Day: January 1, 2023

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Removing SMP with a Laser?

A while back you mentioned a new SMP pigment that might be reversible with one laser treatment. Sorry if I missed your follow up on that. How did that turn out?

The pigment we use for Scalp MicroPigmentation (SMP) is reversible with laser pigment removal; however, it may require more than one treatment. There is also a risk for hair loss with the laser pigment removal.

A while back, we were made aware of an ink that was reportedly able to be removed with one laser treatment, but the company that produced the product apparently was sold and the ink hasn’t been made available.

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Removing Small Plugs with FUE

Dues FUE removal of small plugs with a 1mm punch leave “rolling” athrophic scars or just a tiny white scar?

A 1mm FUE (follicular unit extraction) punch has the potential to leave atrophic or tiny white scars, however it is rare. We routinely use a 1mm FUE punch to remove unsightly “plugs” from patients who have had old style hair transplants. Keep in mind that almost all patients with these type of repairs will additionally require a normal, modern hair transplant to fill in the area between the “plugs” to soften the pluggy look.

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Removing Scalp Tattoo

I have tried hair systems, weaves and all of these newest innovations in this field. Then I started getting transplants in 1987, with 5 scalp reductions and 7 hair transplant procedures. The more I did, the worse I looked. So I came up with the idea that I could tattoo my scalp and make it look like hair by putting brown dots the color of my dark hair. I then shaved my head. The tattoos were done on my scars as well. For a while they looked OK, but then the brown color started to turn green. Now I have a green head. Do you have a solution for this? Can the tattoo color be returned or can they just be removed? What would you suggest?

I have seen problems like this in the past. Creative people come up with creative answers to problems, but when the solutions fail, the consequences are sometime profound. I have had two such patients: The first had terrible scars that were treated with a balloon insert to stretch the normal scalp so that the tattooed scalp could be removed. The balloon was in inflated 2-3 times each week for 10 weeks before the scar was removed. It worked nicely and he was fortunate to have enough normal scalp to stretch the excised scalp defect. The second patient went through the same thing you did. He did not have a great deal of hair left, but he did have enough to start to cover some of the most prominent balding areas . The bad scars were improved with some scar surgery and the transplants did help. This second patient and his girlfriend were very grateful for the improvement and remain amongst the most happy of my patients. It was an important lesson for me – that working through problems with the patient as a partner with realistic goals, is the best way to make the best out of a bad situation.

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Removing Scalp Reduction Scars?

I am 43. I had a scalp reduction at 24 along with 4 sessions of hair transplants. I was disappointed with results so I have been wearing a hairpiece the last 15 years. Now I wish to shave my head. Can the flaxel laser help with the scars on the back and top of my head? Or should I consider transplants in the scar areas or both options? I am a little leary to do transplants again. I appreciate any advice, don’t want to make any more mistakes.

In general, fixing a bad hair transplant or a bad scalp reduction surgery is very individualized and difficult. The results are often not perfect, so there must be a full understanding of expectations and what you are trying to achieve. There are always options for repairing your look, but you need to see a hair transplant doctor who specializes in these type of cases. It would be doing you a disservice to offer you specific advice for your case without seeing exactly what you’re talking about.

For the readers that aren’t familiar with a scalp reduction (see image at right), it was a procedure some doctors did that essentially just excised the bald spot. We’ve written before about how patients that underwent scalp reduction surgery often developed a “slot deformity”, where the hair from the sides grows away from the scar, causing an unnatural slot to appear.

Lasers will likely not achieve what you are looking for. Meet with a doctor in person that can advise you about what to expect the end result to look like. It might not be perfect, but I wouldn’t be able to outline your options until your repair area is examined.

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Removing Only Part of the Follicle

Hello Doctor

There is a dutch clinic that advertizes the following method

“The most significant difference between the HST method and traditional hair tr*nspl*nt techniques is that with HST, only a tiny part of the hair follicle is removed, leaving the majority of it in the donor area where it will produce a new hair. This preserves the donor area for future treatments, which is why this technique should actually be referred to as hair multiplication, rather than tr*nspl*ntation.”

A very famous dutch soccer player ( Snejder ) supposedly undergone this procedure . Anyone who saw the Bayern Munich – Inter Milan game this week definately noticed the difference on his head

I’m not sure why “transplant” is censored on that clinic’s site…

I know who you’re referring to and I have heard this doctor speak on the subject of partial unit extraction. One of the problems — there was never any physicians actually looking at what he was doing, and as such, there is no peer review or comments by other qualified academic doctors that could back up the claims that he actually has growth of full healthy hairs from fragments of hairs. This very subject has been extensively studied by other physicians and the ability to grow full, healthy normal hairs is clearly not possible. I do not believe that what this doctor is reporting is real.

Past posts about this here and here.

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Removing Growing Grafts

I just want to remove my grafts as they grow. Do you think it is reasonable to have it done with laser treatment. My scar has not healed all the way, but I guess I’ll have to live with it.

The good news and the bad news about hair transplants, is that they are permanent. With that said, they can be removed with three types of surgical procedures. If there is no skin deformity associated with it (common in the older types of plugs), then the removal process may be easier.

Lasers have a high failure rate when used to ‘kill’ scalp hair and they will not deal with skin deformities associated with the older type of hair transplants. Be very careful about laser removal of scalp hair from hair transplants. The effective frequency used by lasers is more suited to less skin thickness found elsewhere on the body. The transplanted hairs may go too deeply into the scalp to be impacted by these lasers. If you look to our repair section in our patient photos and the articles we published in the journals on our website, you can see the various before and after pictures of the repair process and much of the details of the surgical repairs.

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Removing Cobblestone Scars from Plugs?

i had a hair transplant in 1987. I only went for one session. Now, I have plugs near the temples on both sides of my head. I have shaved down the plugs but there is the “cobblestone” scars
left. Is there anything that can be done to remove these scars. I don’t want to shave my head completely, just get rid of the “cobblestone” scars. Thanks

These cobblestone scars can be excised one-by-one. With a well done procedure, the scar from an excision will not be as bad as what was originally there.

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Removing Chest Hair Permanently

Hi, I’m thinking of removing my chest hair permanently. To be frank i’m a bit scared of laser treatment. What i’m thinking of is waxing, will the hair be permanently removed after multiple waxing sessions? Or it would grow thicker and darker???

Thanks

In the movie “The 40 Year Old Virgin“, the main character (played by Steve Carell) has his chest hair waxed to do a little grooming for the ladies. Your question reminded me of this scene — which I read was not movie magic, but was really the actor having his chest waxed for the first time in his life. Can you remember what he was saying as they ripped off the wax from his chest? His facial expression in the picture on the right has a subtle hint.

If waxed regularly for many months or possibly some years, traction alopecia (permanent hair loss from pulling hair) may develop, but the problem with chest hair is the growth cycle, as less than 40% of the hairs are growing at any one time. To get traction alopecia of those hairs you might take more frequent treatment and over an 8 month period, you might get one hair pull per hair. Put that into a formulae and if you have 8 cycles over a five year period, is that enough hair waxing to get traction alopecia? Lots of pain, my friend.

Lasers are still the best way to do it, but you can count on at least 5 sessions. Be sure that the doctor uses the best and most up-to-date laser, as many of the ones being used are older style lasers that just do not work well. Sorry to bring you back to the thing that you did not want to include in your considerations, but it would be the fastest way to come to the solution you’re seeking.

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Removing Brain Surgery Scars?

Hey. I’ve had brain surgery back in 2000 and an additional one in 2004. I have a scar on the front of my scalp going from my right side of my head to the top of my forehead. Its not from left to right but almost there. And I have some kind of missing spot on the back of my head. I dont know where that came from. But I was wondering if u had any suggestions on getting hair to grow inside my scars so I have no noticible scars?

We (NHI) have been treating scars of all types on the scalp with hair transplants (especially brains surgery / craniotomy scars). The process is as simple as a hair transplant on the scar itself.

The entire process may take more than one procedure to fill in the scar, as hairs are transplanted directly on the scar and may not fully grow. Whether or not the scarring remains noticeable will remain to be seen. I wouldn’t want to make any wild promises without seeing you.

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Removing a Hair Transplant

hi, i’ve had two hair transplant procedures in the past. over the last couple of years i have just been shaving my head. i feel very uncomfortable going anywhere without a hat because of my scars. i would just like to be able to shave my head without the scars being so obvious. they are mostly right at my front hairline. can i go to a physician to have the transplants removed? and if they are removed will my scalp where the transpants are taken out heal so those little puncture holes are not as noticible? or could a procedure such a dermabrasion or laser help to smooth out the area? thank you

Without seeing you it would be difficult to make an assessment. Please send photos to the email address on the Contact page.

Generally, it is difficult to put you back in time to the days before you had your hair transplanted. With that said, we can reverse it in many ways, and sometimes it might be brought back to the “before” status. I like to tell my patients that I have good news and bad news about hair transplants: they are permanent, so get it done right the first time. If you are amongst the unfortunate that did not time your procedure correctly with current technology, then the good news is that there is a great deal of experience now in removing or hiding the ugly plugs of the older types of hair transplants.