Undoing Transplant

[lovebc2]

Hi: I need some advice please. I had a hair transplant in 1993 and unfortunately what was used, was the large plug method which placed 12 of them on my front hairline. In the past 16 years I have gone complete bald on a large amount on the top of my head. Thus this transplant sticks out like a sore thumb. Now I have to decide what I should do. Should I go for more transplants (am on Rogaine and Propecia now with not much success)? However at 50 years old now, it does not matter to me if I am mostly bald. Thus I would prefer to see if the existing plugs can be removed. Has anyone had any experience in having this done and if so, is there much scaring where they have been removed? Also who do I see to get this work done, is it a plastic surgeon? It has been mentioned to me that I should have known that this would happen. However I did not think of that and my Doctor did not mention that to me. Any advice would be very much appreciated.

[Dr. Glenn Charles]

Unfortunately, some physicians back in that era did not fully explain to the patient all the possibilities that could occur if they continued to loose hair with the natural aging process. The plugs can be removed. However, there are a lot of factors that will determine what type of scars will remain. Remember those plugs were very traumatic and usually formed scarring around the graft. Anytime you try to remove scar tissue there is a chance that a similar scar could form. I have seen performed cases were there was almost no way to tell the patient had plugs at one time, and others that had some pigmentation changes ( hyper pigmentation or hypo pigmentation ). Obviously the best scenario would be have the plugs removed and have no visible scars. You have to decide whether you could live with the possibility of having some slight discoloration or continue with your current appearance by not removing the old plugs.

[blowmeup]

I know a guy at work who had his bad hair transplant removed. It took him some time, but his head looked normal in the end. I think he had to have some laser resurfacing done to smooth things out, but it all worked out.