Donor scar revision during next ht?

[vanitysucks]

My donor scar from previous work is a little wider than I would like. During my next procedure can a good Doctor use the next strip just under the previous scar and close everything together as one undectable scar? Thanks

[Bill - Seemiller]

vanitysucks,

 

Unless there's good reason not to, your surgeon would actually extract the previous scar along with the new hair and then close the wound leaving only one and hopefully improved scar.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Bill

[vanitysucks]

Perfect! And I thoght I invented a new procedure. Silly me. lol Thanks

[Dr. Michael Beehner]

Vanitysucks,

Actually, it would theoretically be far better to take out the next donor hair and the strip as SEPARATE procedures. When you have your next transplant done, the surgeon could harvest the amount of hair that is necessary to accomplish what you want done,removing the donor strip from precisely above or below the old scar, and then AT A SESSION SEVERAL MONTHS LATER he could excise ONLY the scar. This way there is a minimum of tension on the scar closure and you will get a minimum of "stretchback" and end up with a much thinner scar.

Because you have a wide scar, you already have evidence that you have one of those scalps that tends to "scar wide" if a moderate amount of tension is placed on it. Why tempt the fates again?

If on the other hand the portion of your scar that is wide is only at the rear corners, then sometimes the surgeon can take the needed donor hair from the flat area in back and along the flat sides and then IN CONTINUITY excise the wide scar areas at the corners. This would be one way to keep it to one session.

Obviously, if the "wide" scar actually isn't all that wide, say 3-4mm or so, and there is plenty of laxity, then, yes, I will sometimes go for both at the same time, but I would keep the width of the hair strip removed fairly narrow to minimize the closure tension. If the patient wants a fair amount of hair, then sometimes you have to go longer with the strip to accomplish this, which is far better than going wider.

Mike Beehner, M.D.

[..]

Spose if its gonna stretch its gonna stretch either way ! and with the costs of another session for the new excision work ... option one sounds the most productive imo , maybe adding deep sutures to take the load that various doctors use would be beneficial.

[Sparky]

My scar is pretty wide on one end 10mm!, then the rest of it is roughly about 4mm give or take.

[Dr. Michael Beehner]

In answer to the one commentator regarding two points he made:

There's a difference in how a scar looks in relation to how much width was taken. Taking, say, a 1cm strip plus a 6mm wide scar results in a much different looking scar than just taking the 1cm strip and coming back 8 months later and taking the scar out.

Regarding the cost to the patient, I, along with probably the majority of hair surgeons, don't charge anything for work I do to improve a scar that I was responsible for. If I am working on a scar that was the result of another surgeon's work, I do make a small charge when I do this work.

Mike Beehner, M.D.

[Dr. William Lindsey]

Beware the "double edged sword". I have posted a couple of cases showing the fine line you have to walk between scar improvement and hair greed.

 

My advice is do one or the other....that being said, if someone has a stretchy scalp and is realistic, we can try both; but no guarantees on the scar then.

 

Dr. Lindsey McLean VA