Hattingen Hair

[FutureFue]

You guys post some incredible results, but I was wondering what your thoughts are on:
1) not yet doing FUE when there seems to have been quite a big shift recently towards FUE; and
2) not promoting a specific doctor in your practice. When people speak about getting HT's they are more likely to mention specific doctors who they want to have a HT with rather than particular clinics.

 

[Hattingen Hair]

FutureFue wrote:

You guys post some incredible results, but I was wondering what your thoughts are on:
1) not yet doing FUE when there seems to have been quite a big shift recently towards FUE; and
2) not promoting a specific doctor in your practice. When people speak about getting HT's they are more likely to mention specific doctors who they want to have a HT with rather than particular clinics.

Hi FutureFUE,

Thank you for the comment about our work, we take great pride in trying to perform high quality and consistent work. To try and answer your questions:

1. Of course we are better known for large FUT sessions but we do perform FUE, just not as well known for it and we have not published a case as yet.

Don´t want to open a huge debate on FUE and FUT but one fundamental reason is our philosophy of long term planning and gaining the maximum result in one pass when possibly for our patients. We always look to improve and develop our techniques and have collaborated with European FUE clinics and over the years developed our own protocol for FUE that for us fits in with our core beliefs in treating patients.

You will probably not see Hattingen performing too many FUE only small cases or on relatively young candidates, but we feel FUE is a valid technique and can complement the patient s hair transplant experience to achieve the maximum result. Every clinic has its own protocols in regard to donor management, harvesting patterns and planning for example; our belief that hair restoration begins with long term planning is our principle protocol.

2. It is not a deliberate act on our behalf to not promote a specific doctor; but on almost every case we operate the 3 doctors are all involved at one point or another. Dr. Laura Muresanu, Dr. Sever Muresanu and Prof. Dr. Dr. Voy and then the technical team. Prof. Dr. Dr. Voy has two medical doctorates and has specialist training in Plastic Surgery, Dr ´s Muresanu both come from families with a medical background and Dr. Laura Muresanu some time ago now worked closely with Dr. Walter Unger at his practise in Toronto.

You are not wrong of course that many who search look at a doctor´s name first but it has just worked out that this is the way we manage our profile. In the Germanic speaking countries where we are very well known our doctors are well known by their names as well as the Clinic name; I am sure as our reputation becomes wider known it will be the same in other countries.

Many thanks for the questions and I hope they have been answered, please feel free to ask anything else.

 

[FutureFue]

Thanks Hattingen for your comprehensive reply, it helps me, and possibly others, understand your profile a bit better....

 

[Westcoaster]

Hattingen are turning out awesome results, ¬b`

 

[FutureFue]

Hi Hattingen, can you please advise to what extent the doctors are involved with the procedure, i.e. How much of the work do they do?
thanks!

 

[SADbutTRUE]

does one of the docs plant the grafts? your clinic does great work, I love seeing the updates, keep them comming

 

[Hattingen Hair]

Thanks westcoaster & SADbutTRUE for your kind comments.

The doctors are all perfectly skilled in their own right to perform all aspects of a hair transplant individually. They concentrate on design and planning, anesthesia, FUE punching, strip removal and suturing and slit making in the recipient with custom-made blades. On occasion, they will place grafts also but we have a proficient tech team that are all medically certified and trained in-house to perform the majority of the placement, obviously over-seen by the doctors during the procedure.

We are able to perform large FUT and consistently average 4000 grafts on a candidate with average hair and skin characteristics, and it´s not uncommon 5-6000 in one procedure. Dependent on the size of the procedure you could have as many as 11 staff working on your case with different responsibilities, this allows us to perform large procedures in a good speed for the overall comfort of our patients while at the same time medically caring for the grafts.

 

[FutureFue]

Hattingen, have you found whether it makes much of a difference in results if the head is shaven? I would prefer not to shave my head as I think it will be less obvious to people that I have had a HT, but people often say the surgeon is able to perform better when the patient shaves their head. Your thoughts?

 

[Hattingen Hair]

FutureFue wrote:

Hattingen, have you found whether it makes much of a difference in results if the head is shaven? I would prefer not to shave my head as I think it will be less obvious to people that I have had a HT, but people often say the surgeon is able to perform better when the patient shaves their head. Your thoughts?

Hi FutureFUE,

No one in the ideal world would elect to shave the recipient but in reality, most doctors will ask you to for a number of reasons. Obviously, it depends on where the hair is to be grafted and the density of your native hair.

Shaving allows for identifying miniaturisation of the native hair; this, in turn, allows us to more accurately cover a potential area of future loss rather than needing a touch up later. For example on a smaller hair line procedure having to bite into the native hair is important so the native hair line needs to be shaved into by a few cm´s and on higher levels of hair loss, areas such as the lateral humps where the donor meets the recipient or the crown. On higher levels of loss, the humps will show a degree of miniaturisation in many cases and it´s vital to place them into this area otherwise an island of hair could be created as hair loss progressed; the same with the crown, to just place hair in the obvious hair less area could lead to the same result.

Shaving will generally allow for a better density to be placed and more consistent density to be placed over the recipient area.

Especially on large procedures shaving is highly recommended, having to place grafts between long hair takes more time and can lead to skipping recipient sites as they get lost between the long hairs. The time factor can prolong the entire operation considerably; this is not in the well-being of the patient in general or graft management.

When the hair is longer it is hard to distinguish the lay of the hair, angle and orientation; if the hair is cut short under loupes this is much easier for the doctor to make the slits and the techs to see so a more uniform placement can be performed. Especially as we also follow the natural curvature of the hair shaft as this gives greater coverage and hair over hair when grown out.

I think each case should be assessed on its own merits but much of the time the doctor will advise to shave for the best interests of the patient and result, not simply because it´s easier. As an HT is a big decision to make, you want to try and ensure the best result possible, it´s you that pays for it and lives with it, so as inconvenient as it may be to shave in the majority of cases it is best.

By the way, from your name, it would appear you are looking at FUE, whereas you would need to shave the donor area anyway, so shaving the recipient would not really be an issue, in-fact sensible to balance up your hair style while the hair grows back.

 

[FutureFue]

Thanks Hattingen.

I am actually considering strip as well (possibly with you guys) but like a lot of people, probably, have concerns about the scar at the back of the head; it is rather Frankenstein-esque! How long does it take in your patients on average before the scar is no longer visible to the naked eye?

 

[Hattingen Hair]

FutureFue wrote:

Thanks Hattingen.

I am actually considering strip as well (possibly with you guys) but like a lot of people, probably, have concerns about the scar at the back of the head; it is rather Frankenstein-esque! How long does it take in your patients on average before the scar is no longer visible to the naked eye?

Hi FutureFue,

In some respects this is not a big difference to the recipient area healing, post op the recipient will be red, then pink and then over a few months return to your normal skin colour; some aspects are out of anyone ´s control and are simply down to the person ´s skin characteristics, different skin types heal faster, slower, better, worse.

FUT, it is advisable to refrain from strenuous exercise that puts pressure on your neck for a few months. The suture/staples need to be removed approximately 10 days post operation, the area remains red for a few weeks around a month the redness turns pink and then over the next few months back to your normal skin colour. Many of our patients use scar healing creams such as mederma to help speed up and aid the healing. Assuming your hair length is a f cm or so in length during the healing period the area will not be visible anyway, only if you literally pulled your hair up to expose the line.

If you search you will obviously find bad scars, but this apply to both FUE and FUT unfortunately, without knowing the background to each it ´s not reasonable to speculate as to why. There is an irony though, assuming both techniques are performed to a high standard, with large sessions, say 4000 grafts plus FUE could potentially leave 3 times the scarring compared to a FUT procedure; the difference is it is dispersed over a wider area opposed to a single line.

 

[Hattingen Hair]

I have posted most of these before in the relevant cases we have posted, but here is a small collection of donor healing, all will be over 12 months post op.

5169 FUT

4180 FUT

4712 FUT

7305 FUT (2 OPS)

 

[FutureFue]

Thanks Hattingen. That is very reassuring to know.