FUT scar repair

[Gram]

I had a FUT procedure done years back, and I am curious about potential options available to repair/camouflage. My first inclination is a preference towards bead/hair transplantation into the scar itself over smp, but I'm having a difficult time digging up any solid results. I would love to hear opinions on the effectiveness of various methods FUT scar concealment. Also, if anyone can direct me towards photos of what I might be able to expect from a top surgeon, I'd be extremely grateful. Thanks guys.

[Garageland]

Gram,

 

How long ago was years back? Do you have any photos of the scar that you could show us. The width and the position of the scar will determine the best possible route you should take. If the scar is wide which I guess it will be hence why you are here then maybe a revision would be the best route to go in the first instance.

 

Ultimately it depends on what your goals are on how long you wish to wear your hair? A good revision may be able to get it down to a couple of mm in width and usually that can be enough for most. There are many examples of SMP into scars in the SMP area of this forum. How it looks will also depend on how your scar appears now it is raised or sunken or flat etc. Both placing grafts into the scar or smp can camouflage the scar although I still think that you will need to have a bit of length on the hair to give best coverage.

 

A poster called ejj documented his beard hair into his scars on this forum with Dr Bisanga and I know from personal experience he is very happy with the outcome.

 

Good luck to you.

[Dr. William Lindsey]

You have an altogether common problem. We do lots of scar work. Basically you'll have 4 choices.

 

1. Do nothing...if you aren't a candidate for the following three OR its a scar that I'd deem not bad enough to take a chance on, simply covering it with overlying hair is a risk free option. I see at least one patient a month who travels in for a scar evaluation who has a nearly perfect scar...that even I have difficulty identifying. Unfortunately most folks are not in this group.

 

2. Scar excision. Depending on the width of the scar, your scalp laxity, and your plans for future hair work, this is my go-to option. Often we can make a major change in the scar simply by excising it and closing with careful trichophytic techniques. See any of maybe 20 posts by searching my name and scar repair on this site over the past 6-8 years.

 

3. Put hair in your scar. If the scar is small and not too fibrous, and you like a short haircut, this may be an option. Currently near the first page on the "by surgeons" part of this site are 2 or 3 cases of this by me using FUE into the scar to give coverage. This is more variable than placing hair into virgin scalp but is a useful technique.

 

4. SMP the scar. While this option sounds good on paper and certainly some practitioners show nice results, scar tissue often "bleeds" the ink resulting in smudging, looking quite unnatural. I do not offer this and suggest if this is what you are leaning toward, make sure you see several examples by the doctor you are consulting with on scars like yours. There are good cases being shown, but I see way more poor results than good ones unfortunately.

 

Good luck with your research.

 

Dr. Lindsey McLean VA

[hairweare]

I had an ear to ear FUT scar that had widened after my third procedure to 5-6 mm. It was flat and relatively soft but I didn't want to go through another surgery considering that I never really got over the paresthesia experienced since my first HT and didn't want to chance a fourth cut. My beard hair was a close match diameter wise and the grafts seemed to have taken from the get go and did not shed like the scalp grafts. At 5.5 months they are growing at the same rate as the regional native hair and has blended in nicely. I do recall that the implantation and post op period was significantly more uncomfortable than the other recipient areas as scar tissue does not respond as well to local anesthesia. Even soI have no regret doing it and would consider another 200-300 next time around if the scar is still visible after a short haircut. I have let my hair grow longer since my FUE in March and find that the improved density has made manageability and styling much easier than prior to surgery. The top is now proportional to the sides and I can comb the longer hair straight back where as before I kept it cropped short to conform to my head shape because it was too thin and had no body to it when grown longer.

[jsnw]

I was flipping through tv channels the other week and happened to stop on a show called "Botched" where some Beverly Hills plastic surgeons do corrective surgery on people. There was a guy there to fix a fut scar. The docs thought his scalp was too tight to just remove the scar and stitch it back up so they made a small incision in the back of his head, created a pocket, and inserted a breast implant. Over the next week they would insert fluid to expand the implant and stretch the skin. In the end they removed the implant, had plenty of scalp laxity, and corrrected the scar. Never seen that done before but it was interesting to watch.