Hundreds, huh? Right. Here's the thing about your research. You've not counted the ones that posted their bad results and then disappeared. Some had bad scarring, some had bad growth but that's another story. Yes, we're talking about very short hair with a #2 or #3 and I agree that most won't go that short but you're the one that brought that point up as if it's a regular occurrence that such short lengths are possible without seeing the strip scar. I say most don't go that short because they can't, not because they don't want to.
You said that it gets to be the second or third strip that makes the donor scar more unpredictable so if that's true why do you think stripping out first makes more sense if the second or more strips makes the healing unpredictable? I think that is why so many people don't want a strip because it's unpredictable and to strip out makes it more of a gamble than to go FUE first. I think FUE is better for a lot of guys and I don't think it's fair to demonize a procedure because some clinics are being reckless with it. If you are sensible with FUE, it's better than being sensible with strip, because no strip scar can be predicted but extraction patterns for FUE don't have an unpredictable scar factor and the extractions can be planned.
Uhh no, see here's the thing(lol). I was referring to all cases I've found and read through so far, good and bad. Just so happens that bad results from those guys are very hard to find, their work is super clean both in the recipient and donor. Not saying they are perfect cause I'm sure they have unhappy patients, but yeah results are very consistent from what I've been able to find.
I've seen way more sub-par FUE results then strip (I get that a lot of that is sub par clinics with inexperienced techs doing the damage but FUE by its nature lends itself to bad results due to the skill/preciseness needed to safely extract/handle the grafts). Doctor choice is crucially important with FUE if you want a good result. The good candidates for FUE are guys with only hairline recession (no diffuse, no crown/vertex thinning) and no family history of more severe balding, so they can throw 1500-2000 at their receded hairline and move on with their life strip-scar free and little risk of needing large graft numbers later on.
FUE limits your life time donor supply which is the real limitation with it imo (if you theoretically equalize doctor skill and yield/quality for comparison's sake). Konior (who is very good at both strip and FUE and who's practice is about 50/50 for anyone who's unaware of him) told me that the way to max out lifetime donor is to do strip first and then FUE, the guy knows his sh*t so I'm inclined to believe him especially because his FUE prices are high and his results with it are very good. It's much easier and lucrative (in terms of grafts) to do FUT on a virgin scalp then one's that's been hammered by 5,000 FUE, and the other benefit of doing strip first is once you're done with that the rest of the leftover donor is just as dense as ever and is "virgin" for FUE even though you've already moved 6-8k grafts via strip. As opposed to FUE'ing yourself out then doing a big strip which is FUE'd out itself and doesn't yield much in the way of good grafts, so you're getting a big scar for not that much in return. Hence why it's the best route for a guy who seems destined for NW5 and beyond, get a ton of grafts moved then tap into FUE as needed from there.
Anyway, just because there's more risk of a slightly bigger scar in the 2nd or 3rd strip doesn't mean it's guaranteed or that it's enough to make a difference, we're talking about millimeters here. This is where a skilled surgeon is worth his weight in gold, they know how to judge the right size of the strips taken out to best avoid stretching after and they're god-like at sewing it all back up. Strip has been evolving over the years alongside FUE, it's not the same as it was a decade+ ago.
You also ignored how I said that most who get strip wear their hair long enough that it doesn't matter. I've found most of them have the attitude of "I'm paying all this money and going through all this sh*t so I have hair, why the hell would I shave most of it off after?". I know that super short sides with a long top is the current trend but it will change, think long term. Besides who wants to be a trend follower, that haircut is played out already, makes you look like a mindless sheep following the herd.
