A bad hair transplant can be as traumatic, or even more so than having no hair at all. A bad transplant is usually caused by out-dated transplant methods or inexperienced surgeons.
Even though the days of ‘pluggy’ looking transplants or doll’s hair are long gone, often the results of hair transplants are not aesthetically pleasing, or as per expectations. The technology available for transplants today is very sophisticated but there are instances when you might need a repair procedure.
Let’s discuss some methods used to repair a bad hair transplant
- Camouflage procedure
It involves implacing the improper hair follicles by using small follicular units or micrografts which can be obtained by either of the techniques namely FUE and FUT to cover up these unsightly or pluggy grafts. FUT involves extraction of a strip containing hair grafts from the donor area usually the back or side of the scalp, dissecting it into individual grafts, each of which contains a few hairs, and implanting them. While FUE is – extracting individual follicles from donor areas and implanting them using small slits or incisions.
The camouflage procedure involves implanting individual hair follicles in between the pluggy or unsightly grafts to achieve natural hair restoration results. This works for people who have enough hair follicles available on their donor areas, which are the back and rear of the head. Follicles from other parts of the body like the chest can also be used for the procedure.
- Removing grafts
The camouflage technique might not work for everyone especially for patients whose hairline has been recreated too low, or the grafts are not close to the hairline. A graft removal procedure is removing any problematic grafts and redistributing them along the scalp to recreate a more natural looking hairline. This can also be used to correct procedures where the grafts are transplanted in the wrong direction of hair growth giving an unnatural look.
- Combination Procedure
Sometimes surgeons use both the camouflage and graft removal techniques together to fix bad transplants. Using this method, the surgeon will remove the large grafts and redistribute them, and also add additional follicular units around the existing grafts to make the transplant look aesthetically pleasing.
This requires not just an experienced but artistic surgeon. There is some amount of artistic imagination that is necessary to be able to use both the techniques together to achieve natural looking results. It is a very sophisticated and detailed process.
- How to fix scarring
In certain cases, the results of a transplant are overshadowed by the amount of scarring that is caused. In these cases, FUE is used to fix/ hide the scars. The surgeon will use FUE to implant hair follicles on the scar itself. And being a natural technique, the implants grow like natural hair and will easily cover any scarring. The FUE technique for hiding scars works only on scars that still have adequate blood supply. If there is no blood supply, new hair will not adapt and grow.
Scalp Micropigmentation (SMP)
SMP is also used to hide scars. It is a tattooing technique that uses fine dots that give the appearance of very short hair that can camouflage the scar.
Corrective surgeries to repair bad transplants are very common, especially in patients with bad hair plugs. Although it is advisable to find a skillful as well as an experienced surgeon as corrective procedures require someone who is not a master of basic techniques but also has god experience in corrective surgeries.
Know here more about Repair Hair Transplant from Dr. Sangay Bhutia – Surgeon for Hair Transplant in Delhi