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FUE or FUT

C

Convenes Serpents

member
Is it best to have strip surgery first, then fue to maximize the donor harvesting of grafts, or vice versa ? c;;9
 
Sparky

Sparky

Valued member
depends on how many you need and whether you want a scar or not?
 
C

Convenes Serpents

member
I would estimate I need in the region of 3500 grafts to address my frontal half after comparing examples posted on this site. I have taken Fin for 4 years with continued hairloss, If my family history is anything to go by I will end up as a Norwood 5. I have fine hair which from what I`ve read is not ideal for a hair transplant. So I`m not too sure what I`m going to do.
 
Sparky

Sparky

Valued member
dont do anything until you have really looked into and met with a good ht doc.
 
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Hi CS.

Take your time researching and dont rush into anything,good advice from Sparky re doc.If you can`t meet one at least try for three online consultations and compare what the docs recomend for you.Maybe you could post some pictures of your situation.

Sorry to hear you feel the fin is not working so well to retain your hair.

Hopefully the forum will help you in your research and you make your own informed decision on what you want to do.

Take care bm.
 
Prohairclinic

Prohairclinic

Prohairclinic FUE and SMP
I don't think that mathematically it makes a difference which method first, donor resources are finite.

It has been proven that both Strip and FUE alone can get a large number of grafts. A combination of both methods will always produce that highest possible amount however.

Up to some years ago there was an argument to prefer strip over FUE for large sessions.

However it has been proven that FUE can be as efficient as strip, with similar costs and yield. Needles to mention that FUE is far, far less invasive than strip, that is a no brainer, especially for those who had both procedures.
 
H

hairtech

member
Bverotti...

you and me go way back... I believe totally in FUE... and I totally believe in the standard strip... I agree that fue is far more less invasive than strip... I also know that the standard strip has advanced in the linear scar...

Having said this... Will u recommend a 55 year old that is a norwood 3 for FUE? A person that is not worried about shaving his head? Or will you recommend a 40 year old for FUE that is a NW 3 that never shaves his head...

I guess what I am saying is this: What... in your opinion is best for a patient? age, NW status?, Would you recommend strip over FUE always? Or vise versus? In any given situation?
 
Prohairclinic

Prohairclinic

Prohairclinic FUE and SMP
Well, knowing what I know and have seen over the years I would always recommend FUE first. Strip should only be a very very last option.

IMHO there is no logical explanation why anyone should take the risks that come with ANY strip procedure.

Obviously there are non HT candidates, they should not be treated at all, be it strip or FUE.

In our case the people that come to us for a consult already have made up their minds before they come in, it is going to be FUE or nothing.
In fact, I strongly believe that at least in our region the number of HT procedures has dramatically increased of the last couple of years. People see HT as a non invasive procedure rather than surgery. This has opened up a whole new segment of patients that would not have considered a HT before.

In fact, we are spending quite some of our time training other institutes/assistants/drs because we are trying to spread the availability of good FUE work.

on a side:
Our oldest patient was 79 years old, we treated him a few months ago. Because of his age we treated him over 2 days, leaving a day in between to give his body some extra rest.
 
Prohairclinic

Prohairclinic

Prohairclinic FUE and SMP
Most nw6 and NW7 are not good HT candidates.
Some patient have too high expectation
Unwillingnes to use medicine to halt further hairloss.
 
sl

sl

BHR Clinic Patient Advisor
There will always be debate over the techniques, either patient to patient or clinic to clinic. They both have pros and cons and it is a hard question to really give defining answers to, so maybe better settle on a simple get out, it depends on what you need and what your donor can afford, of course with long term planning always in mind; so assuming both are performed to a high standard.

FUE is obviously more welcome for smaller procedures if only because it will not leave a linear scar so still allows the person to keep their hair shorter than strip could and even shaved. FUE becomes harder to advise the larger the session, either because of potential limits to harvesting so many grafts individually in one session or the impact it may have on the safe donor area again removing so many individual FU from a surface area that does not change and still leave the donor looking natural and not thin. That said I know I am the exception to the rule with FUE, but I did have a start donor density much higher than average.

Strip is obviously great for larger sessions and high NW cases when maybe FUE cannot safely reach the numbers in one session or even multiple sessions, and Strip can give the person much greater coverage quicker. OK, it leaves a linear scar but then no one said HT is all good and there will never be any visible signs of surgery, and most guys can accept this for the trade off of much more hair. Strip has the benefit over FUE that the area the hair is taken from is actually removed so the donor density is not as such effected, yes the laxity will alter slightly but not to the point more cannot be taken in the future. Because the area of extraction is concentrated generally more grafts can be taken in one session compared to FUE.

I opted for FUE, and was a NW5/6 when I started, luckily I had a really good donor and even so I am still relying on BH to finish my crown. I did this because I wanted to be able to shave still, something I couldn't have done if I went Strip. But if I didn't care about shaving I could have completed my restoration a few years ago, with less ops, one big Strip to start with probably giving me the same as 3 FUE sessions did. My point being it is all about what you have in your donor, what your goals and intentions are and the future, both are good techniques and used well and can combine well also.
 
C

Convenes Serpents

member
Thanks for the advice so far. So much info to take onboard.
 
C

Convenes Serpents

member
After giving this much thought I have decided to crop my hair short and see how things go. Thankyou for all the helpful advice.
 
sl

sl

BHR Clinic Patient Advisor
Hi Convenes Serpents


Glad the information helped, best wishes for the future.
 
C

Convenes Serpents

member
Thanks Stephen, the honest advice provided on this site is invaluable.
 
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Its nice to see this site has helped so many in their research.
 
V

vnspramod

Member
On that same note, be sure to do research on your hair transplant surgeon as well as the services and techniques applied. Most locations, like ours, specialize in state-of-the-art FUT (follicular unit transplant) procedure, mega session work for patients with extensive hair loss, and FUE (follicular unit extraction) procedure. FUE is the minimally invasive procedure designed to minimize or completely avoid an unsightly scar by selectively extracting hair grafts from the donor area.
 
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