How Do I Know If I Need a Hair Transplant Revision?

Every year dozens of patients contact our office seeking consultation with me to discuss their dissatisfaction after undergoing transplantation at another facility. Their specific concerns can be broken down into various reasons but ultimately translates to the fact that they are simply unhappy with their results. Many times patients are not actually able to identify a specific reason why they aren’t happy and seek my expertise for assistance in identifying and ultimately correcting the problem. This blog will discuss the top three reasons why patients might consider a revision hair transplant procedure.

1: Lack of Density

One of the main goals for hair restoration is restoring your density. It is the number one reason patients seek hair transplantation. Patients who notice thinning or balding desire for those thinning areas to be filled again, resulting in thicker and denser hair. One of the number one complaints I hear from patients considering revision hair transplant surgery is that they didn’t feel that they got the density they were seeking.

Lack of density can result from improper planning with respect to recommended graft numbers. This can be a complex task as density projections will vary based on hair type, age and gender considerations to name a few. An inexperienced surgeon may not be able to delineate these differences which will lead to unnatural results. It is also important that your team is experienced including both the surgeon who will harvest your hairs and the team who will cut and place them as significant transection during the harvest and inappropriate handling of grafts will greatly diminish your density as the hairs will ultimately not grow well.

It is essential to seek the expertise of an experienced surgeon with a highly sophisticated team and facility which has been doing hair restoration for decades. These procedures are extremely delicate, tedious and meticulous in nature, and your density depends on your surgeon understanding that.

Thankfully for most patients, the solution to a lack of density is to simply add more density, but this time with grafts of the highest quality harvested and placed by a surgeon and team with the utmost experience.

2: Unnatural Results

The ultimate goal of hair restoration is to create a natural result which is not telling of your having had any type of procedure. Patients desire a natural hairline, appropriate density in the vertex and crown and essentially want to look how they did prior to any thinning or recession. If the hairline is too dense or harsh for the individual, the density in the vertex is too thin or light, the direction or angulation of hairs is unnatural or inconsistent then they will have unnatural results. An experienced hair surgeon will take many factors into consideration including age, ethnicity, hair type and texture and overall goals of the patient in order to create the most natural result possible for the individual. Each patient is unique and the design and ultimate plan should be tailored to the individual.

Unnatural results, particularly of the hairline, will encompass 3 categories: A hairline which is rigid and overly dense; A hairline that is grossly asymmetric or not complementary to a persons age, ethnicity or gender; A hairline with hairs growing in abnormal directions or angles.

This presents as one of the most challenging revisions to perform as correcting any of the aforementioned issues can compromise native hair and graft integrity. It requires the utmost experience and a strategic plan in order to create a more natural flow to your hair.

3: Unsightly Scarring

Unsightly scarring can result with either harvesting method of hair restoration including the FUT or strip and FUE or follicular unit extraction. Unsightly scarring can be the product of an inexperienced surgeon. It can also be possible in some patients who form Keloid or hypertrophic scars independently. Though the propensity of a patient to form scars is partly incontrollable, the experience of a surgeon is not.

FUE scarring typically results from over harvesting of grafts or the harvesting of contiguous hairs causing coalescent scars. This can result in gaps in hair growth or frank patches in the donor area. When this occurs, correction is often challenging and unsuccessful as the hair can no longer grow in these areas which can be extensive. Correction usually involves use of steroid injections, scalp micropigmentation (SMP) and potential FUE transplantation into large, coalescent FUE scars.

FUT scaring typically results in excision of a strip which is too wide resulting in closure of the incisions under significant tension. This is usually done when the surgeon attempts to harvest more hair than what is safe considering skin laxity and previous scarring. Correction typically involves scar revision if feasible and consideration of adjunct treatments such as steroid injections, scalp micropigmentation (SMP) and FUE transplantation into the scar.

Both of these scenarios can be minimized or ultimately prevented with an experienced surgeon.

So what should you do if you fall into one of these categories?

You should contact our team at Saratoga Hair for a virtual or in-person consultation at no charge to you. We will discuss your concerns, review your previous transplantation history and create a unique plan which will address your specific goals.

Experience The Saratoga Hair Difference today by booking your free consultation.

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