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Purpose of 2nd strip scars

topccat29

topccat29

29 year HT veteran
What is the purpose of 2[suP]nd[/suP] and sometimes I have seen 3 scars from a strip procedure. Cosmetically it is easier for a patient to have to deal with only one scar so why do some clinics go with the multiple scar choice?
 
janna

janna

Moderator
The short answer to that would be to achieve as much donor as possible for each procedure. I suppose another answer to your question is that the physician doesn't know what they are doing?

I personally think it's irresponsible for the doctor to produce more than one scar unless its the patient who really pushed for two or three separate scars. Meaning, after much consulting, the patient and doctor decided it was best to achieve more donor and have multiple scars than achieve less donor and have one scar.

There are instances when I've seen patients who had prior procedures that have really low scars. Basically, below the safe zone. Because the risk of creating a wide scar is great if you try to harvest in the same low area, a new scar will be created higher up within the safe zone when another procedure is performed. In these type of cases, there not much choice but to produce two scars.
 
topccat29

topccat29

29 year HT veteran
Janna thank you for answering. Assuming this is a first time patient I would have to agree with your second answer. Even if a small amount of additional grafts were possible by not going into the area where the previous scar was located the benefit when compared to having to deal with multiple scars certainly is not worth it from the perspective of the patient and as a patient who has multiple scars from poorly performed work in the past I can attest to this fact. At some point they become difficult to conceal.

I have yet to hear from a patient that had multiple scars, were okay with it and would do it again.

Personally from my own case and understanding how hard it was to remove the shot gun blast 4mm scarring from the back of my head I would have guessed it was just easier and faster for the doctor to work in a fresh area and not have to deal with scar tissue which benefits the doctor and not the patient. I am in agreement it seems to be irresponsible.
 
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wrapper

Valued member
for me this is very interesting and a little disturbing, having just had a HT, put my faith in my doc, he recommends a 2nd scar for my next HT, he reckoned on 2500+ grafts being harvested from it, after reading this I already don't want this but will have to do more research and talk to my doc, after lots of research my original plan was one strip followed by FUE, thinking along those lines again, for me it's a year off but maybe going to Belguim or Cyprus will be my next move, more research from me needs done.
 
S

StaggerLee

Valued member
I am one of the lucky ones that have 2 strip scars. Yippee! The reason I ended up with 2, as Janna has suggested, is because my first surgeon took his strip from fairly low on my head. The second surgeon really should have tried to incorporate the existing scar into the new one but it is something he didn't want to attempt or wasn't confident enough to try.

I think patients with two scars are becoming a thing of the past. Most multi-scar patients, like myself, are probably relics of the past and victims of poor planning and judgement on the part of the docs involved.

Two strip scars should never occur today...
 
W

wrapper

Valued member
My surgeon Dr Pathomvanic in Bangkok has recommended for me a 2nd scar, maybe because I'm norwood 6, I haven't said I was desperate for the maximum result, in fact I've been very realistic in my conversations with my doc' and told him I just want to look better than I do now and have asked for a fairly high hairline, I then left myself in his capable hands, my doc' is pretty famous in australasia and has glowing references on various forums, am I to believe what Janna says quote "I suppose another answer to your question is that the physician doesn't know what they are doing", dr Path recommends a 2nd scar with absolutely no pressure from me, Dr Path' has won various awards and is highly renowned, I have to ask you Janna, do you stand by that statement? if as StaggerLee is right what he says "Two strip scars should never occur today" why is my doc recommending this??? having just had a HT and choosing my Doc' because I thought he was one of the best, this has got me very concerned, too late for me now, I've had a strip and it's quite low down, I'd never even heard of a safe zone, I couldn't get fue for first ht, too bald, if what I'm reading now is correct then I may have made a bad choice, god I hope not, time will tell.
 
W

wrapper

Valued member
Zionaxel,
if your purposes is to ridicule me, then I don't want to hear from you, you're the same guy who swore and ranted at one of my postings when all I said was I had dental implants done in Poland, saying for f*%& sake it's not like going to the dentist when I never said it was, yes I said I'd never heard of the safe zone, I took that to mean an area which is not going to go bald in the future, I hadn't read anything about a "safe zone" as regards to how low a HT can go, if some one can enlighten me about this I'd be most grateful, there is so much contradictory things to read online about HT's, no one can know all the answers, I tried my best to educate myself, if I've made a mistake I won't be the first or the last.
 
W

wrapper

Valued member
I have just read Janna's post again, I got confused by what she wrote, my mistake, can I ask the forum, if you have a HT scar quite low down leaving room for another without touching the original scar, in this instance having 2 individual scars hidden by hair, what would be best? to use the original scar therefore making it larger or making a new scar a little further up?
 
Z

zionaxel

Valued member
Bit touchy there wrapper, it was a simply question i thought maybe your Doc would of mentioned it.
 
janna

janna

Moderator
Hi Wrapper,

I'm glad you re-read my post. I would not classify Dr. Path as someone who does not know what he's doing. While I have not been to Dr. Path's clinic myself, Dr. Ron Shapiro did visit his clinic last year. Dr. Shapiro says he does great work. I'm confident you are in great hands with him. Since your previous scar is low, Dr. Path's only option may be to create a second scar if he is to harvest any donor. Best of luck with your hair restoration. Please keep us posted of your journey. Maybe create your own blog by loading pictures to your gallery. It'd be good to see more of Dr. Path's work.
 
topccat29

topccat29

29 year HT veteran
Wrapper you shouldn €™t be offended by zionaxel €™s comment. My posting style is very similar at times. Not because I am trying to be a smart ass but it €™s just so hard to understand with all the information available to prospective patients they don €™t even know the basics before having surgery. The clinic should have discussed all of this beforehand if they thought a second strip scar was necessary. They should have also explained why and included the negatives of having multiple scars. Leaving important information out because a patient does not know enough to ask is a red flag in my book.

Repair patients who have had work performed years ago simply cannot understand why prospective patients don €™t take advantage of the experience of those who have gone before them. So sometimes we just shake our heads and post what seems to be a smart ass comment. And the smart ass comment is not directed towards you but to others that are reading about your experience. Basically we are saying learn from this patient €™s experience he was not give important information.
 
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wrapper

Valued member
Janna,
you did say "I suppose another answer to your question is that the physician doesn't know what they are doing" in response to Topcat's original post about 2nd strip scars, that got me concerned as I hoped I had chosen a good surgeon, my surgeon tells me from his experience you are better to leave the first scar alone and create a new strip, there are a lot of contradictory messages, maybe the real answer depends on the patient, Dr Path' has seen my head and this is what he advises, if a scar is hidden in the safe zone then surely 2 scars hidden in the safe zone amounts to the same thing, I appreciate your reply Janna but when I first read your post on 2nd scars, I thought no way can I have a 2nd strip HT after reading that, you can see what I mean about contradictory messages.
I will post pic's and be as helpful to any prospective HT patients as I can, what I would say although it's early days, I had a HT in Bangkok 4 days ago, I'm now back in Scotland, I have suffered next to no pain and the swellings almost gone, Dr Path' and his team made the process as comfortable as possible for me, if my results are of the same quality as the treatment I received in Bangkok then I will be extremely happy.
Topcat29, thanks for your explanation, I certainly new the "basics" before having surgery, just about every conversation I had with Dr Path' revolved around me worrying about a scar, the reply I got 85% of scars are pencil slim, the other 15% can be covered quite easily by growing hair a little longer, Dr Path' reassured me several times, I think he thought I was overly worried, Dr Path' did not do the stitching, I spoke beforehand with the Lady who does the stitching she also reassured me and was obvious she took pride in her work, I don't think my clinic left out important information, DR Path' explained to me that through his experience he has learned that 2 scars are better than one, this is a man of 68 years whose carried out 1000's of hair transplants, who's the expert? who do I listen to? on these forums there are some bitter people, bitter because they had a bad experience, these people's view can be helpful but can also be misleading, yes it's good to read up and educate yourself but if you took on board every negative comment then there's no way anyone would ever go through with a hair transplant, I went to a surgeon who has glowing reports online, who has a 3 month waiting list, whose patients come to see him from all over the world, I asked my questions and raised my concerns but ultimately you've got to trust them to do their job, sorry Topcat29 but no "red flag in my book" as you put it, having a strip hair transplant comes with risks, I realised that from the start but decided to have one anyway.
 
janna

janna

Moderator
janna wrote:
There are instances when I've seen patients who had prior procedures that have really low scars. Basically, below the safe zone. Because the risk of creating a wide scar is great if you try to harvest in the same low area, a new scar will be created higher up within the safe zone when another procedure is performed. In these type of cases, there not much choice but to produce two scars.


Yes, I did write that sentence. But in the same post, I also wrote the paragraph above:

You have stated in your posts that your prior scar is low. So I would say you fall under this category of having no choice but to create 2 scars. Not all "low scars" have to be below the safe zone to bear risks of big scars. Some scars that are on the low side within the safe zone can also have risks for large scars. Dr. Path is well respected among his peers and I've no doubt he knows what he recommends is best for his patients. Not all doctors have the same philosophy and there's not just one answer or technique that is right.

As for the quote you are most concerned with - "I suppose another answer to your question is that the physician doesn't know what they are doing?"

I put a question mark behind the sentence (please see original post) as I was taking a guess from some of the repair patients we've seen at our clinic. Many of them went to unknown clinics or clinics with poor reputations. Now, you have to keep in mind that these repair cases are not good. Not only are there big scars in the back but the yield/growth from the transplant is not good either.

I apologize to cause you concern. Each patient has to be evaluated on an individual basis. And when you read posts, many are answered in general terms.

Take care and hope you are healing well.


 
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topccat29

topccat29

29 year HT veteran
Wrapper I got the impression you were not advised of a second scar being made on your next procedure. Now I understand you were advised and as long as you knew no red flag I agree.

I think if you ask around and I €™m speaking specifically of patients you would be hard pressed to find one that is okay with a second scar and those that do have multiple scars only have regrets.

Wrapper will you be posting pictures of your case both before and after along with the scar area?
 
W

wrapper

Valued member
Thanks topcat and Janna for your replies, Topcat a 2nd scar was never mentioned to me until the day of surgery but it was only then that a 2nd HT was discussed, I'm terrified of having a hideous noticeable scar and will get FUE next time if it's going to work for me, I took a few pics on day of surgery and I will post before and after pic's including the scar sometime soon, will be a pleasure if I can help people like myself.
 
janna

janna

Moderator
wrapper wrote:
I will post before and after pic's including the scar sometime soon, will be a pleasure if I can help people like myself.

It's what these forums are about - to learn from other patients' experiences before you and then you in turn share your experience so that others after you can learn from your experiences. I look forward to following your progress. ;)
 
W

wrapper

Valued member
No problem Janna, I will be as much help as I can, I also hope the forum members can help me decide what type of and where my next procedure will be, definitely need another one to complete the job, I have loads of pic's but just the same old pre op pic's everyone's seen a hundred times, if and when there's something to show then I'll start downloading some pic's.
 
W

wrapper

Valued member
sorry, for being an idiot but I don't know how to start my own blog with pic's, can someone help???? this is me 8 days after surgery, had a number 4 haircut, barber says scar is very slim but that my hair around the scar may have been shaved before stitching, I don't know, I fell asleep at that point during surgery, yesterday I got my stitches out, nurse confirms that the scar is very slim, she was impressed.
 
W

wrapper

Valued member
sorry, for being an idiot but I don't know how to start my own blog with pic's, can someone help???? this is me 8 days after surgery, had a number 4 haircut, barber says scar is very slim but that my hair around the scar may have been shaved before stitching, I don't know, I fell asleep at that point during surgery, yesterday I got my stitches out, nurse confirms that the scar is very slim, she was impressed.
 

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