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Scar revision or FUE on a 1 inch scar

T

Turbo

Valued member
Hi all, I am facing a difficult decison regarding how it would be best to get rid of my horrible scar that has put my life on hold.. I have had 3 HTs. After the 2nd HT I had a scar of I would say 7-8mm. I dont know for sure but some of this could of been due to me doing some weight training after after 3-4 weeks. Since the 3rd Ht I have been left with a scar that is divided in 2 by a thin line of hair. So half of the scar dates from 2007 and the other half from June 2009. I do not like having to have my hair this long mainly because my hair is now thin on the hairline for about an inch. and I have to have a daily spray gel routine to get it into 'shape' I like the idea of FUE into scars more than excision, mainly due to the fact that for a few months last year I could feel the tightness of the back of my head.. It still isn't 100% without a slight bit of tightness on occasions.. (All of the nerves seem to of been left intact as eventually the feeling returned) So the idea of having a permanently tight head really scares me.. But looking at some FUE into scars examples there really is only a small amount of grafts put in (risked?) Is there anyone out there that was faced with the same problem? And how did you resolve it? Thank you
 

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Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Hi Turbo

Welcome to the forum.

That is a bad scar,it looks pretty high up too.Sometimes scars do stretch but this looks too wide to me for normal stretching,in my non medical opinion of course.

Did you contact the doctor and ask for their opinion,if so what was it.It will take a lot of fue into that scar to make a significant difference,maybe if scalp laxity allows your best bet would be to have it excised out.

Have you any pictures of the transplanted area,both pre and post op.

Take care bm.
 
sl

sl

BHR Clinic Patient Advisor
Hi turbo,

welcome to the forum and really sorry to see your case. I think looking at the size of the scar and how wide trying to revise may not be the best idea and your outlook to have hair placed back into the area your best decision.

If you go this route it may take a few procedures to get the thickness you want as it is best to start with a slightly lower density and build it up rather than try to get a result in one pass. Scar tissue is obviously harder to get growth and placing a lower density initially can give the hair the best chance of a high yield. You can't obviously make the scar disappear but you can camouflage it very well and allow you to have your hair shorter without it being anywhere near as noticeable.

You could also look at body or beard hair FUE as well as scalp, dependent on your scalp reserves and your body hair quality... just ideas for you.

I can show you a case we treated, a scar turned necrosis after a hair transplant, this is only 5 months post op after about 590 FUE placed but you can see the difference already and how the coverage would make a huge difference in the long term.

Good luck with your research and best wishes,

594FUEInToScar5MonthsGrowth.jpg



 
T

Turbo

Valued member
Thank you for the replies.
I am looking to get something done as early as July if possible. I have already been searching for pictures of FUE into scars and I think that this would seemingly be my best option. I would like to try beard hair as it is thicker, but does it feel noticeably different to someone else if they put their hands through your hair?

I had previously contacted a couple of doctors in the USA who both believe that I should try excision of a part of the scar using a particular technique.. The other thing about that is that if it doesnt work it will extend the timespan for at least making it better via FUE. Also I must admit I much prefer the idea of Eurostar than an 8 hour flight after an HT..l

I believe that I have plenty of donor hair left even after taking away the scar which incidentally extends further on one side towards the ear than the other as my hair is still quite thick in comparison to what I have seen of others online. I would also like a little help with my hairline as it too would benefit from at least a few hundred grafts! The first 1.5cm of hairline is too thin and I have a couple of grafts that never seem to fully heal that I would like extracting..
 

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Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
What did your last HT doctor suggest to fix the scar.
 
T

Turbo

Valued member
He said that he would try and fix it: I do not trust them after the last 2 ops..
 
sl

sl

BHR Clinic Patient Advisor
Hi Turbo

By revising the scar it depends on what you would be happy with, less than a cm wide scar possibly and even then it will probably want grafts into it all the same. But if it doesn't work out you are looking at another 12 months before ideally doing anything about it with FUE, the skin would really need that time span to relax again and give the grafts the best chance of taking.

As it is doubtful a "full" result in one pass is possible, beard hair can be tried and mixed with scalp then assessed months down the line and then if happy more can be used later to "fill in".

The hair line looks to be pitted from poor placement, have to remove a few "rogue" grafts if directly on the hair line and these can be re-used generally, Would not suggest to drop the line if at all possible, just work along the line to improve the look and then behind.

 
T

Turbo

Valued member
Yes I think I would be looking at improving the hairline. Under certain lighting there are 2 areas that show pitting.. Mainly I can hide it with hair though.

I think that I would like to sort the hairline and make a start on the scar. Would the timespan between 2 FUE procedures be a year?.

Also from what I understand from forums doesn't the scar excision have an approximately 50% chance of success?. There isnt much laxity in the scar area - isn't that the case with most scars?

Taking all of the above into account. Maybe I should book a date to deal with my hairline primarily and then look at the best option regarding my scar with a proper analysis?.



 
Sparky

Sparky

Valued member
I had fue into my scar october 2009, I'm only 4.5 months post op and the hairs are starting to come through, my wife says that if my scar wasnt pink (which I'm told will fade back to white) she would have trouble finding the scar. I went to Dr Bisanga at BHR in Brussels, I recommend you consult with them, they are good at repair work.
 
D

drmwamba

Valued member
post9.jpg

By mywhtc at 2010-02-09



YOU SHOULD ALSO CONSIDER BHT INTO THE SCAR .EVRYTHING WILL DEPEND ON YOUR PRIORITIES .THE BEST WAY TO COVER YOUR SCAR WILL BE SCAP HAIRS BY FUE.NOW ,IF YOU ARE ALSO CONCERN BY WORK IN YOUR HAIR LINE , WE NEED TO EVALUATE YOUR NEEDS IN TERMS OF GRAFT COUNT AND CHECK WITH YOUR DONOR AVAILABILITY TO CHOOSE EITHER TO GO FOR FUE ONLY OR A COMBO FUE /BHT .

YOU CAN PERFORM A SESSION OF 2 FUE APART OF 2 MONTHS IF YOU ARE WORKING IN DIFFERENT REGIONS OF YOUR SCALP (FHL AND SCAR LATER ON ) .YOU DON'T HAVE TO WAIT FOR A FULL YEAR .
 
T

Turbo

Valued member
Thanks for the reply Sparky.. Very interesting! I think my scar was more like that originally 3 years ago.. If only I knew that I was going to make it worse not better by having a 3rd strip procedure! I originally thought that I would excise the original scar with the next strip procedure..

Thanks for the reply Dr. Mwamba, again very interesting. The consensus seems to be 2 sessions of FUE and/or body hair..

I would be interested to know the success rates clinics have found regarding previous FUE into scar procedures, particularly for the 2nd FUE procedure to thicken the 1st session..
 
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Turbo wrote:
He said that he would try and fix it: I do not trust them after the last 2 ops..

Hi Turbo.

Did the doctor say he would excise it out or do fue.

Thanks bm.
 
T

Turbo

Valued member
Bigmac,
The doctor in question doesn't do FUE, he has offered to excise out the scar... I have had 3 ops with the CHOI which is the only instrument that he used on all 3 ops.. Well you can see the results!

The reason that I went through it 3 times is that the work was complemeted with my existing hair so I thought that things weren't too bad..

Sadly I can't take up the offer of repair with the aforementioned 'doctor' as I am not yet braindead!

Cheers
 
H

hairtech

member
Man this is a terrible horrific scar. I wonder why you scarred this badly? One option would definitely to excise it out first... Wait a year and then graft it via FUE if there was a re-stretch of any kind. I am sure an experienced HT doc could at least decrease the scar via a revision. We do this often at Shapiro Medical. However there are others that can handle this also. Just do some research.;)
 
T

Turbo

Valued member
If Im being honest I feel more tempted to try and fill in the scar as I dont want to waste another year. My head has was very tight for the first few months, and only now does it feel almost ok.. From doing my research I think most docs say that I have a 50% chance that I will improve using scar excision. I probably have had a tighter scar than most so I will most probably fall into the 50% that dont improve..so I think I should utilise whatever hair I can get from elsewhere to sort the problem..
 
H

hairtech

member
Agreed... However realize this: Most of the time a scar this large will take several passes to improve it. And with each pass it takes a year to grow to see the result. The fue into the scar will probably never reach the native density surrounding the scar. However something in there would definitely make a difference.

Alao using your research data... even a 50% improvement after a revision would be easier to graft than the full scar as it stands. But I understand your delemma.
 
T

Turbo

Valued member
Hi,
What I was referring to regarding the 50% was that only 50% of patients see an improvement , the other 50% per cent are back at square one and have wasted a year...not that I wouldn't be be very happy with a 50% reduction of course.. but even then I would also have to wait another year befure FUE into the 50% left. Now I do think that as long as I keep my hair a bit longer around the scar area even a scattering of FUEs would diffuse the area and allow the hair to at least be perhaps half the length that it is now perhaps
 
Bigmac

Bigmac

Administrator
Staff member
Turbo wrote:
Bigmac,
The doctor in question doesn't do FUE, he has offered to excise out the scar... I have had 3 ops with the CHOI which is the only instrument that he used on all 3 ops.. Well you can see the results!

The reason that I went through it 3 times is that the work was complemeted with my existing hair so I thought that things weren't too bad..

Sadly I can't take up the offer of repair with the aforementioned 'doctor' as I am not yet braindead!

Cheers

Thanks Turbo.

If i were you i would try to have at least two/three in person consultations with some doctors to get their diagnosis and possible approach to your situation.

As for the Choi,i personally don`t like it due to my poor experience with it.
 
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