Hair Transplant Strip Scars Repair

at Dr. Cole's hair restoration clinic in Atlanta located at 1070 Powers Pl, Alpharetta, GA 30009 in the U.S

Dr. John Cole, award winning hair restoration surgeon

Before FUE, hair transplants were mostly done using strip harvesting technique. While this technique is an efficient way of performing hair transplantation and has been the most widely adopted surgical treatment for hair loss for decades, one major drawback is the undesirable strip scars that every patient gets after the treatment.

During strip harvesting technique, a strip of hair bearing flesh is removed from the back of the patient's head. As a result, hair transplant strip scars are normally in the shape of a linear stretch that goes from ear to ear across the back of the patient's head.

The scar normally starts with a few centimeters wide. If the hair transplant procedure was performed well, the strip scars will remain the same size over time. However, a number of factors can come into play that are beyond the control of most hair transplant doctors, such as the laxity of the patient's scalp. In reality, most scars from strip hair transplant procedures do indeed widen over time. In some extreme cases, hair transplant strip scars can be as wide as 1-2 inches.

Below is another example of a typical strip scar.

Until recently, there is not a lot that can be done other than asking the patient to wear his hair long to hide the unsightly scar. Another option is to go through a scar revision surgery whereby the excess skin is removed. However, a scar revision is usually a temporary fix at best. One reason why the scar stretches in the first place is because of insufficient scalp laxity. So by removing the excess skin, the surface becomes tighter again and over time the scar will invariably stretch again.

However, things change with the advent of FUE procedures. The beauty of FUE is that it allows the doctor to remove one follicular unit at a time, it serves as a great treatment for strip scars. All the doctor needs to do is to plant individual FUE grafts into the strip scar in order to break up the unsightly appearance. In most cases, a relatively small number of FUE grafts is all that is necessary to camouflage the problem.

Dr. Cole is among one of the world's pioneers in using FUE grafts to repair strip scars. The procedure is less invasive than a scar revision, and is usually permanent so the patient can continue with his life without having to constantly worry about having to repair his strip scar every 3-5 years when it stretches.