This case from today, March 31, 2009, shows the immediate post op photos of a repair case. In 1990 (at another clinic) this gentleman underwent a series of four scalp reduction surgeries / 40 plug transplants for the vertex and a total of 120 plugs to address his frontal region / hairline. Shown are the pre op and immediate post op photos after follicular unit transplants were used to camouflage his prior work. Two thousand, two hundred follicular units (grafts) were placed across the crown while another nine hundred grafts were used to soften his hairline, fill a small midline frontal gap and place in between his plugs.
As can be seen in the photos the frontal region had good density from his prior work but had a blunt tufted hairline that was easily softened and filled. The crown required the majority of the work as it had a moderate amount of old white scarring to cover.

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Limmer Hair Transplant Clinic

Dr. Brad Limmer is a member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians

This case from today, March 31, 2009, shows the immediate post op photos of a repair case. In 1990 (at another clinic) this gentleman underwent a series of four scalp reduction surgeries / 40 plug transplants for the vertex and a total of 120 plugs to address his frontal region / hairline. Shown are the pre op and immediate post op photos after follicular unit transplants were used to camouflage his prior work. Two thousand, two hundred follicular units (grafts) were placed across the crown while another nine hundred grafts were used to soften his hairline, fill a small midline frontal gap and place in between his plugs.
As can be seen in the photos the frontal region had good density from his prior work but had a blunt tufted hairline that was easily softened and filled. The crown required the majority of the work as it had a moderate amount of old white scarring to cover.

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Limmer Hair Transplant Clinic

Dr. Brad Limmer is a member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians

In addition to my photo album above, I want to point out some aspects we face with plug repair cases. Some cases can be easy to correct (like this case) while others are quite challenging. The primary factors that determine how easy or difficult the challenge are: hair color, hair shaft diameter, plug diameter, compression, location and elevation/depression of the plugs.

This gentleman was quite fortunate as his hair color was gray, hair shaft diameter finer than average, plug size was small and there was no elevation /depression of the plugs. All of these factors worked well to minimize the visibility of his plugs. His prior surgeon also did a nice job of locating them, meaning he did not place them too low. Because of these factors I did not have to remove any of his prior plugs, only drown them out in a sea of follicular unit grafts.

Over my years in the hair restoration field the three primary reasons I have had to remove plugs are:
1] dark hair in a fair skinned person
2] compression of the hairs within the plug resulting in a tufted look. This looks even worse when the hair is dark and coarse
3] poor location, either too low on the hairline or in the central location of the vertex

One final thought for those you reading this:
Do you know the one good thing about growing older?
Well, in my experience of dealing with hair, it is that most of the time the hair lightens/whitens or develops multiple different shades of gray. Why do I mention this? Because plug transplants look better when this occurs, follicular unit transplants tend to look fuller and those who have had neither look like the have more hair.

Brad Limmer, MD/jac

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Limmer Hair Transplant Clinic

Dr. Brad Limmer is a member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians

If those are plugs, that's the best I've ever seen! Up close , it looks fine, but from the distant shot on the comments page, it does look somewhat pluggy.

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My Hair Loss Website - Dr. Hasson

Jessica,

Thanks for posting a Dr. Limmer repair example. This patient should be very happy with his results.

Best wishes,

Bill

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To learn about how I restored my hair, view my my hair loss website.

Remember, true beauty radiates from within, not from the skin.

I am not a medical professional and my words should not be taken as medical advice. All opinions and views shared are my own.