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SMP turning blue


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Hi everyone. First post here. I recently in the last month have had an SMP procedure done in my transplant scar which I was really happy with at first but lately have noticed it turning a shade of blue. The provider claims they use inks that will not turn blue but this photo doesn't even show how bad it has gotten. The blending areas are very dark blue and the scar itself is a shade of blue. What do you guys think? I am regretting it, and wishing it for it all to fade away.

IMG_20150210_225756.jpg.deba367cbe6d07b0a2070d7e9da6643c.jpg

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  • Senior Member

Here is my sketchy and uneducated knowledge, if you coud call it that-maybe conjecture or hear say about the matter.SMP always looks a shade of blue, especially once the ink speeads a little,,aa it naturally does,. Even hair looks blue once it is completly shaven and under the skin. The problem is thta ink spreada to a much wider diameter than a hair shaft, and as it spreads out, morelight filters througj the skin around it. Black is made of red yellow amd blue, but the skin filters out the red spectrum leaving a blueish tinge. At first it is not obvios because the ink particles are concentrated and vertical. But soon the tops of the blobs shed off with epidermal slin layers, leaving the ink at the top of the dermal layer to spread and it looks blue.

 

It isn't too bad if the hair buzzed to zero or grown to over 1cm, but thete is an inbetween stage whwrw it looks absolitely abnormal. The blue stripe can make you paranoid too. Try not to ley that happen.,

 

The SMP guys might point out that their inks are stable xolors etc. but that doesn't chage the physics aof light and skin.

 

You can laser the ink off or you can use FUE to poke holes in it. Hopefully the holes will fill with white or skin tone scar tissue which will break up the blue stripe. Finally you could get another brand new strip scar and take out the lot, but that would be a shame IMO. Try q-switch laser first.

I've been in precusely the same aituation. Not great. Nice to know the SMP guys are out there telling folks the truth, isn't it?

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SMP into scar tissue is very tricky due to varying depths that the pigment can be deposited. This is not flat, even skin. So a test patch should always be performed first, especially for guys wearing their hair buzzed. IMO, the pigment didn't change color, but as Scar5 points out it appears blue because of the various depths it was deposited under the skin and the way light illuminates it, similar to how our veins appear blue even though blood is red.

 

It looks as if only one section of the scar appears blue. I also would suggest trying to laser it and if you're still unhappy perhaps try scar revision or having FUE done into the scar.

I am the owner/operator of AHEAD INK a Scalp Micropigmentation Company in Fort Lee, New Jersey. www.aheadink.com

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Thanks for the feedback guys. I agree that it definitely looks more blue close up (within a few meters) and further than that it is hard to tell. I will likely leave it because I am afraid of laser damaging surrounding follicles, however I am hoping for a natural fade to occur over time.

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That's a really wide scar, and I don't understand why a strip scar would be so wide. The doctor who sutured you up must have done a very poor job, there is no explanation for why a scar would stretch like that.

 

While I agree that the SMP is blue, there is really no worry if you do what you should have done first, and that is FUE into your scar. You have plenty of available donor, and nothing breaks up an unnatural pigment better than actual hair. I have used both SMP and FUE into my strip scars and the results have been fairly amazing. I never thought I would be able to cut my hair in back to a #1 guard, but that is what I do every month.

 

Without the addition of roughly 1500 grafts into my strip scars, I would never have been able to pull it off with just SMP alone. And without SMP added later, I would never be able to cut my hair in back like I do today. I needed both treatments. I have always said SMP is a compliment to FUE, not a replacement for it. As a stand alone treatment, SMP was not sufficient for me to shave to a #1 guard, and I have around 10 strip scars from numerous botched surgeries. And none of them are close to being as wide as your strip scar. Good luck!

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