gatsby results. 

If you don’t have scalp hairs, you just don’t.

FUT is ugly and leaves a huge linear scar like you had surgery on your head due to gunshot wound or something. It looks cool when you have dense head of hair with a small linear scar but hideous when you’re thin balding all over the head with a scar as well. 

I don’t think people realise how ugly balding donors look compared to frontal bald.
 

Those Zarev patients are ecstatic now but give it few years when their donor balds further and they have hair at the front. They will regret it and since it’s reverse balding, it’s going to look even terrible 

 

Not everyone goes to Norwood 7 though. Many other FUE doctors extract outside the safest Norwood 7 region. 

Actually, if they didn't, modern FUE wouldnt even work really for high Norwoods, only for people who want a hairline fix for Norwood 3 and lower. 

[Z--]

FUT is only really worth it if the scar doesn't stretch and/or is minimized. If one is a Norwood 6/7, the extra 2 - 3k grafts can go a long way. It's the difference between a barren crown and one with some coverage. Majority of people aren't at those Norwoods, so FUE is probably the way to go.

Lol @ the body hair suggestion though. They tend to look awful, pube-like even, except in rare exceptions (like Gatsby).

[mtb]

Strip with the right surgeon is a great procedure. FUE with the right surgeon is a great procedure as well. So much depends on your personal characteristics. 

[GoliGoliGoli]

Does anyone have examples of Zarev cases where he purposefully over harvested?

It's a very interesting idea that I had in someone elses thread recently on here. If you're willing to wear you hair very short on the sides and front with basically a high fade it seems like anyone could get pretty good results. I guess it's just a question of whether a high fade looks good on you and whether it will look good as you age to basically be stuck with that hairstyle.