Hair Restoration into Scars and Scarring Alopecia

 

Dr. Meena Singh offers hair transplantation into scars.  Examples include: women with widened, hairless facelift or browlift scars and individuals that have had any type of surgery on the scalp (i.e. neurosurgery or skin cancer surgery) and are left with hairless scars.

 

Hair transplantation into scarring alopecia, specifically, needs specialized consideration and evaluation.  The patient not only needs a suitable donor area, but the inflammatory stage of the scarring alopecia must be inactive.  Transplant should only be performed into primary cicatricial alopecia, if the involved areas have been inactive for one to two years; therefore the disease should be quiescent, and we do not anticipate further progression.

 

Areas of scarring alopecia often have decreased blood supply and thickened fibrotic tissue. Thus, it is highly recommended to perform a small, test area before undergoing a larger transplantation session.  A 1 to 2 square centimeter area can be transplanted initially.  In nine to 12 months, depending on the assessment of graft survival in the test area, a larger session can be performed.  Two to four sessions may need to be performed every nine to 12 months minimum.  With each session higher densities can be achieved.

 

All patients with end-stage scarring alopecia should be offered hair restoration surgery as an option for treatment of their cosmetically disfiguring condition.