Plucking Out My Old Hair Plugs

I had one procedure done around 10 years ago. I was young, and like many, I jumped without doing too much research. I’m glad that I stopped at the one procedure. Now I’m looking for a way to reverse the whole thing. The scar is hard enough to keep hidden, but the hair plugs are even harder to deal with. Is there any way to get rid of the transplanted hair besides shaving it or tweazing it? Tweazing the 600 grafts takes too long, and like a beard, they grow back a few hours later after shaving them. I thought about lazer hair removal, but I’m worried that it will permanantely damage the dormant follicles, and with just my luck, they’ll find a cure a week later!

I really do not know your specific problem and the extent of the “pluggy” appearance to give you a personalized opinion. However, it may be almost impossible to completely undo old (or new) hair transplants, because a hair transplant is permanent. It goes to stress the importance of good research and being able to see the results of patients from the doctor as well as the medical group you are having the surgery with. Even 10 years ago, the pluggy transplants were not standard care.

You can try laser hair removal, but you may be left with scarring if the old grafts were the large plugs. Large plugs often leave a cobblestoned skin and depigmentation where the plugs were. Sometimes, these can be cored out, but an experienced hair surgeon needs to evaluate you for this option. Otherwise you can attempt another hair transplant to disguise the old plugs.

For more information on repairing old hair plugs, please see:

• 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
• Repair Work Photo Gallery – Before and after patient repair photos