Dense Packing/Removal of old plugs circa 1985

[raid44]

I had transpants done by Long Island Medical in 1985. The worst mistake of my life! The time has come for me to do something to correct what was done to me. I have seen about 5 doctors all in the metropolitan area over the last 8 mos. All of them have given me differant opinions which makes my decision more difficult. The hairline that is now in place shows some what of a widows peak. Ive been told that my HT is just a centermeter to low for my age (44). If I remove the old plugs I am worried of drawing attention to the scars that I would have when removed. I met with Dr. Feller who told me with dense packing he could do a great job! I liked Dr. Feller but I am concerned, will I have all this hair up front, would it look natural? I have seen Dr. Fellers work and I am impressed. Would it be better to remove the old plugs and HT directly into the area where they were removed? Now when I look in the mirror and wet my hair back I think dense packing could work out great. Then I look again and Im not so sure.

[arfy]

Hi Raid

These questions are even harder to answer over the net, than they are to answer in person. A lot of your strategy will depend on how bad those plugs look.

 

Do you think there is any way that the plugs could work to your advantage, if they were skillfully surrounded by fine, feathered single grafts? Do those old grafts look so bad, that no amount of camoflage could make them acceptable? If some of the grafts need to be removed, how many need to go? You can get into diminishing returns in some cases, if you try to remove all the grafts. In some cases you could find that the bad grafts can still contribute some coverage; whereas if you revise all the grafts very aggressively, you can sometimes end up with less total hair in the end, because some hairs do not survive the revision process.

 

So it comes down to how many bad grafts are there, how bad are they, and where were they placed. (Also, the amount of hairloss you have, and your remaining donor supply are other factors to include.) It probably comes down to striking a balance between plug revision versus plug concealment (with new grafts). Some doctors like to start a repair case by 'cleaning the slate' as much as possible. But on the other hand, it's possible to remove more than you really needed to, too, sometimes.

 

My experience is that these repairs can happen in stages sometimes. If you decide you don't feel satisfied with your progress, you can postpone or call off further sessions, or even rethink a new strategy with a different doctor.

 

Sorry I can't be more specific. Different docs have different approaches, and it is par for the course to hear a variety of opinions, based on their different philosophies. I would continue to think things over, and learn as much as possible about repair work, how the various processes are done, see patients in person (repair patients if possible) and try to draw some conmclusions of your own. Then pick a doc who seems to make the most sense to you, based on your research. If you are having "analysis paralysis" keep thinking things over, keep learning as much as you can about various corrective surgery approaches, and try to get some feedback from other repair patients.

 

Hope that helps...

[truthseeker]

Can you post pics so we can get a better idea on how to advise? It may be that you only need to remove a row or two of plugs at the hairline, let it heal, than create a new natural hairline and camoflauge the rest.

[Pat - Community Publisher]

Raid,

 

Sorry to hear about your past experience. But fortunately you have many good options for repair such as plug reduction (where some or all of the plugs are removed) and or dense packing to disguise them.

 

I strongly suggest you visit our http://www.hairlosslearningcenter.org/repairs.asp and view the details of each of these techniques. Dr. Feller is top notch and you may want to ask him, especially if your hair line is low, whether he thinks plug removal with dense packing is appropriate.

 

Best wishes, Pat