Follow my major repair

[Jotronic]

Thanks for the links. Those are outstanding results and excellent photography. Changing someone's life like that has to be a great feeling and those that concentrate their efforts in that direction should reap the rewards because their heart is in the right place. Do that and the rest just follows in my opinion.

Thanks, Topcat. It really is a great feeling when we see the results from our hard work for patients such as these.

Those results you linked to make me believe all those comments I read over the years regarding fue into scar tissue had more to do with the person extracting being the issue and not so much the scar tissue.

Bingo, sir. You win the cigar of the day. In my opinion there is no reason why grafts should not grow in scar tissue that has formed from external trauma. I say this because some forms of scarring are due to internal factors such as lichen planopilaris or "scarring alopecia". Packing at a density that is too high can also limit the growth but that is a common issue no matter where you place the grafts, scar tissue or not.

[topcat]

Thanks for the links. Those are outstanding results and excellent photography. Changing someone's life like that has to be a great feeling and those that concentrate their efforts in that direction should reap the rewards because their heart is in the right place. Do that and the rest just follows in my opinion.

Those results you linked to make me believe all those comments I read over the years regarding fue into scar tissue had more to do with the person extracting being the issue and not so much the scar tissue.

[Jotronic]

Jotronic, thank you for the comment and that is good to know as I always assumed that the scar tissue was going to be an issue. Would not have mattered either way but I was pleasantly surprised to see those hairs in the crown area when I took the picture, outside of that I really don’t examine my hair for growth.

Glad to help. I know this is an important issue for you. You can look at some examples of strong growth in scar tissue with two particular cases in mind. both have HD video and the one with the hot oil burn has the added photos of the recipient zone shaved so you can see the subtle color improvement to the overall tissue.

http://www.baldtruthtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1830&highlight=artificial+hair

and

http://www.baldtruthtalk.com/showthread.php?t=3186&highlight=burn

When it comes to outside agents I think it’s easy to fool oneself that something is actually doing something when really it is not and that is why double blind placebo testing is considered the gold standard. Sometimes maybe it's not intentional but regardless when someone has hope they see things that just might not be there.

Agreed.

[topcat]

Jotronic, thank you for the comment and that is good to know as I always assumed that the scar tissue was going to be an issue. Would not have mattered either way but I was pleasantly surprised to see those hairs in the crown area when I took the picture, outside of that I really don’t examine my hair for growth.

When it comes to outside agents I think it’s easy to fool oneself that something is actually doing something when really it is not and that is why double blind placebo testing is considered the gold standard. Sometimes maybe it's not intentional but regardless when someone has hope they see things that just might not be there.

[Jotronic]

Topcat,

We've been noticing for a while that when grafts are placed into scar tissue, even thick and seemingly avascular scar tissue, and normal healthy tissue in the same patient the grafts tend to grow in scar tissue BEFORE hair grows in the normal healthy tissue. We've not used anything post surgery to help along with growth since the old copper peptide days from about twelve years ago. And with multiple passes into scar tissue it becomes more vascular and the color contrast with normal skin tissue lessens.

[topcat]

Hi Inspects, everything is really going well in life thank you for asking and hopefully everything is good for you.

[inspects]

Topcat, I haven't been on the forum for a while, but congratulations, you sure have come a long way since I first joined this forum.

Hope you're doing well.

[northeastguy]

Good information there regarding the lack of vascular support in the scars. It's always worth a try.... pick a spot and throw in 50. if they don't take, your not taking a hit... both monetary and scar wise. During my research, I had a few email exchanges with Dr Wasserbauer. She gave me the idea to test the scars vascular support by poking the scar with a needle.... if it bled within a specific amount of time, you were in good shape. It was that outcome that allowed me to be a little more aggressive in my first pass.

Before people start poking themselves with needles, I used a hospital issued single use needle.

[topcat]

4th procedure 5 month update. I would definitely say the hair is starting to come in at this point. I judge this by the ease of ability to style my hair and the past 2 weeks have been very noticeable………………….hmmmm………much more hair there than before.

I would also like to note the crown area consists of extremely dense scar tissue from two hairlifts and one reduction. Dr. Bisanga did comment as he was making the recipient sites that it didn’t look too good as there wasn’t any bleeding. Either way would have been okay with me still wanted to give it a shot. Happy to say there definitely are hairs growing in that area. Any doctors observing my case might want to take note that this hair is growing in extensive scar tissue without the aid of any outside agents and this is at only 5 months.

[topcat]

4th procedure 4 month update, recipient area and beard donor.

[topcat]

3 month update, healing is going well.

[topcat]

Hi Jetfan in my opinion once you are scarred and most especially extensively scarred shaving the head becomes impossible. There is just no way you can shave your head and have that scarring concealed regardless of the approach. You could get down to a very short hair style but shaving the head in my opinion can’t be accomplished.

A hairpiece is not an option for me as I am way too active. I can’t stand even having to wear a hat. If you look closely as my progress I think the logic behind my approach becomes very easy to understand.

If I had more beard hair I would be completely repairable to the point of not even having to use concealer. I have no doubt of that in my mind but unfortunately my beard hair is limited.

Thank you for the comments.

[jetfan11]

Your repair

Topcat,

Thanks for all your contributions on the board. I have a question for you and keep in mind it comes from someone in need of repair as well.

Instead of doing a repair why did you not a just shave your head and try to work on the scars as best as possible?

Or

Just get a hairpiece. I've been researching them and there are lots of guys not hiding scars that look undetectable with hairpiece.

I mean you're obviously physically in good shape.....why bother with the repair?

[topcat]

I am a fairly avid reader, nutrition, marketing, psychology etc. Recently I have read about a dozen books on BDD as I find the subject material very useful. One book stood out and I would like to recommend to others on the hairloss forums because much of what I see and read on the forums can be avoided by learning from the experience of others.

What I really liked about the book is that it was written almost as an autobiography which made it hard to put down as one wants to see what happens next. The book was written by Brian Cuban and is titled “Shattered Image”. I could probably give this part away without spoiling it. Brian Cuban is Mark Cuban’s brother the owner of the Dallas Mavericks. It was really fascinating to read about his journey from a child to the man he is today at 51 and part of that journey included hair transplants. It does not focus on hair transplants and maybe what he was feeling does not apply to everyone but it certainly does apply to some. Good information regardless of your own personal situation.

It’s a good read for anyone considering a hair transplant because you need to be in the right state of mind before you go down that road and it has to be for the right reasons. It should be more of a logical decision and not so much of an emotional decision.

Personally for me I connected is some ways with what I was reading. The desperation he felt is not something I every really experienced in my life. It was only after what can only be described as being disfigured by Puig that I felt that feeling and it took a long time for it to go away. That desperation led me to try anything to fix the mess. It was all so unnecessary but one learns that some people will do anything for money even if it causes harm to another.

[topcat]

Hi Gallovolador not much to see at this point except for the healing. There does seem to be a few hairs popping through in the forelock area at this early stage and I only notice this by looking at the picture I posted. I really do not study my hair in the mirror much and I always advise others to do the same.

You would think from my updates that I would really be overanalyzing my hair but it's just the opposite. The updates are more a personal habit of mine of being consistent and sticking with something once I start. Many do not update as they do not have the time which of course is nonsense. Not having the time is the same excuse most use for many things and it's a bad habit to have and that is in fact why I always make the time.

At this point there is just too much hair there for me to say if it all shed or not. As far as healing it is very quick thanks to a highly skilled doctor using a small punch and combined with what I believe is a nutrient dense diet.