Is SMP Worth Doing?

Scalp Micropigmentation (SMP) is a cosmetic tattoo. It is not hair and should not be looked at as if it was hair. However, for people with thinning hair, SMP may be the single most effective approach for treating diffuse thinning, giving the patient more value for the amount spent doing it. Hair transplants are much more expensive than SMP. When thinning hair occurs in many people, hair transplants work poorly, particularly when the thinning is diffuse (covers much of the scalp). Many doctors who do not know how to do SMP seem to gravitate to what they do know. So, these doctors recommend hair transplants rather than SMP, even though an SMP procedure would be better for the patient. For diffuse thinning (a common finding in 50% of women with hair loss), hair transplants can’t obtain enough grafts to increase the overall density to a level that will satisfy the patients. SMP, on the other hand, reduces the contrast between hair and skin color so well that it increases the appearance of fullness to a normal level in most people. A comparable hair transplant, if a patient have enough hair, could cost tens of thousands of dollars. Even if one could afford the procedure, few people have enough hair to fill in a diffuse thinning hair pattern (in either women or men). So, we offer SMP for patients with thinning hair, regardless of the cause. These patients are the happiest patients we have.  I would say that our overall satisfaction rate far exceeds 95% because, unlike hair transplant where the hair loss continues to progress, SMP addresses the entire thinning problem in the short time frame while it is being done, regardless of the hair loss progression that may be present. Patients who had SMP rarely return for more treatments once the process is complete.