How Can I Correct My Hair Transplant Scar and Make It Less Visible?

Dear Andrew,

You say it was the “worst decision you made”, but I am not clear if you are happy or not with your transplanted hair. Also your email clearly shows you are unhappy with your donor scar, but you do not describe whether it is the normal and expected variety or a widened scar. Having your hair very short obviously exposes the scar and if you do not wish to have further surgery then I recommend a slightly longer hair style. You need to appreciate that hair transplant techniques when done according to today’s incredible standards and in the right hands is a million years away from 12 years ago.

If the scar is wider than expected, then it might be worth attempting to revise it. This basically entails cutting it out neatly and re-closing it carefully using the trichophytic method of forcing hair to grow through the scar. If you are still interested in more hair at the front or top of your scalp, then this scar revision can be combined with a hair transplant. Alternatively hairs can be planted into your scar to disperse the straight line look of it. To avoid giving you another linear scar elsewhere, the hairs can be obtained using FUE (follicular unit exaction). This method will still produce scars, but they will be tiny dots scattered and hardly noticeable.

Other than surgery, you may wish to deal with the scar cosmetically. There are a variety of colour products that can temporarily camouflage the appearance of the scar. You can also consider micropigmentation or semi-permanent tattooing into the scar and reduce the colour contrast between your hair and your scar. I have recently met a specialist who has showed me impressive work in this field.

Please feel free to contact me or my staff for for more detailed information.