Technique: FUT Follicular Unit Count: 2103
1 Hair 161, 2 Hair 862, 3 Hair 821, 4 Hair 259.
Ironically we are probably better known for our FUE rather than Strip, especially for smaller procedures under 3000 grafts.
The density around the strip area was actually still very good, opposed to the sides that dropped in areas to below 50 cm2, so Strip was considered to be the best option to repair, he has a previous strip we could englobe, the density along the occipital was high enough that to harvest around 2000 grafts would not mean touching the sides and keep them for the future if required.
The recipient was a minefield of ridging, cobblestoning and pitting from the previous surgeries and the synthetic placement so the density we placed was never going to be high to give the chance of the best yield. What was in his favour was good hair groupings, because the hair line was intact very few singles were used and the hair count for 2,3 and 4 hairs was good, total of 5384 hairs so an average of 2.56 hairs per graft, and this helped us place a lower than normal density considering the surface area but still achieve a natural result.
It has to be understood also, synthetic has been around the block, he’s not expecting a full head of hair, maybe love still to have one:) but he is realistic about what can be achieved under the circumstances of his recipient scalp condition and the limitations to his donor.
The shaving can be partly cosmetic, some prefer to keep a little hair and then we choose to shave it later so it is uniform and sometimes with it is to help the doc when making the slits to ensure we follow the natural direction and angles of the native hair.
In respect of available numbers in the future, we’d prefer to wait, see how the healing of his strip goes, the laxity he still has and then possible numbers to look at another strip and possibly a small FUE, also beard and possibly upper chest hair.
