Our patient today traveled from Central America for his hair transplant repair surgery. Several years ago he had seborrheic dermatitis and as a result his hair began to thin. He decided to have hair restoration surgery approximately one year ago. Our patient told me that he didn’t do any research and settled on a local doctor in his country. The result is obvious… a widened strip scar, 1,2,3 and 4-hair grafts placed right on the hairline at a low density. Another problem with his result is “tenting”, or a raised appearance that looks like follicular units growing from small hypopigmented bumps.
On the positive side, our patient’s hair loss stopped a short time after he got past the seborrheic dermatitis. He began taking Propecia to help with the seborrheic dermatitis related hair loss. Now, even before repair surgery his (native hair) has excellent density on top. A scar like this generally takes two or more passes. Our patient loves to surf and he told me that the current state of his strip scar is keeping him off the beach because he is not comfortable having his head wet in public.
Here is a closeup of the hairline. Notice the hypopigmented “tenting”, the multiple hair grafts on the hairline, the low density placement and if that weren’t bad enough, look at the hair angles. It’s disgusting that a doctor is turning out this caliber of work as recently as 2012.
Our repair patient didn’t want to go back for repair to the doctor in Central America who did the previous work. Dr. Cole removed the wider areas of the scar and is closing the areas as I type. I video taped the removal of the scar tissue earlier today and can post that if anyone’s interested.
I was hoping for some new techniques for strip scar repairs. If it stretched once, it will stretch again, why not place more grafts into the scar?
Yes please post video.
[quote][postedby]Originally Posted by CITNews[/postedby]
Our repair patient didn’t want to go back for repair to the doctor in Central America who did the previous work. Dr. Cole removed the wider areas of the scar and is closing the areas as I type. I video taped the removal of the scar tissue earlier today and can post that if anyone’s interested.
stitch, you still haven’t done anything about your strip scar? i swear you have been talking about getting it fixed for years! does the strip scar keep getting wider every year? how do you deal with that?
[quote]I was hoping for some new techniques for strip scar repairs. If it stretched once, it will stretch again, why not place more grafts into the scar?
[/quote]
Sometimes strip scars stretch back and sometimes they don’t. Our patient believes it was partly his fault for his widened scar. He told me he wasn’t given adequate post-op instructions after his surgery in his country and heard and felt a “rip” at one point.
The patient’s donor supply is preserved by reducing the area of scar tissue needing grafts. As far as new scar repair technologies; for some time Dr. Cole has been getting excellent yield using ACell and PRP during surgery. ACell in particular improves the yield of beard hair in scars from approximately 60% to 90%. Of course, Dr. Cole will always use scalp hair when it’s available in adequate supply.
BTW, Dr. Cole is repairing another wide strip scar today as I type. He doesn’t want his pictures posted though. His scar is white and less irregular than this particular case.
[quote][postedby]Originally Posted by ipod[/postedby]
stitch, you still haven’t done anything about your strip scar? i swear you have been talking about getting it fixed for years! does the strip scar keep getting wider every year? how do you deal with that?[/quote]
I have been very busy with work, besides I want to see how SMP works out for some of the guys who had it done. The scar doesn’t get wider every year, it would be tragic if that happens, I would end up looking like elephant man by now. The first 2-3 years after my HT was the worst, that’s when the scar stretched the most and then it stabilized afterwards.
[quote][postedby]Originally Posted by ipod[/postedby]
stitch, you still haven’t done anything about your strip scar? i swear you have been talking about getting it fixed for years! does the strip scar keep getting wider every year? how do you deal with that?
[postedby]Originally Posted by stitchmeup[/postedby]
I have been very busy with work, besides I want to see how SMP works out for some of the guys who had it done. The scar doesn’t get wider every year, it would be tragic if that happens, I would end up looking like elephant man by now. The first 2-3 years after my HT was the worst, that’s when the scar stretched the most and then it stabilized afterwards.[/quote]
Have you posted photos? We had a patient in a month ago who had a wide strip scar and a really decent head of hair. His donor is thick and he wears his hair long. He didn’t care about his strip scar and came to us for more density in the frontal area.
I mentioned this before related to a creative way of dealing with a scar… I was at a Lowes and the man checking out in front of me shaved his head and had Harley wings tattooed over the top of his strip scar. You could still see the scar, but that’s one bold method of dealing with it. Trichopigmentation is reported to be better than SMP because the dots remain smaller so they more closely resemble hair emerging from the scalp. The downside to both is they fade. I recently spoke with a young man who had SMP at a cost of $3,000. IMO, they really need to develop an “ink” that doesn’t fade or change color.
CITNews works at Dr. Cole’s office
Cole Hair Transplant
1045 Powers Place
Alpharetta, Georgia 30009
Phone 678-566-1011
email CITNews at chuck@forhair.com
I am pretty sure your office has my pictures already, I had a consultation years ago about using FUE to break up my scar, then came PRP and Acell and now SMP, I was hoping PRP and Acell would be effective for strip scars but it doesn’t seem to be the case.
[quote][postedby]Originally Posted by stitchmeup[/postedby]
I am pretty sure your office has my pictures already, I had a consultation years ago about using FUE to break up my scar, then came PRP and Acell and now SMP, I was hoping PRP and Acell would be effective for strip scars but it doesn’t seem to be the case.[/quote]
PRP in some cases increases hair shaft diameter of miniaturized hair. It reliably improves and speeds healing. ACell on the other hand improves hair yield in scar tissue. Beard hair yield is improved from roughly 60% to 90%.
You will feel a lot better roughly 9 months after scar repair having that concern out of the way.
Years ago, I used to look in the mirror and see a row of plugs on my hairline and think to myself, “I have to do something about that.” Dr. Cole did a great job on my hairline. At this point I wish there was more that could be done about my hair loss in the back. On the up side, people no longer stare at my hairline.
Why did you decide not to have us repair your scar, if you don’t mind me asking?
If you want, send me an email.
Hairsite, Forhair forum
CITNews works at Dr. Cole’s office
Cole Hair Transplant
1045 Powers Place
Alpharetta, Georgia 30009
Phone 678-566-1011
email CITNews at chuck@forhair.com
Dr. Cole removed the bulk of the widest area of scar tissue. He used his Cole Instruments .85 punch to remove the grafts he used to repair the strip scar and our patient’s hairline.
[quote][postedby]Originally Posted by Ahab[/postedby]
This guy’s before photos look better than my after photos.
Show us what you can do with someone whose head is truly f’d up.[/quote]
Here is an advanced repair case. The top of our patient’s head required about 4,000 beard grafts. He had more work done on his crown since the photo on the right was taken. It will be a year next month since his last surgery. I will post updated photos when he returns.
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