hair transplant repair

I had a hair transplant over 5 years ago and was fully aware that I would need 3 to 4 more hair transplant procedures to cover a bald head. I thought this was the direction I wanted to go. I have very thin hair, and realize I am not the best candidate for the procedure, so I’m not wanting to commit to putting an additional 3 scars on the back of my head. I wish I could just go back to super short hair/shaved close. Is there anything I can do with the scar on the back of my head? ~ Michael
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Thank you for your letter. Once you’ve had a strip surgery it is often very difficult to regain the ability to wear your hair shaved close as the scar may have a slightly different shade of skin coloring than the non-scarred skin and the linear scar, even when very thin, can draw the attention of an observer. There are, however, options to wear your hair short.

If your scar is a “normal” width, say 1-3 mm, you may be a candidate for a scar removal followed by a special method of wound closure whereby one of the skin edges is treated a certain way as to allow healing with hair actually growing through the scar. This method of treating the wound and suturing is called a “trichophytic closure.” Read the Story

I am 28 years old and had a hair transplant procedure of 1800 grafts two years ago. The transplant isn’t really horrible or anything, but it just Isn’t as natural as I hoped it would be. What I really want to do is just have the grafts removed, shave my head and move on with my life. Can this be done? And if so, will my head look relatively normal after?
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If you are convinced that you really just want to shave your head, my guess is that there is a pretty good chance you could make your head look relatively normal. Let’s start with the recipient area. The first thing you should probably do is to closely shave a small area of transplanted grafts to make sure that you don’t have any scars there that would bother you if there were no hair to hide it. If your hair is dark and coarse, you might even choose to pluck a small area of grafts or to use a small amount of chemical hair remover designed for beard hair to really get an idea of what your scalp would look like bald. Assuming you are comfortable with the look and you want to proceed with graft removal, I would suggest laser hair removal. This may require 3 or 4 sessions and occasionally touchup sessions every couple of years, but the advantage is that it is relatively quick and it does not scar. You should understand, however, that it may not work well for blond hair. Read the Story

I just moved back to New York. I have had four or five hair transplant sessions between the ages of 20 and 30. I am now 40 years old. The original job was done by Gary Hitzig and it was horrible. All subsequent jobs didn’t address the the original bad transplants, scars and poor hairline choice. I had a great deal of my own hair and have managed to “live with it,” and decided to wait, now 10 years, for the technology and processes to improve. Now I’m 40 and I need to address it as my hairline recedes and hair further thins. I comb my hair forward in a “caesar cut” and hide the scars and doll hair plugs. I’d like to be able to comb it back and not worry about it. I’m looking for guidance. Thanks.
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First and foremost, I want you to know that you’re not alone. From my understanding, your experience with Dr. Gary Hitzig seems to be typical according to many of his former patients.

Living with a bad hair transplant can be very difficult, so I’m glad that you’ve been able to deal with it and function well for all of these years. The good news is that surgical hair restoration has come a long way. With today’s state of the art techniques, even the worst repair patients can be helped. Depending on your available donor area, much can be done to help you achieve a completely natural looking hairline that you will no longer have to hide. Read the Story

I am 36 years old and had a mini-micrograft hair transplant in 2005. My hairline looks extremely unnatural and I have heard more than my share of jokes and comments made by co-workers and friends. I am writing you today to find out if this can be repaired, and if so how would that be accomplished? Are the grafts removed or is more hair transplanted around the existing grafts?
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The adverse effects of a poorly performed minigraft hair restoration procedure can be improved upon using contemporary repair techniques. The manner in which the repair is performed depends on a variety of factors which include: 1) hairline location – i.e. is it too low or does it have an aesthetic shape and height; 2) graft direction and exit angle from the scalp; 3) graft appearance – i.e. severity of plugginess, presence of pitting or cobblestone formation; and 4) the availability of donor material for supplemental grafting. Some of the methods that are used to repair an unnatural minigraft hairline include: 1) complete removal of the objectionable grafts; 2) removing selective portions of the objectionable grafts; 3) adding follicular-unit grafts to the minigraft region. Read the Story

I had a hair transplant about two years ago from a well known hair loss clinic here in Chicago. I am very disappointed in the results and was wondering if you do repair work on women. I an 29 years old and had 400 hair grafts placed in a thin area of my hair line. My hair seemed to have gotten worse after the hair transplant. Can this be fixed?
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Repair work traditionally refers to a surgical procedure that is designed to improve, remove or camouflage the adverse effects of a poorly performed surgical hair restoration. Common problems requiring attention during a repair procedure include detectable plugs or minigrafts, asymmetric hairlines, and visible scars. Your letter seems to imply that you have had one or a combination of the following: 1) poor graft growth; 2) not enough grafts to satisfy your density needs; or 3) damage to the residual native hair follicles.

The fact that your hair density has deteriorated may be related to progression of your hair loss process, or it may have arisen from shock loss secondary to the transplant procedure itself. Read the Story

Hello, I was wondering if you could help me. I am withholding my name for the time being. On August 8, 2007 I went for a consultation for a hair transplant at MHR. At this consultation the consultant drew a new hairline on my head with magic marker ( I have the picture from consultation ) and told me how many grafts I would need for my transplant. He planned out a surgery for my entire head. I agreed to the surgery.

This was changed by the doctor on the day of surgery (August 31, 2007) to just the front of my head. I have since learned from various sources that having the consultant make a surgical plan or even draw on my head with magic marker is Illegal and unethical, that the surgeon doing the hair transplant has to do the planning with the patient pre surgery.

I am very unhappy about my surgery. I have a rim of hair that circles my head which is my new hairline and very little to no density behind it. I have been told by doctors that at best, I have maybe 500 grafts in head. I paid over 8 thousand dollars fro 2,226 grafts. I feel like I have been disfigured. Read the Story

In the mid nineties I had two scalp reductions and a total of 900 micrografts from Bosley in Beverly Hills. The scalp reductions never really worked out too well leaving me with very visible scaring and a weird scar that runs to the very back of my head. I have been forced to wear a hair piece for the past 11 years just to hide the bad cosmetic appearance of the hair transplant. I was reading on your site that these types of issues can now be fixed with modern hair transplantation. How common is my situation and will I ever be able to get out from under this hair piece if I have a modern day hair transplant?
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Your situation is more common than you would think. Whether or not you will be able to take off the hair piece and go without really depends on many factors. Most importantly is how much viable donor hair you have and will it provide enough coverage in the areas of thinning or loss to satisfy you. It would be very helpful if you could forward a few photographs. Your situation could then be evaluated and your options will be given to you. Many hair transplant physicians are now starting to see patients coming to their clinics with this same scenario or something very similar. Often a significant improvement can be made and the patient is at some point able to stop wearing the hair piece. Read the Story

My 27 year old sister underwent a hair transplant to lower her hairline. To my knowledge she had no hair loss but just wanted to kind of frame her face better. The hair transplant surgeon who performed the surgery claimed to have done the same type of surgery on many female celebrities so my sister was excited. Today she looks like a women with a hair transplant and has become extremely withdrawn. She no longer wants to go to work. She does not date and is very depressed. She is also now losing her normal hair since she had the hair transplant.

Is there anything I can do to help her? Can her hair be fixed? Is it normal protocol to do a hair transplant on a 27 year old girl with no real hair loss? Her surgeon is basically ignoring her calls now. Please give me some advise.
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Thank you for your letter. It is unfortunate that your sister did not receive the results that she was hoping for. It sounds like there are two issues that need to be addressed, hair loss in a woman and a transplant result that is not completely natural. I will attempt to give you some options regarding both of these problems.

By your letter it sounds like your sister has started losing her “native” hair since the transplant. You didn’t mention where this is occurring but the situation should be evaluated like any woman with hair loss. This involves obtaining a history of the condition as well as an examination by an experienced hair restoration surgeon. The treatable cases such as thyroid function abnormalities, anemia, elevated testosterone or polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) should be ruled out. Read the Story

I’m a police officer who had a hair transplant three years ago. I was told that I would have no problem wearing a military cut on the job but now I have a very noticeable scar from the surgery straight across the back of my head. I specifically asked the person I signed up with if this would be an issue and he said absolutely not. That’s the only reason I decided on going through with the hair transplant. Now I’m always being asked about it. I am wondering if it could be fixed. Also is it unusual not to have the opportunity speak with the doctor until the day of the hair transplant? This was my experience.

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I am sorry to hear your story. It is my firm position as a professional that you have had your patient rights violated in a number of ways. It is beyond my comprehension why a physician was not involved with your initial consultation for a surgical procedure. Unfortunately, there are various surgical hair restoration offices that utilize so-called “expert consultants”, often to the detriment of proper patient education. These individuals often wear a white coat, like a doctor, so as to generate a sense of professionalism and competence. Unfortunately, these individuals are often nothing more than a sales-person for the clinic they represent. Read the Story

When I was 23 years old I underwent a Fleming Mayer flap hair transplant and I am very unhappy with my current appearance. I was told that is was far superior to a conventional hair transplant but I can tell you that this is not the case. The appearance of my hair line is very unnatural to me and now it is beginning to thin again 5 years later. Is it possible to regain a normal appearance with another hair transplant. I’m very unhappy with the way things have turned out for me and I’m hoping for some resolution.
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At one time the Fleming-Mayer flap was considered to be a viable option for surgical hair restoration. Flap restoration of the frontal hairline was acceptable during the era of “plug” transplantation because of the many well-recognized problems that were associated with the use of plugs.

The primary goal of surgical hair restoration is to produce a natural result. Plug graft techniques were notorious for the problems they created, the most obvious of which were unnatural corn-row hairlines and widespread donor sites scars. The less-than-perfect plug technique motivated physicians to look for alternative methods for recreating a frontal hairline, hence the introduction of frontal hairline flap procedures. Read the Story