Help make FUT scar go away

[scarremorse]

Newb here, but been reading anonymously for a while. Quick recap: 2000 FUT about ten years ago. Not disappointed with results necessarily, it just wasn't enough - still bald. Problem is that i've been this bald seemingly forever now, and all I want to do is shave it as close as possible. We've heard this before, right?

When the doc did my FUT procedure he used a tricho closure, which did have hair grow thru the scar successfully, however it appears to have come in thicker and at different angles. So even when my hair is short you can't really see the scar itself but you can see the line in the back where the hair that is growing in different directions meets...

I bit the bullet and shaved it about 18 months ago. Pics attached. Obviously very visible. I did some research and found an SMP place in town and spend about $$$ to fill it in a little more, and to be honest I thought it helped dramatically, however the scar/line is still visible.

You can see at the top of the scar the hair is growing more or less straight down. At the bottom of the scar the hair naturally grows to the left. And in the middle of the scar it kind of sticks straight out.

My thought/hope is this:

1. Use FUE to help reshape the direction of the hair - specifically remove some of the hair nearest the scar (top and bottom) to make the opposite directions less visible.
   
2. Use FUE to remove some of the thicker/directionless hair from within the scar
   
3. Use FUE to add density elsewhere in the scar
   
4. Something else, anything else, open to suggestions! I've seen what appear to be great success stories with scar revisions, and I've seen cases that aren't quite as positive... want to get my specific case out there to see if there are any suggestions.

Thanks all in advance!

[mrclean]

Wish I some advice but I don't just wanted to say good luck. This hair loss curse sucks.

[scarremorse]

Wish I some advice but I don't just wanted to say good luck. This hair loss curse sucks.

Thanks for that. I wish somebody would’ve just told me to shave it and get used to it a decade ago, but hindight is 20/20 right?

I did find a video from Dr Lindsey that seems encouraging, reached out to him for some insight too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPUc9Dr_jMw

[mrclean]

I think Dr. Cole has a good rep for scar revision:

https://www.forhair.com/results/hair-transplant-results/

[pkipling]

First off, your scar is in relatively good shape, so I think improving upon this should be quite doable. A good start would be reaching out to some top doctors and trying to get in to see them for a consultation (online or in person) and then evaluate the different feedback you get. It also just depends on what your end goal is. If you've only had the one HT and only used the 2,000 grafts, it might be worth considering another HT if this continuing to restore you hair is something that interests you. You'd kill two birds with one stone, so to speak, in that you could have a top surgeon give you a brand new strip (with a decade's worth of new methods/equipment/etc.) and have them properly close the new scar with the grafts pointing in the right direction. And then depending on how much of a visual appearance they make on your recipient area, you may not even need to shave down this close. But if you really just wanna call it quits with the hair restoration, a simple scar revision in the right hands should be more than doable and FUE into the scar could really do wonders.

And while I am a big supporter of hair transplants and think they can really help change peoples' lives, I also agree that "shaving it down and getting used to it" isn't ever considered as much as it should be, and I hate that you have regrets about not going that route... But even still, I think your situation should be fixable.

I am a patient advocate for Dr. Parsa Mohebi in Los Angeles, CA. My opinions/comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Dr. Mohebi and his staff.

[scarremorse]

Thanks for this, will reach out to Dr. Cole for more suggestions

I think Dr. Cole has a good rep for scar revision:

https://www.forhair.com/results/hair...plant-results/

[scarremorse]

First off, your scar is in relatively good shape, so I think improving upon this should be quite doable. A good start would be reaching out to some top doctors and trying to get in to see them for a consultation (online or in person) and then evaluate the different feedback you get. It also just depends on what your end goal is. If you've only had the one HT and only used the 2,000 grafts, it might be worth considering another HT if this continuing to restore you hair is something that interests you. You'd kill two birds with one stone, so to speak, in that you could have a top surgeon give you a brand new strip (with a decade's worth of new methods/equipment/etc.) and have them properly close the new scar with the grafts pointing in the right direction. And then depending on how much of a visual appearance they make on your recipient area, you may not even need to shave down this close. But if you really just wanna call it quits with the hair restoration, a simple scar revision in the right hands should be more than doable and FUE into the scar could really do wonders.

And while I am a big supporter of hair transplants and think they can really help change peoples' lives, I also agree that "shaving it down and getting used to it" isn't ever considered as much as it should be, and I hate that you have regrets about not going that route... But even still, I think your situation should be fixable.

I am a patient advocate for Dr. Parsa Mohebi in Los Angeles, CA. My opinions/comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Dr. Mohebi and his staff.

Thanks for the feedback. I thought about redoing the strip scar but, like you mentioned, the scar I have now is in pretty good shape and I'd hate to risk it. I appreciate the optimism though!

[Mouse]

Any update scarremorse ?

Did you find some solution to get rid of this scar , if yes please let us know

[scarremorse]

Any update scarremorse ?

Did you find some solution to get rid of this scar , if yes please let us know

Thanks for checking. I actually just went and met with Dr Lindsey late last week (I live 15 mins from his office). I came away with mixed feelings to be honest - he said he can absolutely put more hair it into the scar via FUE to help, however I did not realize that the hairs that have grown up through the scar from the trico (sp?) closure cannot be removed as they're too deep. And those hairs are a big part of the issue - yes more coverage inside the scar will help, but because those hairs grow at a different angle he wasn't all that confident that it would solve the problem completely. His suggestions were to A) just leave it as is, B) do another strip to get more coverage on top (not interested), or C) do the FUE into the scar, ~300 grafts - kind of in that order.

Don't get me wrong, Dr Lindsey appears to be a very talented doc and he was a great guy to meet and talk to - and he was very upfront and honest. I really enjoyed chatting with him, and he is one of the few doctors who will speak with you directly even over email (i sent him pics in advance). But him saying he wasn't all that confident i'll achieve the results I want was a bit discouraging.

I had reached out to Dr Cole's office and somebody on their staff said it was a super complex procedure that would require up to $15k to do and the result wasn't guaranteed either. Maybe the complicated part is digging those hairs out of the scar? Not sure. I also emailed a Dr Feriduni (found a couple good threads on his work) and he gave me a quote, said he could put ~300 FUE grafts into the scar and remove a few of the existing "clumpy" hairs around the scar. But he's in Belgium, and that didn't sound much different than what Dr. Lindsey would do, and he is practically next door...

anyway, if anybody has other suggestions of docs to reach out too for reference I'd be all ears, just to get third, fourth, and fifth opinions before taking the plunge. Otherwise maybe its just getting the 300 FUE into the scar and seeing how much visibility I'd be willing to live with.

Either way, Thanks again--

[Mouse]

Thanks scarremorse ,

Hope you will get solution soon, i would suggest try to contact Dr Tejinder bhatti from india

He is also among the top most surgeon

I am also planning to get my scar correction by him , just send me pics via mail and hope he may suggest something good

[pkipling]

Thanks for checking. I actually just went and met with Dr Lindsey late last week (I live 15 mins from his office). I came away with mixed feelings to be honest - he said he can absolutely put more hair it into the scar via FUE to help, however I did not realize that the hairs that have grown up through the scar from the trico (sp?) closure cannot be removed as they're too deep. And those hairs are a big part of the issue - yes more coverage inside the scar will help, but because those hairs grow at a different angle he wasn't all that confident that it would solve the problem completely. His suggestions were to A) just leave it as is, B) do another strip to get more coverage on top (not interested), or C) do the FUE into the scar, ~300 grafts - kind of in that order.

Don't get me wrong, Dr Lindsey appears to be a very talented doc and he was a great guy to meet and talk to - and he was very upfront and honest. I really enjoyed chatting with him, and he is one of the few doctors who will speak with you directly even over email (i sent him pics in advance). But him saying he wasn't all that confident i'll achieve the results I want was a bit discouraging.

I had reached out to Dr Cole's office and somebody on their staff said it was a super complex procedure that would require up to $15k to do and the result wasn't guaranteed either. Maybe the complicated part is digging those hairs out of the scar? Not sure. I also emailed a Dr Feriduni (found a couple good threads on his work) and he gave me a quote, said he could put ~300 FUE grafts into the scar and remove a few of the existing "clumpy" hairs around the scar. But he's in Belgium, and that didn't sound much different than what Dr. Lindsey would do, and he is practically next door...

anyway, if anybody has other suggestions of docs to reach out too for reference I'd be all ears, just to get third, fourth, and fifth opinions before taking the plunge. Otherwise maybe its just getting the 300 FUE into the scar and seeing how much visibility I'd be willing to live with.

Either way, Thanks again--

Hey man! I reached out to Dr. Mohebi and he directed me to this link on his website. Look this over and see if the information is valuable to you. And reach out to me or Dr. Mohebi if you're interested in a consultation or just have specific questions for him.

Mohebi Scar Revision

I am a patient advocate for Dr. Parsa Mohebi in Los Angeles, CA. My opinions/comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Dr. Mohebi and his staff.

[scarremorse]

Hey all – thought I’d follow up on this post. I ultimately had about 300 FUE inserted into my scar by Dr. Lindsay in VA last July 2019. Grew it back and waited about 8 months before shaving again and wanted to share my results. I’ve been testing it out at different lengths to see where the sweet spot is and have a few thoughts:
One side (behind my left ear) looks great very short, and worse at length. The other side (behind right ear) looks better with some length.
The middle section along the back is still a problem area and not sure how to tackle that moving forward.
I found that the absolute best case scenario was shaving with a #1 guard attachment. I was at a week-long conference for work and I’d cut my hair and shower at night, so sleeping on it pressed all of the hair down equally. I was still pretty self-conscience of people getting a straight on view of the back of my head, but I will say that’s the most comfortable I’ve felt in a while.
So overall I do see improvement, but still see plenty of room for improvement. But progress is progress. Part of the issue I mentioned earlier is that the hairs that grew back through the scar (tryco closure) grew thicker and at a different angle, which is still noticeable. To that point: I did ask Dr Lindsay to remove some of these and he didn’t necessarily agree, however he did remove a few. Personally I wish I had pushed a little harder for more to be taken out as I still see that as an issue. In fact I spent some time in the mirror awkwardly bending my arm around the back of my head and using tweezers to pull them out, and to be honest some of the pics where it looks least noticeable are in those areas where I myself removed those hairs. So if I give this another shot that’ll be part of the conversation.
In terms of the scar that’s left, I can live with any of it in sections, but the appearance of the continuous smiley face line across the back of my head is still bothersome. I am open to suggestions of ways to, not just fill it in, but break up that line so it doesn’t look so ‘intact’. I’ve even thought of having a ~1 inch FUT done as a way to break up that line – I’d be fine with a 1” scar to distract from the longer one, many people have small scars on shaved heads, and if its possible to use the hair from that to fill in the rest of the scar I’m certainly open to it.

Anyway, pics following:

[scarremorse]

Day of FUE, then 4 days later

[scarremorse]

(^^no clue why those uploaded upside down. Even tried flipping the photo and uploading it that way, but still upside down... will try again)



Shaving it down

[scarremorse]

Growing out past a #1 guard