The Donor Area and Many, Many FUEs
This post isn’t responding to a submitted question, but an observation we’ve been seeing more and more lately…
Donor area depletion is now becoming apparent in many patients who have had many FUEs done in the donor area. Just like strip surgeries, once hair is removed from the donor area, the donor area become thinner with each subsequent Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) procedure. Those individuals who have had between 3000-6000 grafts extracted with FUE are now showing problems in the donor area where coverage of the back and side of the head is becoming a problem. Somehow doctors and patients thought that FUE was a free ride — no significant donor scar without a downside. But alas, there is no free ride. One does not get something for nothing.
I believe that many doctors do not understand what I wrote above, but they will be caught with their pants down when the patient finds that he has a donor area coverage problem that he never expected. With this assessment, I am referring to the doctors who do FUE right (with minimal transection damage), but I suspect that the number of good doctors who have mastered the technique and get transections in the 5% or less range are a minority of those offering the procedure.
Over and over again I say, “Let the Buyer Beware” and that still remains the Rassman dictum.
“but they will be caught with their pants down when the patient finds that he has a donor area coverage problem that he never expected.”
I believe you are correct about this. These days we turn away as many clients as we accept because it is easy to tell in about 30 seconds if the donor area will be able to support hair restoration. And it is not just one transplant, because as a responsible health care professional you have to look at multiple surgeries for most clients.
A typical client will need attention to the forehead and crown on separate surgeries.