Understanding Hair
Valued member
Deciding to have a hair transplant should be a big deal, not to be taken lightly, consequently don´t rush in. An afternoon on your favourite social media platform is not research. There are consequences if things don´t work out the way you wanted.
Unfortunately, there are often limitations to repair surgery. The scalp may have suffered trauma, pitting, scarring or cobblestoning. The hair growth may be poor, or incorrect angles and orientation resulting in an unnatural looking hair coverage. Any of these may require multiple sessions to create the desired hair coverage or density. Consequently, repair surgery is a speciality field, and not all doctors feel competent to take on repair cases.
Also, the patient must remain open-minded and be willing to dilute their initial expectations, the scalp is no longer virgin, with a reduced donor hair resource, and the likelihood of impaired skin. It´s not credible to expect to pick up as if nothing occurred, or to believe it´s simply a second procedure in the natural progression of hair restoration. Priorities need to change, based on what is going to deliver the best natural looking cosmetic impact. As a result, this may affect the possible hair coverage, or the hairline design, and in general the long-term result.
A hairline and going back, may need a repair because of a poor design or poor hair placement. If camouflaging the hair is not possible, then it becomes necessary to remove grafts, redesign the line, and then redistribute the extracted grafts, if they survive. An FUE punch can encompass hair groups and punch them out. With larger hair groups close together, a mini FUT strip can remove and then suture to close the line. With a deeply embedded graft, it´s possible first to cauterise and remove. Either way, small punch wounds, sutures or cauterised, the area needs to time heal before considering going back and adding more hair.
Donor scarring, be it from a stretched strip scars to extensive white dot scarring from FUE. A linear scar can stretch due to the lack of post-op care or the doctor’s poor skills and protocols. Skin characteristics can naturally cause wounds to stretch, regardless of how well the procedure went or looked after.
In cases of good skin characteristics, removing an old linear scar and revising or englobe is possible, leaving only the one scar line. If not too prominent, adding hair will better camouflage the scar. It´s considered best to start by placing a lower hair density as it helps to improve the yield. FUE scarring is random but can be obvious the larger the procedure. As a result, adding hair into the white dot scarring is not that practical. Also, more so when the hair is shorter, the white dot skin complexion becomes highlighted around the hair. Cosmetic procedures, such as scalp pigmentation can camouflage the area, but this has complications with the quality of ink, premature fading of the pigment, and ensuring the pigment takes at all, due to placing into scar tissue.
Body Hair FUE has become more commonly used, but needs careful research, as results and growth vary. It is critical to understand how there are genetic variants in hair characteristics around the body, including hair growth rates, body hair has short anagen and long telogen phases. BH tends to grow differently than scalp hair and yield is often slower and lower. The compatibility of the scalp and body hair is essential. Usually, the colour is rarely a limitation, but the curl and coarseness can often differ. A reasonable degree of compatibility must exist for the BH to be a practical resource. It´s often best used as a filler, between the scalp hair growth, or placed into scarring as it seems more robust compared to scalp hair.
A poor hair transplant result can cause long-term stress and complications. Not only leaving physical scars but also mental ones. An issue that can sometimes be hard to come to terms with, depending on the severity of the repair, and much of the original goals and expectations needing to reassess. Do everything you can to minimise the chances of this happening to you, research, ask questions, question claims and cross check. Speak to previous patients, try to see in the flesh. The “inconvenience” of doing your due diligence is well worth it compared to the headaches of needing a hair transplant repair.
Unfortunately, there are often limitations to repair surgery. The scalp may have suffered trauma, pitting, scarring or cobblestoning. The hair growth may be poor, or incorrect angles and orientation resulting in an unnatural looking hair coverage. Any of these may require multiple sessions to create the desired hair coverage or density. Consequently, repair surgery is a speciality field, and not all doctors feel competent to take on repair cases.
Also, the patient must remain open-minded and be willing to dilute their initial expectations, the scalp is no longer virgin, with a reduced donor hair resource, and the likelihood of impaired skin. It´s not credible to expect to pick up as if nothing occurred, or to believe it´s simply a second procedure in the natural progression of hair restoration. Priorities need to change, based on what is going to deliver the best natural looking cosmetic impact. As a result, this may affect the possible hair coverage, or the hairline design, and in general the long-term result.
Donor scarring, be it from a stretched strip scars to extensive white dot scarring from FUE. A linear scar can stretch due to the lack of post-op care or the doctor’s poor skills and protocols. Skin characteristics can naturally cause wounds to stretch, regardless of how well the procedure went or looked after.
In cases of good skin characteristics, removing an old linear scar and revising or englobe is possible, leaving only the one scar line. If not too prominent, adding hair will better camouflage the scar. It´s considered best to start by placing a lower hair density as it helps to improve the yield. FUE scarring is random but can be obvious the larger the procedure. As a result, adding hair into the white dot scarring is not that practical. Also, more so when the hair is shorter, the white dot skin complexion becomes highlighted around the hair. Cosmetic procedures, such as scalp pigmentation can camouflage the area, but this has complications with the quality of ink, premature fading of the pigment, and ensuring the pigment takes at all, due to placing into scar tissue.
Body Hair FUE has become more commonly used, but needs careful research, as results and growth vary. It is critical to understand how there are genetic variants in hair characteristics around the body, including hair growth rates, body hair has short anagen and long telogen phases. BH tends to grow differently than scalp hair and yield is often slower and lower. The compatibility of the scalp and body hair is essential. Usually, the colour is rarely a limitation, but the curl and coarseness can often differ. A reasonable degree of compatibility must exist for the BH to be a practical resource. It´s often best used as a filler, between the scalp hair growth, or placed into scarring as it seems more robust compared to scalp hair.
A poor hair transplant result can cause long-term stress and complications. Not only leaving physical scars but also mental ones. An issue that can sometimes be hard to come to terms with, depending on the severity of the repair, and much of the original goals and expectations needing to reassess. Do everything you can to minimise the chances of this happening to you, research, ask questions, question claims and cross check. Speak to previous patients, try to see in the flesh. The “inconvenience” of doing your due diligence is well worth it compared to the headaches of needing a hair transplant repair.
