While there are a high number of hair transplant success stories, there are also many bad hair transplants out there. A bad hair transplant can leave patients with both physical and mental scarring.
Disappointing hair transplant results can feel like a waste of time and money. It can also feel like a betrayal of your trust by your hair transplant surgeon, who may have promised results they haven’t delivered.
If you’re the victim of a bad or failed hair transplant, you may feel despondent and disappointed with the procedure. But there are things you can do to fix it.
If you’ve already experienced a bad hair transplant, try not to worry. According to an ISHRS report, many people don’t achieve their desired result after 1 hair transplant procedure. Going back to your clinic (or, if you’ve lost faith in them, finding a different reputable surgeon) is the first step to fixing your unsuccessful transplant.
There are a few ways surgeons can correct bad hair transplants. The first is camouflaging obvious grafts from previous transplants. By placing micro-grafts in front of larger existing grafts, they can camouflage unnatural-looking hair plugs or old implants to give a more authentic hairline.
The other option is graft removal. This is where existing hair grafts are carefully removed, dissected, and redistributed to gain a more natural finish. With this procedure, there are generally no new donor grafts that need to be harvested. It can also be used in conjunction with the camouflaging procedure.
Thirdly, if you are self-conscious of linear scarring from a previous FUT hair transplant or plug-in style implants, you can use FUE hair transplant surgery to hide the scar tissue. FUE won’t cause any further linear scarring when hair follicles are taken from the donor area. Learn more about getting a hair transplant into a scar.
Scalp micro-pigmentation is also an effective way to disguise hair transplant scars, give the appearance of high-density hair, and even outline hairlines.
If you’re suffering from a bad hair transplant, let our experts at the Wimpole Clinic help you find the right solution for corrective treatment.
Some people fear they are experiencing a failed hair restoration surgery when their newly implanted hair starts falling out about 2 weeks post-procedure. However, this is a common and temporary side effect known as hair transplant shock loss.
But sometimes, hair transplants can truly go wrong and may require fixing. So how can you tell when you might really need a hair transplant repair? Here are some of the tell-tale signs [1][2]:
The best thing you can do is let your surgeon know as soon as you suspect something may be wrong with your hair transplant. They can make sure your healing and recovery process is on track and lower your chances of needing a hair transplant repair.
In some cases, you may suspect that something is wrong with your surgical hair restoration results once your hair starts growing, often around 3-4 months post-operation. However, this is often too soon to tell, as it may simply take more time for your new hair to grow in.
On average, you can expect to see your final results about 1 year after a hair transplant. But as a rule of thumb, if 6-8 months have passed since your surgery and there are transplant areas on your scalp where new hair has not started to emerge or is very sparse, you may need to consider hair transplant repair.
When it comes to FUT scarring, in rare cases, you may notice an abnormally wide or thick scar. This can take months to fully form, but you will likely be able to tell from the first days or weeks of your recovery if it does not resemble a fine line, as it should. Realising this early on can give you treatment options to shrink the scar (such as laser therapy), before attempting to repair it surgically.
If you have an obvious hair transplant scar from your FUT procedure, there is good news. In most cases, a hair transplant scar repair is possible [4][5]. However, depending on the size, thickness and rigidity of your scar, this procedure can be significantly more complex than a regular hair restoration surgery.
If your scar is fine, supple and has decent blood flow, this procedure will be easier. All the surgeon needs to do is harvest some more hair grafts from the surrounding area (assuming you still have enough healthy hair in your donor area) and implant them into the scar to cover it.
However, not all hair transplants into scar tissue are feasible. A thick, rigid scar with poor blood supply may not be repairable with a follow-up hair transplant. That is because it would be difficult for the surgeon to implant the grafts precisely and in a natural hair growth pattern. And even if they did, the grafts would likely not survive, as they would not receive the blood flow they need to get vital oxygen and nutrients.
In some cases, if this is something you are open to, you could get dermatological treatment or plastic surgery to remove or shrink the scar and then try to perform a hair transplant into the new, finer scar tissue.
The best way to find out for certain whether you can have a hair transplant scar repair is to ask a trusted surgeon. They are the most qualified to establish your eligibility for this procedure and provide personal advice regarding the best surgical approach.
To understand how to fix a hair transplant, you need to know what’s caused it. Most hair transplants that go wrong result from one (or a combination) of these factors:
Some hair transplant clinics have one objective: to get you in the chair for surgery. That means they may not assess the cause of your hair loss, which is extremely important for knowing how to treat it. If your hair is caused by temporary conditions like or illness, a hair transplant procedure may not be suitable for you.
Hair transplant surgery also won’t stop continuing hair loss. So if you have a procedure while you’re still losing hair, this can continue long after surgery, creating a patchy or uneven appearance.
Errors during hair transplant surgery itself can also result in a failed hair transplant. Overharvesting hair follicles from your donor area, poorly designed hairlines, hair transplant trypophobia, poor hair growth, and patchy transplants can all occur if you work with an inexperienced or unskilled hair transplant surgeon.
Hair transplant costs can help you understand the skill level of your transplant surgeon. Watch this video from our hair loss consultant Matt Devlin to learn more about hair transplant costs.
Unfortunately, patients themselves can also jeopardise the success of their hair transplant procedure. If you don’t take care of your hair transplant, you can damage your chances of a good result. This includes actions like:
A bad or failed hair transplant can make you feel low. Failed hair transplants can seem like a waste of time and money. The good news is that many bad hair transplants can be fixed, provided you still have some hair in your donor area.
Unskilled or inexperienced hair transplant surgeons are liable to overharvest follicles from the donor area. If they take too many, there may not be enough hair follicles left to fix your botched hair transplant.
If you want to avoid spending time, money, and headspace on a failed hair transplant, there are some things you can do to avoid it.
At the Wimpole Clinic, we specialise in trichology (the study and practice of cosmetic procedures for the hair and scalp) and offer a number of highly effective treatments to overcome bad hair transplants.
We use Follicular Unit Transplant (FUT) or Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) to correct poorly performed hair transplants. These surgical procedures require a great deal of skill from the surgeon, so choosing an experienced and reputable clinic is key to a successful hair transplant.
To find out how we can help you fix your bad hair transplant, book a free no-obligation consultation with our trichology team.
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