Scar repair with another strip procedure???

[Jsuave]

I had 2 transplants done about 15 years ago. They left me with a wide scar on the back of my head. I recently went in for a consult to add new hair to my hairline (to hide some slightly conspicuous work) and to fix my scar from the donor area. The doctor told me the old incision was cut way too low and that if done higher at a certain place the scar would be a lot thinner. he said done at this area on the scalp there is far less tension. So he recommened that he does another strip at the higher location to harvest hair to be placed into the old scar as well as into my hairline.
Does this sound like a good plan?
Has anyone heard of higher vs lower placement of strip incisions and how it plays into the quality of outcome?

[CIT_Girl]

I personally think it would make more sense to have a doctor use the FUE technique to harvest grafts for placement in the existing scars and in the frontal hairline. Having another strip procedure will just leave you with an additional strip scar that you will need to conceal. Not to mention, having a third strip procedure will further reduce the laxity of your scalp which would make it more likely that your scars will stretch over time.

What is wrong with the existing work along your hairline? Is it pluggy/unnatural looking, or do you just wish to add some more density due to further progression of your hair loss? If it's the former, you might want to look into having some repair work done to remove and/or redistribute the existing grafts, rather than just adding additional ones in.

[mattj]

The doctor's plan seems like a sound one as long as the scar tissue will take the grafts which he plans to use to cover it. Planting grafts into scar tissue isn't always successful.

Try lightly pinching you scalp on or above the occipital protuberance (bump at the rear of the head) and then look up and down. Try the same gripping the scalp below this point. If your head is anything like mine, you'll notice more tension at the lower point which sort of pulls the pinched flesh out of your fingers.

[gillenator]

Get as many opinions as you can regarding your potential for a revision. It's so hard to say what attributed to the wide scar. Possibly the former strip was too low. Possibly it was the closing technique used. Make sure yo get your additional opinions from reputable docs skilled at strip, FUE, and repair.

[Navy Seal]

Dear Jsuave, I had the same situation with my first session of grafts but my scar was not as big as what you are saying yours is. This is what I had done to mine and everything worked out perfect. On my density session they added the extra spacers for the width of my scar and along with the width they needed to get the amount of new grafts I wanted put in. They then removed my old scar doing what they called a scar revision with going in the best area for the new grafts, which in your case would be taking the scar and the grafts above the area according to what you wrote. This left me with a small cat scratch looking line and also gave me the amount of grafts I requested. You will find that most doctors do-not want to mess with other doctors work and just go and cut you in a different area leaving you with multipule lines in the back of your head. Good Luck! Navy Seal