Does Donor Site Scarring after Follicular Unit Extraction Hair Transplantation Affect Success of Future FUE Procedures?

This question, from a member of our Hair LossSocial Community and Discussion Forums, was answered by recommended hair transplant surgeon Dr. Mike Vories:

Dr. Vories, It has been stated by a physician with some follicular unit extraction (FUE) experience that subcutaneous scarring resulting from the primary FUE procedure will compromise subsequent procedures by making extraction more difficult, with a significantly higher transection rate resulting in a lower yield and a graft of poorer quality. In your vast experience performing FUE do you agree with this observation and do you recognize this as a FUE barrier that will need to be addressed by further refinement of the current state of the art hair transplant techniques?

I have seen this stated before, but I do not agree with it. We have done many hair transplants on previous FUE patients, and we measure all transection rates. We have seen no difference in transection rates in subsequent FUE procedures.

What we do see, however, is increased transection in what we would expect in patients whom have had prior follicular unit strip surgery (FUSS) – especially below the strip scar,where exit angles get distorted due the tension in closing the wound.

Dr. Mike Vories, MD
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David
Editorial Assistant and Forum Co-Moderator for the Hair Transplant Network, the Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center, and the Hair Loss Q & A Blog.
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