I'm 41 and at a naive age of 25 I received a small number of hair grafts from NuHart, to create a front hairline. I never followed up with additional grafts due to the desired effect never being achieved. Needless to say, they look horrible now and it affects my life greatly. I have minimal information, but wanted to know my best options to having them removed permanently. I'm mostly bald now and just want to shave my head, and put this horrible part of my life behind me. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
03-13-2013 02:13 PM
Tracy C
The previous grafts can probably be moved to a better location. Seek out an IAHRS doctor and you should be fine.
I'm 41 and at a naive age of 25 I received a small number of hair grafts from NuHart, to create a front hairline. I never followed up with additional grafts due to the desired effect never being achieved. Needless to say, they look horrible now and it affects my life greatly. I have minimal information, but wanted to know my best options to having them removed permanently. I'm mostly bald now and just want to shave my head, and put this horrible part of my life behind me. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
I met a repair patient of Dr. Cole's several years ago who was in a similar situation. He had a job where he needed to speak before groups of people and a previous doctor placed plugs in two rows forming a double "V" shape on the top of his head. Over the years after the plug surgery, he progressed to a smooth Norwood 6. I believe he needed to shave the plugs every day and he used makeup to cover the area prior to having his repair. Dr. Cole removed the plugs and sutured the 4mm holes. The result was great and our patient had no desire to go down the path of hair restoration although he could have. I don't believe Dr. Cole filled in the shotgun scars though. That can be done if a patient desires.
-35YrsAfter works at Dr. Cole's office
03-14-2013 12:07 PM
gillenator
Sonn,
Welcome to the community. ;)
Pics would sure help however only upon close examiniation of your scalp by a proven repair surgeon skilled at both techniques would be able to give you more "patient specific" feedback and recommendations to your case.
Yes, some grafts can be removed however any aesthetic improvement is weighed with many other contributing factors. It sounds from your story that you at one time had more native existing hair where the grafts were placed, and since then, lost that native hair whereby the grafts tend to be much more visible. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
And depending which type of technology was used back then, open donor, larger micros and minis, or just mis-angled grafts. It does not sound like you want these grafts re-implanted after they are removed. If that is true, then the remaining scarring and "how visible it will be" is the critical issue in these type of repair scenarios.
In general terms, unwanted grafts can potentially be removed with an isolated extraction technique (FUE), excision (surgical removal), and even some lasers and as was mentioned, electrolysis methods can work as well. From a cosmetic point of view, there are creams that remove hair from a non-surgical standpoint that will not produce additional scarring, but you have to continue to use these creams as the hair shafts continue to grow.
To begin, I would recommend that you do online searches of repair cases and you may very well see some similiar cases to yours while at the same time, get a feel for the doctors who have the most impressive repair results. Then, send your digital quality photos to these docs and start getting some opinions. Search for cases where previous unwanted grafts were removed.
Best wishes to you...
03-17-2013 05:06 PM
Sonn
Thanks Gillenator, you're correct on all accounts. Any Dr's you can recommend for me to research?
First of all, I read your story and am happy your second HT went better than the first. Was just wondering who you went to for the dermabrasion treatment ? Or if you had any other suggestions that you've heard of from former NuHart clients that want their grafts removed??
03-23-2013 07:22 PM
Frankenstein
I went to Dominic Brandy in Pittsburgh about 3 years after going to nuhart. He tried to talk me into getting more HT ,but at the time I just wanted them removed. The plugs were so big he couldn't get them all out using the punch method, and I was to come back when the first procedure healed. Instead of going back to Brandy I went to a local (central pa.) cosmetic surgeon, he claimed he could do a better job removing the remaining grafts than what Brandy had done. So I had him remove the rest of them which was a big mistake. After that mess healed up I went back to Brandy, and he did the dermabrasion. It's basically just a big brush burn, then you keep the area moist with a oily type gel they give you. This was all done back in the late 90's so there might be better ways of removing and repairing the plugs now. I'm not recomending Brandy, just telling you my personnel experience with him. I'm very leery of ALL doctors after my experiences, I was even leery of DR.Feller before my ht with him, but thankfully everything turned out better than i hoped for. If I were you I would go to Dr. Feller or Lindsey.
If you have them removed you're gonna have scars no matter what you do. You can look at some of the pictures I posted to see the scaring I have. The scars are not as noticeable in the pictures as they are in person.
I spent around 4,000.00 just having mine removed plus the dermabrasion
You might be better off in the long run by getting another HT to camo what you have. Hair transplants have come a long way since i had mine done the first time.
I don't know any other nuhart clients, I just started reading these forums last summer.
Good luck with what ever you decide !
03-24-2013 01:38 PM
Sonn
Thanks Frankenstein for the info. Another HT just isn't in my future. I'm trying to locate before and after pics of people who have had grafts removed permanently, but having trouble in doing so. Also trying to find the best "procedure". I'm with you in being leery of all Drs after our experiences.
