Scar Grafting with Dr Cole

[northeastguy]

@434623 ... best of luck with your repair. I have no doubt the test will go as planned. who is doing your work? Your absolutely correct in saying the scars will never be completely undetectable at a o guard....no way. I do believe SMP can play a big role in those who do want to go that short but it has to be a balance of both hair and smp....it's the only way a 3D effect is seen. I have no interest in going that short....don't have the head for it and don't want to show any signs of scars. I have no doubt after my second session with Dr Cole, I'll be able to comfortably get to a 2 guard and hopefully even a 1 (ultimate goal)....regardless, I always plan to have some look of hair.
As far as your scars being white..... expect them to blend in tone once you have hair growing in them. over time, they will look similar to the surrounding scalp. It's amazing what a little blood flow can do. keep us posted with your progress...

@ Stevie...... He feels I should have at least 50% growth at this point with improvement each month.

@ Victim .... I don't feel bad, I'm pissed! Only thing that justifies things at this point is the fact Dr Cole has done wonders in the first stage of this process. It's first step toward freedom from the poor choice I made years ago. If there is one thing I want to come from this thread is to inform others in our situation that the scars do not need to stay. If a HT surgeon says to expect 30% growth in a scar, he means HE can only produce 30% growth in a scar and it's time to continue your search. I'm a Cole fan for obvious reasons .... he gets results. There are other very good FUE docs out there to choose from as well. Do your homework. My opinion? don't choose a strip Doc to do FUE..... As far as your choice to use Dr Wong for FUT.... He'd be one of my top choices. It just wasn't a road I wanted to go down again. Thanks for your input and best of luck!

[Artista]

Fantastic results !
I spoke with Dr Cole's office today, 12/17/2012

[534623]

@434623 ... best of luck with your repair. I have no doubt the test will go as planned. who is doing your work? Your absolutely correct in saying the scars will never be completely undetectable at a o guard....no way. I do believe SMP can play a big role in those who do want to go that short but it has to be a balance of both hair and smp....it's the only way a 3D effect is seen. I have no interest in going that short....don't have the head for it and don't want to show any signs of scars. I have no doubt after my second session with Dr Cole, I'll be able to comfortably get to a 2 guard and hopefully even a 1 (ultimate goal)....regardless, I always plan to have some look of hair.
As far as your scars being white..... expect them to blend in tone once you have hair growing in them. over time, they will look similar to the surrounding scalp. It's amazing what a little blood flow can do. keep us posted with your progress...

Thanks for your response.

Here is a better photo quality ...

http://www.fileden.com/files/2012/3/15/3278666/Upper-Strip-Scar-View.jpg

A few centimeters above the upper strip scar (click in the photo for full resolution!), there is a little white scar (no idea what happend), and interestingly, there is a 3-hair FU which grew out of this little white scar. Can you see it?
Anyway, unfortunatelly, the surrounding scar tissue, which surrounds the 3-hair FU, is still white like snow.

And THAT exactly is my problem; I think that as soon as the strip scars are filled up with enough grafts (and hopefully the majority of them will grow in this useless tissue) - the only way to get rid of the white tissue, which will still surround the grafts, is tattooing (SMP) these areas somewhat with a correct/proper tone. We will see ...

[topcat]

Northeastguy looks really good at this point. I don’t think you are going to need another pass or tattooing. I also agree with your 30% comment when a clinic says that they are speaking specifically about themselves no different when they say low yield on fue they speak of their own skill. Not a big deal for those that have been around the block but it does cause those with little to no information to sometimes make bad decisions.

[SL]

Congratulations Northeastguy, looks much improved.

[Stevie R]

@Northeastguy, every time I see your case it impresses me, any updates? Man, if it is only 50 percent growth thus far, I think a 1 may be within reach. I mean after seeing Bisanga's case on a guy with 412 grafts and a fairly large scar he was able to take it to a 1 guard with minimal signs of an HT, I think you can at least expect that, if not a better result due to color of the scar an all as Bisanga's case seemed to have started off with a much whiter scar than yours I think. I think your right though, if you find a top FUE doc that has done hundreds of repairs your in good hands. But it is impressing that just a few hairs can break up a scar like that but that is what I have been saying. It is a shame their is so few examples of scar repair cases, but the repair cases done within the last 3-5 years all seem much improved over the ones a few years prior, just as the FUE technique has been improved. I will be interested to see the scar wet at the year mark as well as seeing how low you can go, but I bet you'll get the result you want, couldn't have happened to a nicer guy! Lol

[northeastguy]

Thanks Stevie.... the best is yet to come!

not much else to report. improvement every month. I'm still doing another final pass to blend the density as even and perfect as we can get it. There's no doubt the 2nd pass will be a much smaller session. From there I'll focus on blending the scar color and texture as needed. pulse dye laser, cortisone shots, maybe Recell? long way off and still doing research. but now that the scars don't prevent me to cut my hair short I have all the time in the world. Although I'm hoping to wrap this all up in a year and a half.

One things for sure, the top scar is blending and healing far better than the lower.

Goal is still a 1 guard.

[Stevie R]

Well I don't know if you seen the recell scar results like here http://www.examiner.com/slideshow/am...slide=blank-21 on pictures 15 and 16 and others it is simply amazing. The doctors I have been talking to at separate clinics say that a better result can be expected on the scalp compared to anywhere on the body as the scalp heals better. They use the Co2 Fractional laser from what I understand to peel the top layer of skin off, approximately 0.02mm of skin and then spray on skin that they get from somewhere on your body, behind the ear, leg, hip, whatever you prefer but I am told behind the ear is best, and they spray recell on that also so you don't scar there. Everyone agrees it doesn't dislodge hairs yet I am still looking into that myself as you can never be too careful. However, I think this is it, I mean the biggest challenge in my opinion with fixing these scars is the color, and recell looks to eliminate the whiteness if you will in scars, then it is just a matter of placing the hairs in. Yet I think I will make sure my density is just right because I will have them recell my fue dots (if I can find any) at the same time they recell the scar. I ask if perhaps I can improve the scar even further by doing fraxel or the roller before the recell and it seems only if those shrink the scar, which perhaps they do a small bit, but not too much to worry about it as he explains that that shouldn't matter. I think the Feriduni scar case could have been much improved with recell, in fact invisible to the eye if his recell result would have been like that womans scar you see there at that link with the scar on her neck. Yet, I am not sure I will need it but I am researching it just in case, let me and everyone else if you find anything else out about the recell process, I find I have to dig deep as only 5,000 people have done recell from what I understand and that includes burns, scars, acne scarring and all sorts of other cosmetic damages. Yet this seems to be the far superior method of fixing scars, far ahead of fraxel or the derma roller in my opinion.

[northeastguy]

7 months post op

I've attached a couple new videos to show both scar area and side donor area. The videos aren't the best quality but they do help a bit. I did see a plastics specialist who does Fraxel regarding the slight raised lower scar. In short, he said to do nothing. Said it was only slightly raised and theres a good chance in may continue to resolve over the next few months. Said to give it a full year. Since I'll be doing a second pass with FUE, it will be much longer than a year before I look into this again. Good news I guess and maybe I'm being to impatient. In the mean time, I'll just use a dermaroller and see if that improves things while I wait to do my next procedure. Top scar looks unreal. I am having a hard time even finding it. Texture, color are all good. Keep in mind, I wonder if the fact that both scars were created by 2 very different Md's. One was a Dermatologist (top scar) and the lower was created by an ophthalmologist. Only makes sense since I have to believe that very little suturing is done by an ophthalmologist during their residency or fellowship.

My latest cut in these videos is a 4 guard at the longest and a 1 guard at the shortest.

Back - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU8O0245IKI

Side donor - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xGetSEYqgk

[sp8rky]

coolio..

[topcat]

Huge improvement, good for you.

[Stevie R]

Ya man I can't see a thing, looks great. Do you think you can go lower? I bet you can, but no rush. I am happy for ya man, there is no reason to go lower but you may have 40 percent more growth brotha, that's awesometown I know you will get to your goal of a 1 guard at least. Thanks for the updates man your yet more proof that FUE is the right way to go, take it easy man.

[inspects]

Incredible results...big time congratulations....!!

You chose a good Doctor...!!!

[gillenator]

NEGuy, wow, what a journey that you are traveling. Huge difference fron when you started repair.

I bet that you compare your first pre-op pics to the most current ones. Your hair quality is good and makes a big difference.

So glad to see that you are realizing more and more freedom all along the way my friend.

[northeastguy]

Thanks all for the great complements. I'll update as things progress. Planning to see Dr Cole in early March to go over everything and our options for the second pass. Not sure when that'll be. Really depends on a number of factors, most important... when is a safe time to proceed.