Melike Kulahci, MD

I had my first hair transplant in June of last year and I hate it. I stupidly made my decision to go with my surgeon based on price and a sales pitch from a consultant who said that the reason their prices are so low is that they don’t need to advertise so the savings are passed onto their customers. I had it done in south Florida, where I know there are a couple of good doctors after reading your site, but I just thought that all the doctors where the same and I wanted to save money. Well I guess I got what I paid for and now I’m in need of help. What percentage of people are in my situation and can I eventually look like I have a normal head of hair even though I think I wasted 1200 hair follicles and $2800. The new hair is growing in different directions and is almost impossible to to style unless I use a lot of gel. Can this be corrected and improved upon if I go to a respectable hair transplant surgeon this time? – Mark
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Dear Mark,

Thank you for your question. Among hair restoration surgeons, hair transplantation has a well-deserved name for being an art rather than a science. Many of us have studied not only the surgical side but also the aesthetic side of this procedure. Read the Story

I was in a car accident six years ago which left me with a 4 inch scar right behind my hairline. I was able to hide if with my hair when I combed it back, but now I seem to have less hair in front and notice that my hair line is receding rapidly. If I go for a hair transplant can the doctor add hair in my scar when they transplant my new hair line. I’ve been very self self conscious about the scar and now it’s becoming very visible as my hairline gets worse. By the way I am 29 years old.

Thanks for any help you can give me.
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Hair transplantation on scar tissue has been discussed and well understood in Hair Restoration Surgery for decades. Scalp has a very well built blood supply system so each wound can be healed rapidly but not always perfectly. That means thickness of the new dermis can not be same as the elastic collagen fibers are more or less shrinked. Inserting new follicles in a sparse distance between epidermis and galea makes revascularisation process difficult as well as graft taking. This fibratic area blocks blood supply of the neighboring tissue. That means scars are getting centers of the balding process. You can be treated both on the hairline and the scar. But you have to be informed that success growth rate on scar tissue is less than on healthy virgin scalp.

Melike Kulahci, MD
Member, International Alliance of Hair Restoration Surgeons
Member, American Hair Loss Association