Potential Danger of Wide Scars in Hair Transplant Surgery

This hair loss question was answered by  Dr. Glenn Charles of Florida  who is a member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians.   His professional answer is below.

My hair transplant scar is on the wider side, 3-4mm and is pretty easy to see unless hair is combed the right way.   The scar did not stretch, and I did not feel any tension after the operation, but the scar is still wide.   When I run my finger over the scar, it feels like the scar is “thinner” that the surrounding skin – like there is a impression or ridge in the middle of the scar.   I am trying to figure out why I got such a poor scar. This was a trichophytic scar  from one of the best hair restoration doctors. The only scars I have seen that are worse from a virgin scalp are stretched scars.   Mine was always wide. At first it was red, and then when redness faded, now white. No trichophytic hair growing within.

This is one of the potential downsides of taking donor strips that contain 4500 follicular units. Bigger strips=bigger wounds= more tension=bigger scars. Some hair replacement patients have tighter scalp to begin with. Did your doctor recommend scalp exercises or was a two layer closure used in your procedure to close the donor wound? Scar revisions can be performed at a later time as well as follicular unit extraction (FUE) into scars. I admit I have had  hair loss  patients who really wanted to get a large number of grafts on the first procedure, and told me they really did not care about the scar in back. Probably because they intended to always keep their hair longer in back.  

Dr. Glenn Charles, D.O.

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Bill Seemiller
Associate Publisher/Editor

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