Guest Posted June 23, 2003 Share Posted June 23, 2003 I just looked at some pics of the donor area of an FUE HT. The pics showed before and after 1 week. Whats the deal, do FUE's grow back, or is it just the surrounding hairs giving the appearance of regrowth. I'm assuming the latter is the case, otherwise there would be unlimited donor hair. That being the case, Looks like to me a large enough area of FUE would be as hard to conceal as a small linear scar. It would be like having your hair thinning on the back of your head instead of the top. I've read a lot of threads of other posters discussing FUE, but I'm still ignorant. Can someone catch me up. Matt 6: 25-34 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 23, 2003 Share Posted June 23, 2003 I just looked at some pics of the donor area of an FUE HT. The pics showed before and after 1 week. Whats the deal, do FUE's grow back, or is it just the surrounding hairs giving the appearance of regrowth. I'm assuming the latter is the case, otherwise there would be unlimited donor hair. That being the case, Looks like to me a large enough area of FUE would be as hard to conceal as a small linear scar. It would be like having your hair thinning on the back of your head instead of the top. I've read a lot of threads of other posters discussing FUE, but I'm still ignorant. Can someone catch me up. Matt 6: 25-34 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 23, 2003 Share Posted June 23, 2003 I believe you are referring to my pics. I have to agree with Jotronic, that around 4000 you'd be risking ugly donor area. FUE is best when all you need is small amount of hair (500-2000 TOTAL). The hair does not regrow in donor area once transplanted. At the same time, I can still continue to get close #2 clipper haircuts all the way up in the back and on the sides. If you need a lot of hair, then your best bet would probably be getting a strip megasession (3000 hair), followed by FUE fill-in sessions. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic''. Arthur C. Clarke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member HotCreek Posted June 23, 2003 Regular Member Share Posted June 23, 2003 JRod, You are hitting a fairly interesting "nail" squarely on the "head." You are correct that it is quite impossible to extract hair from any area of your head without causing some degree of thinning in that area. If you extract a lot, there's a lot of thinning. Even with strip removal (the "unfue") for area around the harvested hair (above it and below it) to be sutured, the skin must be stretched and that creates space between the remaining hair; which is to say thinning. The above posters are correct; for a small number of grafts FUE doesn't leave a scar and you probably won't have a noticeably thin look. But, with lots of FUE clearly you will. So then the question becomes: What's the tradeoff between the two methods and what's best for you based on your needs and donor supply? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Member arfy Posted June 24, 2003 Senior Member Share Posted June 24, 2003 Personally, I think the "moth-eaten" comment is a scare tactic similar to the "bad donor scar" scare tactic. Almost anyone with a large amount of transplanted hair is not going to be able to shave their head without some tell-tale signs to those who can spot such things, whether that is a linear donor scar or little gaps between hairs (FUE). The number of guys who plan on getting a crewcut after their hair transplant is an extreme minority, and IMO that minority should not be used as a basis for everyone else to make their decisions. In my opinion (based on seeing Woods lawyer) a guy who has 4000 FUE grafts is undetectable, unless you go digging through his hair, in which case very few hair transplants can hold up to this kind of scrutiny. Even digging through the hair does not reveal anything horrible, IMO it would look perfectly acceptable. I actually think thinning out the back and sides with FUE can be a good thing, to help it match the density of the transplanted top better. Mathematically, it takes a 50% reduction in your hair before you BEGIN to notice a thinning (on top). If we can determine how many FUs a Norwood 7 has in his "safe zone" and divide that by half, that would be a workable number for discussion. Anybody have a figure for that? There is no such thing as a transplant without a down-side, you will just have to choose between the two "evils". Personally, I would go with the less-invasive way, no matter how many grafts I needed. Other people feel differently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vocor1 Posted June 24, 2003 Share Posted June 24, 2003 Micro: How quickly did your donor area heal up? vocor1 Knowledge is Power If the worst question is the one never asked, then the worst answer is the one never shared. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 24, 2003 Share Posted June 24, 2003 Thanks everyone for participating. I am younger than most HT prospective patients, and I am very curious about FUE. From the research I've done it seems like it is a fairly new procedure. In which case I am debating giving it some time to be perfected. So these discussions are a great way to hear from you guys, the ones who have been there done that if its worth the wait to begin with. I've got a consult scheduled tomm here in Richmond with Dr. Epstein's office. Hoping for good things. Have extremely course hair and I'm hoping he'll give me a good evaluation. By the way, I hear a lot of guys talking about getting Rx's while at the docs office. Should I expect to pay for him to write me a Rx for Proscar, or is it generally just a freeby when consulting with a particular office. Thanks again. Matt 6: 25-34 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 24, 2003 Share Posted June 24, 2003 Vocor: I stopped covering up my donor area with bandage after 9 days - the healing, combined with growing hair made it look good enough where I could just go outside without anyone noticing. The problem was the fact that my hair was really short in the back and long everywhere else, which is the main reason why I continued to wear a hat, until 3rd week, when I finally got a haircut and straightened everything out. I've said it already, but to anyone getting FUE, I'd recommend cutting their hair really short on all sides the day or so before surgery - I'll see how it works for me in a couple of monhts, and let you know. If it works good I may be able to stop wearing a hat after only a week or so. JRod: The RX was free for me when I went to NHI office for a consult with Dr. Bernstein. After a year though, you have to pay - that's why I'll be switching to the cheap stuff on internet soon. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic''. Arthur C. Clarke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vocor1 Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 Micro: Thanks for the info. Just curious on the recovery time. How long until the scabs fell off? I used to cut my hair to a #2 or #3 on the back and sides all the time prior to HT. I guess the doc will cut the donor area as short as he needs it. How short would you say it was for you? Good tip on cutting it short prior to surgery. I'll cut it to #3 or #4 and if the doc needs it shorter, then I'll figure that out. Thanks again. I'll probably do a 500 FU FUE session next, so your experience are particularly interesting to me. vocor1 Knowledge is Power If the worst question is the one never asked, then the worst answer is the one never shared. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 I don't know, but it was definitely closer than #2. (#0?). Looking like a chemo patient is one of the drawbacks of FUE. Took about 3 weeks for all the scabs to fall off. As far as shedding, I'm almost 6-weeks post-op, and I'd say 30% of the transplanted hair is still there. Also - I don't know if it's due to small FUE session, or the fact that I wasn't balding in the first place, but I observed no shedding of my natural hair, (in fact it looks denser than before, but it may be because I finally let it grow long) "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic''. Arthur C. Clarke [This message was edited by Microprose on June 25, 2003 at 03:37 AM.] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vocor1 Posted June 26, 2003 Share Posted June 26, 2003 Micro: Good info. #2 is 1/4 inch. But #0 is stuble -- basically bald. Pretty darn short. #2 isn't too bad, I guess. 3 weeks, huh? Anyone ask you if you had an HT or what was going on with all those spots where the FUs were taken out? Plan to take 2 weeks off again. I don't mind short hair, but not interested in drawing a ton of attention to myself either. Thanks. vocor1 Knowledge is Power If the worst question is the one never asked, then the worst answer is the one never shared. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 26, 2003 Share Posted June 26, 2003 I had to wear a hat, which I never do, so obviously people knew something was going on. On top of that during the first week, I had a bandage over my donor area. I just told everybody who asked what happened, that I had small hairline work done. As far as FUE donor area - the spots blended in with the rest after 9 day mark because of hair surrounding them. I was told on a number of times that you can't even see I had anything done in the donor area - but then they don't really know what to look for. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic''. Arthur C. Clarke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vocor1 Posted June 27, 2003 Share Posted June 27, 2003 Micro: Only 9 days, huh? That is great news. FUE will be the way to go for me. The doc is still up in the air. Thanks again for the help and sharing your knowledge. vocor1 Knowledge is Power If the worst question is the one never asked, then the worst answer is the one never shared. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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