She is happy (Minu\'s story)

Dr_Arvind · October 7, 2007, 5:59am

We have been treating Minu for over an year.
A few days ago, she visited us and we had a rare picture of her with a smile.

She is happy.

This genuine smile of happiness on any patient’s face is what makes me happy.
More so in her case.
It reaffirms my self belief. It reaffirms my happiness when my son exclaims happily, “She looks so nice now. You did it!”.

Minu’s journey is not yet over.
At the start of her journey, she was sad. I remember, theres not a single picture with a smile.

I am glad she now sees hope and happiness.

Dr_Arvind · October 7, 2007, 6:14am

Minu is a young girl who visited us for the first time in Sept 2006.

During her childhood, her scalp got severely burnt.

Some pictures from 2006.

Dr_Arvind · October 7, 2007, 6:25am

Video from Sept 2006.

12_file12.wmv

Dr_Arvind · October 7, 2007, 6:50am

Dear forum readers,
In Sept 2006, the problems in front of us were -

Limited donor hair as a large part of the scalp donor area too had been destroyed in the burn.
The recipient area consisted of scarred tissue throughout.
Very limited laxity in the remaining scalp due to the scar tissue.

The approach -
We decided to follow the end strategy of equalizing the pixels in the different areas of the scalp.
That is, instead of islands of very dense hair, surrounded by scar tissue, we aim to create a uniform, albeit less dense, hair coverage.

Strip or FUSE/fue
Session 1:
An initial thin strip was performed alongwith FUSE/fue grafts from the surrounding scalp areas.

We got 2015 strip FUHT grafts and an additional 109 FUSE grafts from the scalp donor area.

These were transplanted in the right side and top of the scalp.

In addition, FUSE grafts and FUHT grafts were transplanted in 2 distinct regions in the scarred scalp on left side.
Area marked 1 for FUHT grafts
Area marked 2 for FUSE grafts.

Dr_Arvind · October 7, 2007, 7:06am

Regards,
Dr. A

Jk1 · October 7, 2007, 1:13pm

Outstanding work Dr A !!

you have made another human being happy by allowing them to see the beaughty in themselves.

» We have been treating Minu for over an year.
» A few days ago, she visited us and we had a rare picture of her with a
» smile.
»
» She is happy.
»

»
» This genuine smile of happiness on any patient’s face is what makes me
» happy.
» More so in her case.
» It reaffirms my self belief. It reaffirms my happiness when my son
» exclaims happily, “She looks so nice now. You did it!”.
»
»
» Minu’s journey is not yet over.
» At the start of her journey, she was sad. I remember, theres not a single
» picture with a smile.
»
» I am glad she now sees hope and happiness.

Dens1 · October 7, 2007, 8:43pm

just wonderful! I bet she´s happy now.

marco · October 7, 2007, 9:01pm

I don’t see the whole story here (technicaly) at this point but I bet you are proud of this work. For instance, the angulation looks so natural. How was this acheived or was most of the hairline intact? What is the whole story with the two spots? Why strip if Fuse does the job (although I guess she is not planning on a buzz cut :-P) ?

All of us are suckers for a damsel in destress and why not, it lifts the spirit to see this work!

Sofarsogood · October 7, 2007, 10:05pm

Very nice result.
She looks beautiful in the after pic.

Congrats to both patient and doc.

jagdish · October 8, 2007, 1:09pm

That is an extremely beautiful transformation. She is looking very cute now. Great work Dr.A

hairtech · October 8, 2007, 2:12pm

Dr. A good work. Do you have pictures of the top where the burns were? I am curious what kind of yield came out of burns.

Dr_Arvind · October 8, 2007, 2:45pm

Dear forum posters,
Thank you for the feedback.

Minu’s procedures are not finished. I will say she has reached near the 50% stage.

However, now, she is confident that she can acheive her aim. Now she can go out or meet friends relatives etc., without having to cover her head.

I will post detailed account and pictures of Minu from Sept 2006 till now.

That will mean a lot of pictures and some videos.
I hope the thread does not become too bulky.

I will post the details as per the time of those pictures.
Let me know if you have any queries.

Regards,
Dr. A

Dr_Arvind · October 8, 2007, 2:49pm

This is what the recipient area looked at 10 days post HT.

Dr_Arvind · October 8, 2007, 3:00pm

Dr_Arvind · October 8, 2007, 3:04pm

The two blue boxes are the areas 1 and 2.

Dr_Arvind · October 8, 2007, 3:11pm

In feb 2007, we performed the next HT session for Minu.
This time it was 377 FUSE grafts. The grafts were transplanted in previously untouched scalp area.

The following pictures show the progress in Feb 2007, at 4.5 months after the first HT, and the graft placement in this session.

dastardly · October 8, 2007, 9:20pm

Hmmm, another interesting thing about these pictures is the appearance of her scar tissue several months after the procedure. Anyone notice how it looks less shiny, and more “normal”. I remember Dr Cole saying that pricking scar tissue with needles helped improve the appearance of scar tissue (I think it re-establishes blood flow or something), and that seems to be the case here.

I’ve been very critical of Dr A in the past, but in recent weeks there are more and more impressive photos coming from his clinic.

Someone’s life changed for the better - good work!

benji · October 9, 2007, 1:18am

That was a real humanitarian thing to do…congrats

Mr_Frodo · October 9, 2007, 2:19am

Congrats ! Dr. Arvind I always like your work but I have to ask this, she only had 2100 grafts in total for such a large and mostly scarred area, isn’t that too good to be true?

JonnyE · October 9, 2007, 6:43am

» Congrats ! Dr. Arvind I always like your work but I have to ask this, she
» only had 2100 grafts in total for such a large and mostly scarred area,
» isn’t that too good to be true?

These are great results, this patient must be so happy. It must be even worse to lose your hair if your a woman.