Can I Remove the Plug-Scarred Donor Area from My Hair Transplant 25 Years Ago?

i got transplants in 1983 that were less than satifactory.i have been wearing a hair replacement for about 15 years.my question is this.i want to shed my hair replacement and go to the shaved head look,but the donor area in back is my problem.can plastic surgery cut outthe plug area tomake it look natural? i appreciate your advice

I see patients like you almost every day. A small portion of my practice is based on correcting bad hair transplant surgeries, like the old plugs. See Patient Photo Gallery – Repair Work for some examples.

It is very difficult to remove the scar so that you can shave your head, because the scars are going to have a white appearance. If you goal is to keep your head shaved, look at a Horror Story with a… Happy Ending?, which shows the use of tattoos to solve the problem in the donor area. It is relatively easy to disguise the unnatural scar and plugs with a follicular unit extraction (FUE) hair transplant surgery, but some hair length may be important. I would want to know how many ‘old type scars’ you had, as they may allow me to have some creative input. You must be seen in-person for a real opinion.

Further reading can be found at:

• I Want to End This 15 Year Nightmare
• The Art of Repair in Surgical Hair Restoration Part I – General Aspects of Repair and Basic Repair Strategies
• The Art of Repair in Surgical Hair Restoration Part II – The Tactics of Repair
• Dean’s Story – Step by step photos of a repair procedure