Dr Pitella impossible hair transplant

[mr_peanutbutter]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C4CMWHvttAa/

 

looks like a norwood 7a

 

really curious how this will turn out

 

Edited March 4 by mr_peanutbutter

[baddecisions]

100% beard grafts for this one

uffff, hoping for the best

[Shadman]

5 hours ago, mr_peanutbutter said:

https://www.instagram.com/stories/dr.felipepittella/3314835425498673174?utm_source=ig_story_item_share&igsh=dXY3YjZzNmNrOXgz

 

looks like a norwood 7a

 

really curious how this will turn out

 

No doubt, one of the most difficult cases 😲

[BackFromTheBrink]

4 hours ago, baddecisions said:

100% beard grafts for this one

uffff, hoping for the best

Let's hope his beard looks like uncle albert's from only fools and horses 😀. It is a case that just wouldn't have been attempted a few years ago. I'm curious on the hairline design and density he attempts. 

Edited March 3 by BackFromTheBrink

[Gatsby]

I commented on this to Dr Pittella. He said this is the most challenging case he has had to date. It will be interesting to see how it turns out. Being Dr Pittella flying colors no doubt! 👊

[Fox243]

This is the hardest case I've ever seen restored. If he can pull this off, he is undoubtedly the king of NW7s HTs.

[Al - Moderator]

I will definitely follow this one. I never had an instagram account and never cared to have one, but I just signed up so I could follow this case. This guy is almost identical to myself if I didn't have any beard and chest grafts done... extremely huge area to cover, very thin donor area with multiple scars from previous HTs, very little hair still growing on top from the previous HTs due to the greatly expanded area over the years as well as the extreme thinning, and using only body hair to fully repair as much as possible.

This case is probably as near as I've ever seen to my own. I really want to see how this turns out.

[Fox243]

16 minutes ago, Al - formerly BeHappy said:

I will definitely follow this one. I never had an instagram account and never cared to have one, but I just signed up so I could follow this case. This guy is almost identical to myself if I didn't have any beard and chest grafts done... extremely huge area to cover, very thin donor area with multiple scars from previous HTs, very little hair still growing on top from the previous HTs due to the greatly expanded area over the years as well as the extreme thinning, and using only body hair to fully repair as much as possible.

This case is probably as near as I've ever seen to my own. I really want to see how this turns out.

Have you thought about having a consult with pittella in the meantime? I know he’s decently far booked out, even for consults, so may be worth at least paying the small consultation fee to get a date on the books. 

Edited March 3 by Fox243

[Al - Moderator]

12 minutes ago, Fox243 said:

Have you thought about having a consult with pittella in the meantime? I know he’s decently far booked out, even for consults, so may be worth at least paying the small consultation fee to get a date on the books. 

 

If I was just starting out on my repairs then I would absolutely be interested in Dr Pittella. However I've already used near 6500 beard and chest grafts which have grown in pretty well without ever having to shave my head and being able to go back to work each time within 7 to 10 days after the HT. That strategy, although taking a long time to get where I want, has worked for me in terms of not disrupting my life at all without anyone knowing I have had any surgeries unless I tell them. I've had no issues with Dr Dorin and his staff, so far. I think I can still get 2 more sessions done and if I can get as many grafts as I'm hoping, then I think I'll be very close to where I was hoping to get, so at this point in time I think I'm better off staying with what I've been doing.

However if I get turned down for any further surgeries and feel like I'm still not where I need to be, then I will definitely look at Pittella and possibly a few others. It's good to know there are still possible options.

 

 

[Melvin- Admin]

These cases are super risky for the surgeon. I feel like maybe he should’ve been turned away. I’ve seen cases like this with Dr. Sethi and despite the best efforts, it’s impossible to achieve a super meaningful result. 

The key is realistic expectations. I would imagine most, if not all of the grafts are BHT. So even if he gets 10k grafts, thats more or less 10,000 hairs on an area that had 50,000.

It will be an improvement and a base to use fibers. But it won’t be a usual Pittella case, at least that’s my speculation. Given the quality of his donor. 

Interesting, Dr. Pittella and Dr. Zarev are the only docs I’ve ever heard talk about contraction. But perhaps this is the key to achieving these high numbers.

[Fox243]

23 minutes ago, Melvin- Admin said:

These cases are super risky for the surgeon. I feel like maybe he should’ve been turned away. I’ve seen cases like this with Dr. Sethi and despite the best efforts, it’s impossible to achieve a super meaningful result. 

The key is realistic expectations. I would imagine most, if not all of the grafts are BHT. So even if he gets 10k grafts, thats more or less 10,000 hairs on an area that had 50,000.

It will be an improvement and a base to use fibers. But it won’t be a usual Pittella case, at least that’s my speculation. Given the quality of his donor. 

Interesting, Dr. Pittella and Dr. Zarev are the only docs I’ve ever heard talk about contraction. But perhaps this is the key to achieving these high numbers.

What is contraction? 

[Al - Moderator]

52 minutes ago, Melvin- Admin said:

The key is realistic expectations. I would imagine most, if not all of the grafts are BHT. So even if he gets 10k grafts, thats more or less 10,000 hairs on an area that had 50,000.

 

I had a pretty good amount of 2 haired grafts taken from my chest and abdomen. Not nearly as many as if it was scalp grafts, but it's still a lot better than if they were all single hair grafts, so the number of hairs, at least in my case, would be a good bit higher than the number of grafts.

 

[Chrisno]

38 minutes ago, Fox243 said:

What is contraction? 

It's relating to how your skin "pulls" together before the scar tissue fills inn. I.e. the skins ability to contract, thereby semi-closing the wound. You can read more here:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8605797/

[Fox243]

52 minutes ago, Al - formerly BeHappy said:

 

I had a pretty good amount of 2 haired grafts taken from my chest and abdomen. Not nearly as many as if it was scalp grafts, but it's still a lot better than if they were all single hair grafts, so the number of hairs, at least in my case, would be a good bit higher than the number of grafts.

 

Also wanted to add that beard hair is almost twice as thick as scalp hair, so although there’s less hairs per graft, the coverage value is made up by the thickness. 

[Approach]

5 hours ago, Melvin- Admin said:

These cases are super risky for the surgeon. I feel like maybe he should’ve been turned away. I’ve seen cases like this with Dr. Sethi and despite the best efforts, it’s impossible to achieve a super meaningful result. 

The key is realistic expectations. I would imagine most, if not all of the grafts are BHT. So even if he gets 10k grafts, thats more or less 10,000 hairs on an area that had 50,000.

It will be an improvement and a base to use fibers. But it won’t be a usual Pittella case, at least that’s my speculation. Given the quality of his donor. 

Interesting, Dr. Pittella and Dr. Zarev are the only docs I’ve ever heard talk about contraction. But perhaps this is the key to achieving these high numbers.

You are the voice of reason.  Well said!

[Shadman]

16 hours ago, Melvin- Admin said:

These cases are super risky for the surgeon. I feel like maybe he should’ve been turned away. I’ve seen cases like this with Dr. Sethi and despite the best efforts, it’s impossible to achieve a super meaningful result. 

The key is realistic expectations. I would imagine most, if not all of the grafts are BHT. So even if he gets 10k grafts, thats more or less 10,000 hairs on an area that had 50,000.

It will be an improvement and a base to use fibers. But it won’t be a usual Pittella case, at least that’s my speculation. Given the quality of his donor. 

Interesting, Dr. Pittella and Dr. Zarev are the only docs I’ve ever heard talk about contraction. But perhaps this is the key to achieving these high numbers.

Well said, completely agree 

[bigmistake]

On 3/3/2024 at 7:47 AM, baddecisions said:

100% beard grafts for this one

uffff, hoping for the best

Where did he mention 100% beard hair used ? The guys appears to have had multiple FUTs, I wonder where did the hair go ?

[baddecisions]

2 minutes ago, bigmistake said:

Where did he mention 100% beard hair used ? The guys appears to have had multiple FUTs, I wonder where did the hair go ?

In the story itself

[Gatsby]

One problem I have noticed with Norwood 7 patients who go to Norwood 7 surgeons is that a strong proportion of these patients (like myself) have already had previous surgery/ies. When I see that a Norwood 7 patient shows no sign of recipient growth from these surgeries I worry a little bit on the gigs session outcome. Even when I had the punch graft plugs, as much as I hated it, every single one of them grew. When previous surgey doesn’t grow I think having a scalp biopsy to rule out other factors is a good investment before undertaking a gigga session. 

[Myles23]

If Pittella pulls this off and achieves an outcome that gives the illusion of a full head of hair, he would achieve wizardry status and would give hope to thousands of blokes with a similar situation of poor donor  and a large area to cover. Despite potentially risking his reputation, not that one procedure could define his reputation, I think its exciting for the hair transplant industry that him and maybe a two other surgeons, are willing to push the parameters of what is / isn't possible.

[Melvin- Admin]

4 hours ago, Gatsby said:

One problem I have noticed with Norwood 7 patients who go to Norwood 7 surgeons is that a strong proportion of these patients (like myself) have already had previous surgery/ies. When I see that a Norwood 7 patient shows no sign of recipient growth from these surgeries I worry a little bit on the gigs session outcome. Even when I had the punch graft plugs, as much as I hated it, every single one of them grew. When previous surgey doesn’t grow I think having a scalp biopsy to rule out other factors is a good investment before undertaking a gigga session. 

I agree 💯 

[Al - Moderator]

Did Pittella say how many grafts he did on this patient? 

 

[Melvin- Admin]

Ok, after looking at this case 

I might be eating my words. 

[Stewie]

1 hour ago, Melvin- Admin said:

Ok, after looking at this case 

I might be eating my words. 

I still agree with you and @Gatsby that if he has had multiple surgeries and ended up with nothing on his head then I find it hard to believe this will go any different? but I would love to be wrong! Where as this case you have linked too is amazing but it does not mention failed HTs like the other guy, and then there Is bad donors and then literally zero donor like the impossible case. But only time will tell

[Al - Moderator]

1 hour ago, Stewie said:

I still agree with you and @Gatsby that if he has had multiple surgeries and ended up with nothing on his head then I find it hard to believe this will go any different? but I would love to be wrong! Where as this case you have linked too is amazing but it does not mention failed HTs like the other guy, and then there Is bad donors and then literally zero donor like the impossible case. But only time will tell

 

The old transplants may have worked at the time (at least as far as getting growth), but his hair has thinned out so badly which means the transplanted hair would have thinned out just as much. You can see he has a few wisps of hair still growing over the top of his head when the Dr combs over it. The back is very thin, but the top will be even thinner because those grafts would have been spread out over a larger area than the small area where it came from. I'm in the same situation. It isn't as noticeable on me because I started repair work 10 years ago before it got so bad that I didn't have any transplanted hair left, but if I hadn't had any body hair added over the past 10 years I'd have almost nothing left throughout my entire original transplanted area right now.

Here is a picture I posted of myself some time ago. It's a bit blurry, but you can see the many rows of scars with almost no hair around them because the retrograde balding went up so far. This area was once full of thick hair which is why hair was taken from that area.