Repairing Hair Transplants

One of the fastest-growing procedures for hair transplant surgeons is repairing bad hair transplants. There are a variety of reasons that a hair transplant may turn out to be bad, and it is a condition which can leave a patient hurt, angry, and even permanently scarred.

Some hair transplants are simply bad because of the size of the follicles transplanted. This relates mostly to early transplants done in the 70’s and 80’s when large sections of donor hair, usually between 20-30 follicles, were used. Oftentimes the hair plugs will exceed the density of the donor area, and since there is not enough hair to cover both the area between the plugs and the area on the scalp that is in need of hair this can create a scalp that has a ton of hair in some sections and not very much in others.

Other ways that hair transplants can be bad are a low hairline, hair going in the wrong direction, and even scarring which is used to decrease the amount of donor hair area but can eventually become a new dermatolgicall6y condition all its own.

There are generally two ways to deal with a bad hair transplant. The one used most, because of its quicker results and lesser degree of scarring, is the camouflage technique. This is where existing grafts are used to give more volume to the hair transplant. The key here is by using what is already on the scalp; a more natural look is achieved by filling in the area between grafts.

But sometimes camouflage just won’t do the job. Sometimes the grafts are way too big to be hidden or the hair is going in a different (wrong) direction. In these cases actual removal and re-implantation is required This can also achieve excellent results when camouflaging would just simply exaggerate the appearance of the bad hair transplants.  For low hairlines, sometimes the Lumenis Lightsheer hair removal laser is used to remove these grafts without additional scarring.

The great thing about having procedures like follicular micro and mini grafting is that bad hair transplants aren’t a life sentence. They’re just something that can be dealt with and made to look more like the scalp you had when you were in your 20’s.