Last updated by at .
HI ! Being a person who had hairtransplants starting in the early 70′s(Old Punch style) How effective would be the new
FUE procedure filling in the spaces along side the old, with limited donor
area?
There are a few different options when it comes to plug repair: you can have them removed entirely, you can break them down and redistribute the smaller follicular units for a more natural look, or you can have additional hair transplanted around them to conceal the “pluggy” appearance.
Unfortunately, a depleted donor supply will limit your options somewhat, as it could require a significant number of grafts to sufficiently conceal the
existing plugs. Similarly, if your prior procedure(s) created a very low hairline, a FUE surgeon might be reluctant to place additional grafts below
the existing plugs, as it will be very difficult to achieve natural-looking results this way.
To determine the best option for you personally, I would suggest that you schedule an in-person consult or submit detailed photos, of both your donor
and recipient regions, for an experienced FUE surgeon to review. This way, the physician can evaluate the extent of work needed, the donor supply
available, and your expectations, to help you determine the best way to proceed.
I am NW VII at 57years, i have had just one strip procedure as usual it was insufficient and I would like to FUE only from my nape to my bald area i am not concerned about my crown and I believe that the total amount should be 6500 FUE to get a conservative nw3. I would like to ask you is this possible?
A NW VII typically looses 70% or more of their original scalp hair. This means that they maintain 30% of their original hair or less. In my opinion, this makes them a poor candidate for hair restoration surgery. The best you can hope for is what some call a frontal forelock that is isolated from the sides of your scalp. In other words, it is hair that sits on top of your head with a bald rim on the sides above the ears before you see hair again.
It does occur in nature, but it is quite uncommon. It can help to frame your face, but you must recognize that it can also look a little unusual to have hair on the top of your head, a bald fringe, and then hair again above the ears.
A typical donor area will have a maximum of 16000 follicular units. I think that a NW VII will have less. Of this donor area, you can expect to remove 50% or a little more in those with outstanding donor area characteristics such as a high density and coarse caliber hair.
In your instance, you can probably expect to remove no more than 5000 grafts in total. Of course, you may be able to move slightly more, but 5000 is a safe number to anticipate. This may leave you looking a little thin on the sides between the top of the head and the fringe of hair that normally remains in the NW VII.
Read more Norwood VII candidate for…
I’m told by various strip physicians that the strip scar is a thin as a pencil mark. Is this true?
This is completely dishonest. The average strip scar is 2 to 3 mm wide and it can stretch from ear to ear. If you plan to cut your hair short, this can be a problem for you as it is obviously a man made scar. It is an obvious sign that you had a hair transplant. No one wants anyone to know they’ve had a hair transplant, however. No one wants anyone to know they had hair loss or that they ever considered hair restoration surgery. Even shorter hair styles can expose the strip hair transplant scar. Frequently we are told that a hair cut of a number 3 or shorter exposes the strip scar form a strip hair transplant.
There is a new fallacy you are hearing from strip surgeons, as well. They claim that their new trichophytic closure technique produces pencil thin scars that are invisible. We’ve seen 5mm wide scars produced by this technique. Five millimeters is ¼ inch wide. It is a huge gap with no hair in it. When the trichophytic closure works, it rarely works in the rear of the scalp. You will not see an advantage along the sides of the scalp usually. Furthermore, the tighter you make the scalp by performing successive strip procedures, the more likely it is that your scar will widen and stretch out. Furthermore, these strip scars can turn whiter than the surrounding skin or bright pink. This produces further contrast to the scars should they be exposed by a short hair cut or by a medical illness that causes thinning or loss of your hair.
One other problem you will never hear about from your strip surgeon is t
hat strip procedure causes irreversible changes in your donor area hair growth angles. A strip is nothing more than a scalp reduction in the donor area. It alters hair growth angles for the rest of your life.
There is no reason to have a strip procedure. It really is up to the patient to demand the alternative, which is far better. Patients should begin to demand CIT, which is an advancement over our older FIT procedure. There is CIT and no quite CIT. Many physicians will tell you they perform FUE. This FUE procedure does not meet the quality of CIT. CIT is a proprietary procedure with quality instrumentation. Only CIT has proven results day in and day out with all types of hair including wiry, kinky hair seen in men of African decent.
Read more Strip Scar Thin As a Penc…
