Hair transplantation is one of the most common cosmetic procedures performed worldwide. However in the last few years, there has been an unsavory trend of unqualified individuals performing this procedure. This has lead to several instances of a failed hair transplant. The procedure done to correct the same is known as a repair hair transplant.
What is a failed hair transplant?
It is an instance where a hair transplant procedure does now give the desired result. These can be of two types:
- Failure of technique. In this instance the first transplant might not have been done properly. This can include
- Poor hairline design- the hairline can be too low, or unnatural or asymmetric
- Poor implantation- where the grafts may have not been used properly and there is asymmetry
- Dolls head appearance- where grafts are arranged in clusters with large gaps in between giving an unnatural appearance
- Poor orientation of grafts- where grafts grow in unnatural directions
- Failure of growth- In this instance, there is very poor growth of grafts. The reasons for this include
- Drying of grafts- hair grafts need to be implanted as soon as possible so that they spend as little time outside the body as possible
- Poor handling of grafts- Hair grafts are very fragile and need to be handled gently
- Poor placement of grafts- Grafts should be inserted at the proper depth
There can also be a combination of the above. Hair transplant is a procedure where every single graft needs to be given care for it to grow.
What is a repair hair transplant?
It is a procedure to correct the above problems to give a good result. It can include
- redoing most of the first procedure by adding density
- Correcting an abnormal hairline, either by Removing some grafts from the first procedure that are too low and replanting where they are needed; or by adding grafts and correcting the shape
- Correcting donor scars from the first procedure
- Correcting the cobble stoning or irregularities by laser or radiofrequency.
A repair transplant should be differentiated from a repeat hair transplant. A repeat hair transplant is done when the first transplant was successful, but the hairloss progressed, and more grafts are needed for the new bald area.
What are the challenges of the repair hair transplant?
A repair transplant is always tougher than the first procedure for the following reasons
- Part of the donor area has already been harvested. . Direction, elasticity have been altered and this makes the procedure tougher- and the transection rate higher. So it is important to be careful not to over harvest the scalp. This might mean that beard and body hair transplant might be needed.
- The recipient area already has some grafts. It is important to identify which of these are worth keeping, and which might need to be removed.
- The recipient area is scarred from the first surgery. Hence blood supply might be altered. In some cases more than one session might be needed for repair.
- In some cases, it is not clear why first transplant failed- there are rare instances of a dermal or hormonal or genetic influence which affect the grafts
How can bad donor scars be improved?
A bad donor scar can occur either fron FUT or FUE. In FUT there might be a very wide scar. In FUE the donor might be over harvested, or grafts might have been taken too close to each other leading to patchy areas of hairloss. These can be improved by
- Scar revision- this is useful in wide FUT scars, where the scar can be removed and resutured with trichophytic closure
- Micropigmentation- areas of hairloss can be camouflaged by using pigment to cover the exposed area
- Grafting- few grafts can be implanted into scars to reduce their visibility
What to expect during your repair hair transplant?
A detailed assessment and counselling is done and a clear idea is given to the patient. A revised hair line is designed and documented. Different factors which affect results and what can be expected is explained. Patient should always understand that: first hair transplant is the best chance for success. A repair is a repair – it is about making a bad situation better.
Why choose Venkat Center Bangalore for your repair transplant?
A repair transplant is exponentially tougher than the first procedure. It requires an experienced surgeon to analyze and identify the issues from the first surgery and plan how best to rectify it.
Dr. Venkat is an expert in hair transplant, having authored a textbook on hair transplantation and operated thousands of cases. He has treated several failed hair transplants, and is an authority on the same.
