has anyone had plugs removed? i've been reading about the procedure and it seems to be just what i'm looking for. i have been shaving my head over the last few years. my problem is the row of transplants at my hairline have that plug look and need to be removed. i would like to have that hair transplanted back into my donor area scars. i had my transplants back when i was 21 at bosley. i am happy shaving my head if i could just get these plugs taken out and some coverage of the donor scars.
is plug removal consider a pretty standard practice among the doctors that do repair work? i would just be worried about seeing any scarring where the plugs are removed.
thanks for any input.

I don't believe most reputable Doctors favor removing old transplants. The favored approach is to mask the old transplants. With the current state of the art ultra dense packing, you should be able to achieve extremely satisfactory results.
I just had mine masked in this manner, and I can tell it will look great. This is after only two weeks post surgery. Your best bet is to invest in
reputable and experienced surgeon. There are plenty of repair pictures on the net.

Hi Rich,
I live in phila and looking to get some repair work done,If i can ask Who did your repair work? And what did you have done? I am thinking about seeing D.r Bernstien in N.Y just not too excited about going thru the procedure after having four sessions of micro and minni's ten yrs ago. Thanks Ken

Rich G is absolutely correct in that masking old transplants with follicular units can provide excellent results, however, the old transplants can also be removed. I know that both Dr. Bernstein (New York) and Dr. Jeffrey Epstein (Miami/New York) have experience removing old plugs. You may want to start your search with those two doctors.

i just met with dr bernstein. he said that he would remove 35 of the old transplants and then recycle them back into my donor area scars.

i also spoke online with dr rose. he told me i should also consider having the transplants removed using laser hair removal or lpl...not sure what that is. i'm glad dr rose informed me of these other options.

does anyone have any experiences with the laser removal? is the laser able to target individual hairs or does it just work in the area? my other concern would be how the skin will heal. i shave my head and the transplants i want to havve removed have the little circular punch would in my scalp. from what i understand that is supposed to smooth out once the hair is taken out or lasered. i'm going to try to post a couple of pics...thanks

Seanj,

Sorry to hear about your frustrating results. But I've seen many remarkable turn arounds. In fact, as your probally know our Photo Gallery of Repairs has dozens of examples.

I also recomend visiting our hair transplant repair section to read more. But it sounds like you are on the right track. Removing and recycling the plugs into FUs generally the optimal solution.

Best wishes, Pat

was trying to post some pics but i cant seem to figure out how to resize the photos...as soon as i do i will post them.

quote:

Originally posted by kjp:
Hi Rich,
I live in phila and looking to get some repair work done,If i can ask Who did your repair work? And what did you have done? I am thinking about seeing D.r Bernstien in N.Y just not too excited about going thru the procedure after having four sessions of micro and minni's ten yrs ago. Thanks Ken

Hi Ken,

I also live in the Philadelphia area. I started with hair transplants in the mid eighties when the old large round plug style procedures were in vogue. Things have changed dramatically since then. The ultra dense packing can provide a completely undetectable natural looking and youth ful result in just one sitting. When I did the research for my 3rd transplant with Dr. Beemer (Saratoga) in
December of 2000, this advancement was not available. Dr. Beemer's approach was to use mini and micro transplants and "pepper" them accross the scalp over 2-3 sessions. In addition, there is a new advancement which eliminates most of the pain associated with the dreaded needle anesthesia. It is called the wand, but it actually still involves the same multipe needle sticks, only this time the infusion rate is computer controlled which reduces the pain significantly. I would say the pain scale goes from an 8 out of 10 to a 3 out of ten. More like multiple tiny bee stings.

I would say the worst part of my most recent session, which occurred two weeks ago with Dr. True was sitting still in the chair for nearly 8 hours. Also I might mention the scabbing associated with my recent transplant greatly reduced compared to prior procedures. After only 12 days there are no scabs; only a bit of redness. When I run my hand lightly over the top of my head it feels like a crew cut with all the little hairs.

My recommendation for a Doctor is to go see Dr. Bernstein. I hear he is very reputable. Especially in the area of repair work. You might also want to see Dr. Feller and Dr. True. I chose Dr. True because he performed my 2nd transplant in the early 90's and seemed to be on the cutting edge with dense packing, pain reduction, and donor closure. In my research, I
was not impressed by the qualifications of any of the Doctors in the Philadelphia area. I think you are correct in going to NY. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Rich

Just one correction to my note. My 3rd transplant was with Dr. Beehner. He has one of those names that are easy to mispell.

Thanks Rich,
I actually had dr. true do my last session of micro and minni's in 98.A few yers ago i contacted Dr. True and asked if he was doing FUT and they said no,so i got a little turned off to them. I see both Berstein and True have consults in Shorthill N J so maybe i will kill two birds and meet with both of them. I am sure good docs know people get second and third opinion's these days. Ken

a few pics...

hair1.JPG (250 Kb, 55 downloads)

another...

hair2.JPG (290 Kb, 42 downloads)

side...

hair5.JPG (222 Kb, 39 downloads)

last one from the back...a few years ago when i had my hair a little longer i made the mistake of having a fried who does tattoo work put some ink into the scars...looks terrible, not sure what i'm going to do about it yet.

hair6.JPG (217 Kb, 49 downloads)

you may opt to either camoflouge them or have them extracted and redistributed to another area.good luck