One of the biggest concerns those who are interested in getting a hair transplant often have is whether or not the procedure will create scars. It is a procedure to make someone more comfortable with his or her appearance, after all, so it is natural to wonder about any unsightly scars the procedure may create.
Hair Transplant Scars
It is likely that a hair transplant will create a few scars, but they can be minimized and hidden. One of the most common reasons for a hair transplant is actually to allow hair to grow on scar tissue, so this is already an aspect that surgeons and doctors carefully consider. The process involves removing hair from a donor location on your body and implanting these donor hairs somewhere else. Most or all the scars will be located at the location where the hair is removed, which means your doctor has control over where the scars are. In addition to strategically choosing the location, a trichophytic suture is often used, which allows hairs to grow on the scar, which better masks it.
Transplant Type
There are two types of hair transplants, and each creates a different kind of scar. Your hair transplant could either be:
- Follicular Unit Transplantation
- Follicular Unit Excision
In a follicular unit transplantation, a strip of hair is removed from the donor spot. On the other hand, follicular unit excision involves taking individual hairs from the donor spot. The latter type of procedure creates many small, circular scars, rather than a single, larger scar that is linear in nature. This makes it more appealing if you are worried about the scars being visible. Whichever type of procedure you receive, efforts will be made to make the scar or scars as invisible as possible. In most cases, the donor spot is on the back of the head.
Recovery
Finally, after receiving a hair transplant, patients are usually given an aftercare package which includes products that can be used to aid in recovery, which includes minimizing the visibility of the scar. These packages usually include special shampoos which help with the healing and reduce the size of scar tissue. If you are considering getting a hair transplant at all, it is always a good idea to speak with a hair transplant doctor, like Dr. Robin Unger, before making any decision. You should bring up your concerns about scarring to learn what options are available and to set up a plan to reduce the scars as much as possible.