How can I heal recipient scar?

[Corbinite]

Hi all, I have a shaved look along with some SMP sprinkled in. 

 

I have recipient scarring which is obvious when light hits my scalp. It looks dotted. How can I heal this? Is it not possible?

[Sam818]

It really depends on what the scarring is. Is it pitted grafts? Is it cobblestoning or tenting? Each would require a different approach. There are lasers which have been proven effective in helping. But would the laser damage the surrounding hair and fade the smp? You need to find a board certified laser dermatologist or plastic surgeon who will actually have empathy and give you the time of day rather then milk you dry for their time. By the way how do you like your smp? Where did you get it done?

[Gatsby]

I also have scarring front and back. What is the donor scarring from? FUE?

[Sam818]

3 minutes ago, Gatsby said:

I also have scarring front and back. What is the donor scarring from? FUE?

Hey Gatsby, I know you’re from Australia. Have you heard of dr. Davin lim? He’s a dermatologist and I’ve seen his YouTube videos and he seems like an ethical straight shooter who specializes in scars. Wondering if he would be able to help you out.

[Gatsby]

Sam818 what city/town are you from (I'm in Melbourne)?

[Sam818]

1 minute ago, Gatsby said:

Sam818 what city/town are you from (I'm in Melbourne)?

I’m in Los Angeles. 

[Gatsby]

Sam818 I'll show you my scars from two botched 'punch graft' procedures when I was 18 and after having SMP nearly four years ago.

[Gatsby]

[Corbinite]

Sam, my scar isn't as bad as these...it's not very visible, but it is slightly visible under certain lighting. I really hope for a solution that doesn't damage the hair follicles. 

 

I'd say the scars look like cobblestoning. I've attached a photo similar to what I may have (though I'd say it's not as bad). 

 

How would I go about healing this?

[Sam818]

     Hey Gatsby, I think you are truly an inspiration for how level headed you are after everything you’ve gone thru. I don’t think your scarring in the recipient zone is very bad at all and the smp work has done a great job to conceal all your scarring. There are so many scar treatment solutions out there and it is all subjective.
     You can spend a ton of money on laser resurfacing and gain some huge improvements but in your eyes you can still see them a little so it may still bother you. I wouldn’t do any laser skin resurfacing if you plan on potentially doing another procedure as it may make placing grafts in the area more difficult in the future. I wonder if maybe a glycolic acid peel or lotion might even work to improve the bumpy skin texture. 
    I think your best bet is to find an experienced board certified dermatologist and laser expert that is interested in helping you and not just interested in making a ton of money from you. I hope you can find a permanent solution that can take care of these issues rather then conceal them but even if you don’t the SMP has done a great job at concealing them.

Edited September 29, 2020 by Sam818

[Gatsby]

Sam818 many thanks for your kind words and encouragement. Yes I have ruled out any laser treatment as it will only leave deep scarring below the surface of the scalp which is not conducive to growing transplanted grafts. Over the years it's really only of late that I have become philosophical about the scars that remain with the SMP (above the temple points, etc). If I do manage to go through with Eugenix (due to the current lock down issues here in Australia) Dr Sethi has told me that the frontal scar will be covered (in the same way that the SMP design has) and when I grow my hair out the donor scars become hidden. I wore a hair piece for 25 years to cover not just my baldness but to hide the frontal hairline scar equally as much. It feels great to be free of that!

[Corbinite]

Can someone give me a convincing solution to treat mild cobblestoning scars? I am not able to find any online and HT surgeons are saying it's not possible to cure...

Damn if I had known about this, I would've avoided HT entirely. I feel like everything is ruined.

 

SMP doesn't cure this...

[follically challenged]

7 hours ago, Gatsby said:

ay that the SMP design has

That is some of the best SMP i have seen. I wouldn't look twice if I saw you in the street. Glad that you have found a solution to that scar, you must be pleased. And the shaven look really suits you! Who did the SMP? Has it lasted, or do you need top ups every once in a while..?

[Melvin- Admin]

@Corbinite 

I remember you had a successful BHT, what happened? Why are you shaving now.

[Corbinite]

Honestly, I think for the long term, it doesn't make any sense for me to have a hair transplant. I've realized it was very silly of me to have pursued this in the first place. I should've accepted balding from the beginning. I have a fairly solid head shape and I was going through a phase of unchecked insecurity. I guess I didn't have a proper male father figure to set me straight.

That being said, if you really are a candidate for HT (norwood 4 at age 40 for eg), then by all means go for it. But I am destined to be a Norwood 7. It's clear to me that I was wasting time and energy from the beginning. I want to say Dr Diep and Dr Bisanga have done amazing jobs given what they had to work with. But it's time to put all this behind me. I'm taking the Joe Rogan approach and going for a shaved look.

 

Right now I want to clear up some of the scars I received from the 2nd transplant I did with the  horrible and arrogant Dr from the southern LA area. I'm sorry if I'm upsetting people, but I really am tired and I want to move away from this nonsense.

Edited September 29, 2020 by Corbinite

[Corbinite]

That being said, if anyone has a first class dermatologist who has experience with healing recipient scars that they can recommend in California (or in USA), I'd be absolutely grateful 10 folds. 

[Corbinite]

Here's a pic of my scar under lighting. I was hoping for ways to improve this.

Edited September 29, 2020 by Corbinite

[Sam818]

   The his hair clinic which specializes in SMP has a forum on their website. There were many guys who shared their stories of botched hair transplants and gave up on hair restoration altogether. They just wanted to normalize their scalp so they could shave their head or follow up with SMP work so it would better take on the top of their head or into a fut scar. Unfortunately for whatever reason his hair clinic has disabled the forum and removed the history so I can’t send you a link to any of those guys.

   Some guys saw a huge improvement with professional microneedling sessions which are less invasive. Others used fractional co2 or fraxel restore lasers. There are a lot of treatments out there you can try but no guaranteed solutions. Your scalp will never be the same as it was before the surgeries but you can definitely improve the scars as I saw guys much worse then you on that forum greatly improve their own with treatments. I wish I could recommend you someone in so cal but based on my experiences most cosmetic specialists here are only interested in spending as little time on you as possible while extracting as much money from you as possible. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

[Corbinite]

Thank you so much @Sam818 I really appreciate the response.

 

The his clinic seems to be in the UK? https://www.hishairclinic.com/ 

Can you suggest something in USA and not necessarily socal (kinda scary to see so many clinics just interested in money and not healing)? I prefer not to travel internationally in these times.

 

Edited September 30, 2020 by Corbinite

[Sam818]

Ya his hair clinic is based in the UK but they have chains here in the USA. They were major innovators with SMP. Most of the top smp artists got their training thru them including guys like Matt iulo and Zang in Los Angeles. Even new hair institute in Los Angeles initially started their SMP as a partnership with them. The company went completely downhill though and all the top guys who worked for them left. They had a forum on their website which has been disabled unfortunately which could have shown you a lot of examples of guys who did scalp treatments to help their scarring.

    If you are asking for SMP recommendations, I actually plan on getting it done myself to fill in my fue scars. I am looking at new hair institute, Matt iulo at scalp micro, and zang in Los Angeles but I’m not sure where I’ll end up going yet. I am leaning towards new hair institute though. I wish I had a quality dermatologist who is a laser expert I could recommend to you but I don’t. It won’t hurt to actually reach out to some of the top ethical doctors on this forum and seek their input. Guys like Gabel, Konior, Cooley, Shapiro. You’d be surprised...some of them are very generous with their time and they might have a dermatologist they can recommend to you or some other advice.

[Corbinite]

Thanks again @Sam818 I have consultation with Dr Rassman to ask about scar management/a dermatologist recommendation. I saw him answer a lot of these kinds of questions on RealSelf...lets see where it goes from there.

 

In the mean time, I've been researching top dermatologists around the country. Once I find someone that clicks, I may think about posting my procedures online here.

[Gatsby]

All the best Corbonite. you can always improve upon a scar. 👍

[Gatsby]

15 hours ago, follically challenged said:

That is some of the best SMP i have seen. I wouldn't look twice if I saw you in the street. Glad that you have found a solution to that scar, you must be pleased. And the shaven look really suits you! Who did the SMP? Has it lasted, or do you need top ups every once in a while..?

Many thanks follically challenged. I had my SMP done after a lot of research by Caitlin James at Scalp Micropigmentation Australia. It does last though the length of time can depend on how well you look after it (from the sun, etc). I had it performed nearly four years ago and it's probably ready for a touch up. If you Google her you will see a lot of work on scars, etc. Caitlin also worked for many years (while performing SMP) as a hair transplant tech so she really understands how hair should behave, even at a shaven level look.

[Seniormido]

On 9/30/2020 at 5:32 AM, Corbinite said:

Thanks again @Sam818 I have consultation with Dr Rassman to ask about scar management/a dermatologist recommendation. I saw him answer a lot of these kinds of questions on RealSelf...lets see where it goes from there.

 

In the mean time, I've been researching top dermatologists around the country. Once I find someone that clicks, I may think about posting my procedures online here.

Any update ?

[Atown]

On 9/30/2020 at 5:46 AM, Gatsby said:

Many thanks follically challenged. I had my SMP done after a lot of research by Caitlin James at Scalp Micropigmentation Australia. It does last though the length of time can depend on how well you look after it (from the sun, etc). I had it performed nearly four years ago and it's probably ready for a touch up. If you Google her you will see a lot of work on scars, etc. Caitlin also worked for many years (while performing SMP) as a hair transplant tech so she really understands how hair should behave, even at a shaven level look.

You look great, but how will they touch up your scalp?  Isn't it hard to put new ink in the exact same spot as the faded ink?