FUE verses Strip Harvesting

[gillenator]

Originally Posted by Dr James DeYarman

Still-Researching
Thanks for your questions, I hope these answers help.
If you are treating a NW3 you should be able to do this with 2500 grafts or even less. This amount taken from your donor area should not create a moth eaten appearance. If you hair color is blond or light blond then it even better for you.
From the amount of hair loss you are predicting there should not be a problem with your donor supply.
In reference to your question on HM it is most likely closer to 15 years away then 5.

I agree that 2500 grafts taken by FUE should not leve a moth-eaten appearance at "present" for most patients. IMHO, the real issue or question is "planning over the long term". How many grafts might this patient need in their lifetime based on hairloss classes in their respective family histories?

I find that most men who are suffering from MPB will need way in excess of 2500 grafts over their lifetimes and that's men who are using Propecia.

In 31 years of following this field, I know of very few men who could get by with one procedure once they started HT surgery. I know Dr. DeYarman is not implying this is the case yet the reality of multiple HT surgeries for most men is imminent unless HM/cloning becomes a reality. I further agree that it is far more than 5 years off. Let's hope we are wrong.

Anyway, for those men who do not have advanced classes of hairloss in their family histories, possibly they can get by with FUE and still wear their hair short. But I find they are in the minority, not the majority.

So whether the patient chooses strip or FUE, the potential of buzz cutting styles is not very viable once HT surgery starts, again considering more surgery will be needed in the future. And quite possibly this is one of the trade-offs of losing hair and then getting it back. To have hair in the frontal zone may mean we will not be able to wear short hair, period. At least until some other method of providing donor comes along.

Something to consider in the overall decision.