Dr. Nakatsui, FUE into scars

[Dr. Thomas Nakatsui]

This is a patient who came in recently for follow-up. He had several small areas of scarring alopecia that he wanted to fill in and wanted to get FUE so that there would be no visible linear scar. We are often asked about the viability of grafts into scar tissue. In my experience, follicular unit grafts grow very well in scar tissue although I do wonder if the percentage of growth is sometimes less than in "virgin" scalp.

This patient received 91 single grafts, 291 double grafts, and 25 three-hair grafts for a total of 407 FUE grafts. The areas of scarring alopecia are now undetectable and his donor area looks fantastic. 

Dr. Nakatsui 

https://drnakatsui.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LonelyGraft]

What kind of scarring alopecia is this? Is there a chance of the alopecia spreading and exposing the scars? 

[Dr. Thomas Nakatsui]

Thanks for the great question. As you imply, there are many types of scarring alopecia, ranging from trauma to inflammatory processes such as lichen planopilaris, discoid lupus, and folliculitis decalvans. 

In this particular case, I do not recall the cause of the alopecia but I believe it was from trauma and therefore, I expect this result to be longstanding. The only problem that might arise would be if his other hair were to recede past the transplanted areas, then the transplanted areas would appear as islands of persistent hair.

Over the years, I have transplanted various types of inflammatory scarring alopecias as well. In some cases, the results have been great with longstanding benefit. In some cases, there has been reignition of the inflammatory process with loss of some (but not all) of the transplanted hairs. In all cases, I wait until the disease is quiescent before even considering transplantation.

Thanks for the great question!

Dr. Nakatsui

Nakatsui Hair Transplant Surgery